Facts About Frasier That Fans Probably Won’t Know

Like most sitcoms, the city where the characters have their misadventures in Frasier is integral to the plot. But even though the city of Seattle is featured prominently in the opening credits and is the focal point of many of the storylines, it isn’t actually where the show was filmed. In fact, most filming was done on set in Los Angeles, California, with just one episode – “The 1000th Show” – shot in the famous city.

Any fan of the show knows that the way to Eddie’s heart is through his stomach. And it turns out that Moose, who played the mischievous Eddie, is no different. Whenever there was a scene requirement for the lovable canine to lick the face of Martin Crane, played by John Mahoney, the crew would dab the actor's face with sardine oil. Lovely!

Fans know just how crucial a role Frasier’s brother Niles played in the show, but what they might not know is that the character was never originally written into the show. In fact, the casting director saw such a startling similarity between David Hyde Pierce (Niles) and Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) that he decided to create the character of Niles just for him.

No, the most popular character on Frasier may not have been the pretentious radio personality himself, but his four-legged nemesis. You might be surprised to learn that Eddie received more fan mail than any of his human cast-mates on the show, but that’s exactly what John Mahoney said in an interview.

Frasier’s radio show on KACL produced a plethora of classic moments, but did you know that a lot of those who call in for the good doctor’s help are real-life celebrities? The likes of Elijah Wood, Helen Mirren, Ben Stiller, and Kevin Bacon provided voice cameos, among many, many others. Some of the voices, like Mel Brooks and John Lithgow, were pretty recognizable, but others? Not so much!

The 1990s were something of a golden era in terms of great sitcoms. Indeed, two titans came into direct contact, with Frasier being moved to a time slot that was home to Seinfeld for years. And, cleverly, Frasier’s writers didn’t ignore this time slot change. Instead, they weaved it into the opening scene of the sixth season, with Frasier referencing it in a TV show audition.

Being the spin-off of a show as popular as Cheers comes with a lot of responsibility. Somehow, though, Frasier’s creators still managed to forge their own path while simultaneously embracing Frasier’s heritage. Indeed, his past comes back to please – and haunt – him multiple times over the spin-off's run, with the likes of Cheers favorites Cliff, Diane, Lilith, Norm, and many more turning up in episodes.

Frasier’s only son, Frederick, appears in four different guises throughout the years. He first appeared in Cheers as a baby and was played by two twins. In Frasier, he was then played by Luke Tarsitano before, finally, being portrayed by Trevor Einhorn for the rest of the show's run. And after all of those radical actor changes, it’s perhaps little wonder that Freddie turned goth towards the end.

One of the longest-running jokes throughout the show’s 11-season run is Niles’ mysterious wife, Maris. The elusive eccentric is never seen, only described in increasingly grotesque ways. And while she was actually meant to appear in the show, the writers found more humor in simply letting the cast describe her instead. Plus, few actresses could live up to a description like, “She’s very exotic, only eats every other day, and she’s so white, she’s almost blue!”

Any devoted fan of the show will tell you how heart-wrenching the series finale is. As Frasier moves on to greener pastures and a new job, he has to say goodbye to those who mean the most to him. For his dad, Martin, though, a thank you was all that needed to be said.

Eagle-eyed fans may have noticed this, but it’s subtle nonetheless: the delivery guy who brings Martin’s beloved chair in during the pilot is the same person who wheels it out again in the series finale. In fact, he’s the only cast member outside of the main group that had a part in both the pilot and the final episode. Well, one of the main cast members may have been replaced by the finale, but it's hard to tell...

Frasier's lavish home almost became a character itself, mainly because of how accurately it reflected its owner. Martin’s battered La-Z-Boy aside, the apartment was filled with expensive ornaments and ornate materials. Three words that would perfectly describe the apartment? Black, white, and beige. It's no surprise, then, that it is estimated that costs for the furnishing were in excess of half a million dollars. The Crane brothers would surely approve!

Kelsey Grammer is someone who takes his craft seriously, which could explain his eccentric methods (and why he's so suited to playing a character like Frasier Crane). During Frasier, he used a technique he dubbed “requisite disrespect,” which involved only rehearsing his scenes once and leaving it to the last minute to memorize lines. Sounds pretty disrespectful, all right!

While the show often embraced Cheers' impact — Frasier wouldn't exist without it! — that doesn’t mean that the producers wanted to evoke the classic sitcom all the time. They were so adamant about turning over a new leaf in Frasier that they paid attention to every little detail inside the coffee shop Cafe Nervosa, where the characters spend much of their time.

Some may remember the odd period in the seventh season when the normally thin Daphne developed a habit of binge eating. It was definitely an odd pivot for a show that usually dealt with high-brow over low-brow humor. The storyline wasn't enthusiastically received by some fans, who thought that explaining away the actress's weight gain with a binge eating disorder wasn't exactly in good taste.

In his autobiography, Kelsey Grammer points out a glaring error in the fictional history of Frasier Crane. Before the Frasier spin-off was created, the irritable Crane made clear in Cheers that he didn’t have a sibling and that his father was dead. Of course, fast forward a few years, and voilà – Martin and Niles are very much alive. Hilariously, Martin mentions this very fact on a few occasions when he’s arguing with Frasier.

Ready to move on with his career and away from the Frasier character, Kelsey Grammer and the writers put forth a rather different idea for a show after Cheers had concluded. It was based around a media mogul who was bedridden and tended to by a nurse. It wasn’t given the green light by Paramount, however, probably due to its somber nature. So, interestingly, the original ideas had nothing to do with Frasier.

One episode from the show that feels oddly out of place is the season four episode “Head Game.” It sees Niles take over his brother’s radio show, a storyline that was written after Kelsey Grammer made it clear that he wasn’t available to shoot. Why, you ask? The seasoned performer was actually being treated for substance abuse issues at the time, and he knew he needed to prioritize his well-being over the show's demanding schedule.

One of the biggest laughs in the series happened when one cast-mate hit a real-life fact on the head. Frasier’s first wife, Nanette, said to him, “Do you know what it’s like to play the same character for 20 years?” Of course, Kelsey Grammer knew this all too well, as his portrayal of the good doctor was approaching its 20-year anniversary. And what a 20 years it was!

Grammer's life was unconventional even before Frasier, though. The actor has been through terrible things – more than anyone should ever have to face. After his parents divorced, Grammer and his mother moved to New Jersey to be closer to his grandparents. It was there Grammer watched his grandfather die of cancer. Things got worse in 1968 when his father was tragically murdered during a break-in.

Grammer – who was only 20 at the time of his sister's death – had to identify Karen’s body and tell their mom what had happened. It haunted him for the rest of his life. He once wrote, "I was supposed to protect her — I could not. I have never gotten over it."

When Peri Gilpen was first cast as Roz, she found it difficult acting alongside Grammer as Frasier. During an NBC celebration of the show’s co-creator called An All-Star Tribute to James Burrows in 2016, she told a story about how she found herself being compared unfavorably to Grammer’s Cheers co-star Kirstie Alley.

David Hyde Pierce played Dr. Niles Crane, who has a long-held obsession with Daphne. Yet in real life, Pierce is actually gay – but he didn’t reveal this until after the show had ended. In fact, it was only in 2007 that he came out to the world, doing so at the Tony Awards. In 2010 Pierce told Time, "I tried for years to live my life and let that be the statement. But in the last year that wasn’t good enough for me."

John Mahoney played Martin, the father of Frasier and Niles. But just before the show reached its end, Maloney thought that the whole "low-maintenance father, high-maintenance sons" schtick was starting to become tired. In 2005, he revealed to The Times, "We had taken the show as far as it could go. We did 260 episodes in 11 years... I was afraid we were beginning to repeat ourselves and vulgarize ourselves a bit in looking for things that we hadn’t done."

Those who came to Frasier from Cheers would’ve noticed that Kirstie Alley’s character Rebecca was conspicuously missing from the spinoff. But why exactly was this the case? Well, according to those involved, it was because Frasier is about a psychologist. And as a Scientologist, Alley flat-out doesn’t believe in psychology. In 2004, Frasier producer and co-creator David Lee spoke to the Sun Sentinel about Alley's reaction to the show.

In 2001, it was reported by the media that Grammer was the highest-paid actor there had ever been on television. According to Variety, he was getting more than $1.6 million every episode. But his co-stars, on the other hand, were paid much less. David Hyde Pierce, in comparison, reportedly got around $750,000, with Jane Leeves picking up a “mere” $400,000. Grammer knew he was the star of the show right from the beginning, and he wasn’t above boasting.

Actor Dan Butler played Bob “Bulldog” Briscoe, the macho and sexist co-worker of Fraiser and Roz. His character's womanizing ways were often played for laughs on the show — but Butler's real-life identity was much different. In 1994, while Frasier was still in its youth, Butler came out publicly with a theater piece titled The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me.

When Frasier came to an end after 11 seasons, all the cast members were sorry to leave. Even though the ending of the show was planned in advance after season ten, the actors were saying goodbye to their friends. Quite a lot of tears were shed while filming on the last batch of episodes got underway. And in 2004, Leeves opened up about how upsetting the experience was.

In a 1996 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Pierce confessed that he wasn’t actually a big fan of his character Niles. Though he had won awards for playing the neurotic psychologist – a Screen Actors Guild award and an Emmy, no less – Pierce still disliked Niles’ personality. He even called him "finicky." Pierce went on to say, "Now when I think about the character, it’s a little upsetting."

The writers of Frasier had a little trouble with pregnancies. During the filming of season seven, Leeves really was pregnant – but it was waved away in the show by explaining that Daphne had developed a stress-eating problem. But prior to that, the writers decided to give a pregnancy storyline to Gilpin’s Roz in season five. Gilpin herself, though, wasn’t expecting – but appearing on-screen as if she had been caused consternation among her friends and family.

Back when Cheers was first kicking off, nobody expected that Grammer’s Frasier Crane would become so popular a character that he’d get his own spin-off. And Shelley Long – who played Diane Chambers – absolutely didn’t care for the attention Frasier was getting. According to Grammer himself, the writers kept him on the show mostly because they knew it would annoy Long. And the more annoyed she was, the better her performance!

Many people enjoy the fame that comes with being part of a successful TV show, but not John Mahoney. In 1996 he told the Chicago Tribune, “I come from a secretive Irish family. I cherish my privacy.” And he added, “I don’t have a scrap more talent than so many actors in Chicago. I just happened to be blessed by being lucky.”

The producers of Frasier originally cast Lisa Kudrow as Roz Doyle. But during rehearsals, they decided she wasn’t right for the role and called up Peri Gilpin instead. Gilpin recollected to Vanity Fair in 2018 that Kudrow – who was a friend of hers – called her up and said, “I want you to know this is your job. I don’t want you to feel bad about it. I want you to enjoy it.”

In a 2018 Vanity Fair retrospective of Frasier, the creators spoke about how they drew on their own lives to find awkward situations the characters could suffer through. The members of the writing room called this process “pulling your pants down.” And of course, it led to some great sitcom moments. Writer Bob Daily remembered in the article, "I used to take my daughter to art class at LACMA. She was pointing out something to me in a painting with her pencil..."

Grammer has had no less than four wives, and he has kids with several different women. His first spouse was dancer Doreen Alderman, with whom he had one daughter. After that, he had another child with stylist Barrie Buckner, but he didn’t marry her. Then, he moved on to Leigh-Anne Csuhany. Grammer has always maintained that Csuhany was abusive towards him. In 1994, as Frasier was in full swing, Grammer became engaged to a woman called Tammi Baliszewski, but no wedding took place.

The cuddliest member of the Frasier cast was Eddie the Jack Russell terrier. However – gasp – Eddie wasn’t actually played by the same dog throughout the whole series. At first, he was played by a pup called Moose. But by 2000 Moose was getting too old to act. Action needed to be taken to disguise his age. Apparently, the make-up department for the show used to paint Moose to hide the fact that he’d gone gray.

For a long time, Grammer struggled with serious substance abuse. Eventually, it became obvious that it was affecting the production of Frasier. One 1996 episode called "Head Games," in fact, had to be rewritten after Grammer flipped his car over and was arrested for driving under the influence. The cast had to act before things got even worse, so they held an intervention for their co-star.

In 2018 Grammer spoke at the USC Comedy Festival about the possibility of a Frasier reboot. He seemed quite against the idea, saying, “No, there’s been no premise that has come along that has the necessary fire. A lot of us are quite committed to the concept that you would never try to redo what we once had.” Yet, Grammer seems to have recently changed his mind. In 2019 he spoke on In Depth with Graham Bensinger about a reboot.