Frasier/YMMV

"Niles: (playing Frasier) Now, I want you to contribute, but only up to a point. Frasier: (playing Mary) So you want me to stay in my place, Massa?! Niles: She's not going to say "massa". Frasier: What, am I gettin' too uppity for you? You sherry swillin', opera lovin', Armani wearin' elitist? You have no idea how difficult it is for a black woman in a white man's world! Niles: Frasier-- Frasier: (practically snapping his fingers) I DON'T THINK SO!"
 * The Ace: Dr Clint Webber.
 * Alternate Character Interpretation: Was Daphne truly oblivious to Niles' feelings for her, or did she know all along but choose not to act on them? Was she in love with him as long as he was in love with her?
 * Martin Crane: long-suffering, sensible man of the people with the patience of a saint for putting up with his two goofy kids? Or a bitter, ungrateful old man reveling in his sons' failures after completely failing at fatherhood for most of his life?
 * Better on DVD: The show has a lot of subtle continuity (for instance, Martin offhandedly singing a few bars of "She's Such A Groovy Lady"). Some Canon Discontinuity as well, though. In Cheers, Frasier goes ice fishing to relax. In Frasier, he has no idea how to ice fish.
 * Through the series, it's clear Frasier has very little knowledge of sports, but after spending all the time at Cheers, with Sam and all those Boston sports nuts (and they ARE nuts about sports in Boston) I find it hard to accept his total ignorance.
 * This may be a case of Depending on the Writer/Characterisation Marches On. In some episodes Fraiser clearly understands what's going on, he just has no interest in it.
 * Going back to the "Better On DVD" part. It should be noted that the edited syndicated versions of some episodes are used instead of the uncut versions.
 * In one of the episodes that flashes back to the first days of Frasier's return to Seattle, he and Niles enter Cafe Nervosa for the first time and Frasier demands a normal black coffee and gripes about silly frou-frou coffee drinks, sounding a lot more like his Cheers incarnation (and his father). The episode would seem to imply that back in his circle of social elites and constantly being reinforced by Niles, Frasier's personality either changed or reverted to the point that forgetting how to ice fish (or just stopping pretending to like it) isn't beyond possibility.
 * Also keep in mind that when he went ice fishing on Cheers, it was less because he enjoyed it and more because he wanted to be as far as humanly possible from Diane and anything that reminded him of her.
 * Big Lipped Alligator Moment: In one first season episode, Daphne admits that she was a star in the popular British television comedy, Mind Your Knickers, for four years; this is never mentioned again.
 * Both Sides Have a Point: From the episode Dinner At Eight; one the one hand, Martin is right that Frasier and Niles need to relax and enjoy "normal" things sometimes; but seeing as how their hostess just cut off their (presumably expensive) ties, they have a right to be angry. Or at least very, very annoyed.
 * Broken Base: Having Niles and Daphne get together is a source of debate for the fans. Some think it didn't work; not because it was a bad idea, merely because the plots written for them were not as entertaining or amusing as the earlier UST ones.
 * Others think them finally getting together marked a sharp upturn in quality and dimensionality in the already-great series.
 * Crazy Awesome: KACL Station Manager Kenny Daly takes over Frasier's show for a pinch in the series finale. It has to be seen to be believed.
 * Crosses the Line Twice: Frasier can't tell his new producer-in-training Mary Thomas that he doesn't like how she works, because she's black and he's afraid of looking racist. When he and Niles roleplay a confrontation, Frasier's portrayal of Mary as a Sassy Black Woman is so ridiculously offensive it's hilarious.

"Oh right, that's it. I've had enough of you two jackasses. I've spent all night hearing you make cracks about the food and the help. I got news for you. People like this place. I like this place. And when you insult this restaurant, you insult me. You know, I used to think you two took after your mother, liking ballet and all that. But your mother liked a good ball game too. She even ate a hot dog once in a while. She might have had fancy taste, but she had too much class to make me or anyone else ever feel second rate. If she saw the way you two behaved tonight she would be ashamed. I know I am."
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome: More than a few.
 * Crowning Moment of Funny: Eleven years of it.
 * To be more specific, the "Nightmare Inn'' debacle in the episode "Ham Radio".
 * As well as the botched 'Buttons and Bows' in the episode "Look Before You Leap".
 * Draco in Leather Pants: An in-universe example. Martin and the boys talk about Hester as if she were a saint, but from what we know about her: She cheated on Martin at least once, she egged on the rivalry between Frasier and Niles that continues to affect them in adulthood and that's not even counting her manipulitive, shrewish behaviour on cheers.
 * Reality Is Unrealistic: Many people feel and act this way about late family members, especially wives and mothers. Also, of course Hester's bad behavior would make for much funnier material when referenced for comedy than her kind and generous moments.
 * Dude, Not Funny: It's usually played for Black Comedy, but the descriptions of the severe and vicious bullying Frasier and Niles suffered in elementary and high school can be uncomfortable to those who went through similar experiences in their childhood, especially when Martin displays No Sympathy and the experiences have clearly made the two very neurotic.
 * Ear Worm: The closing theme
 * "Oh some boys go to college, but we think they're all wussies. Cuz they get all the knowledge, and we get all the--doom dodoom dududdoom dudoom dudoom."
 * Early Installment Weirdness: At one point in the first season, Martin says that Lilith is much weirder than Maris. Eleven seasons later, Lilith is a fairly sympathetic recurring character, while Maris was so strange no human actress could portray her and she was once mistaken for a hatrack.
 * Ensemble Darkhorse: Niles. This is pointed out in one of the Season 2 DVD interviews with the writers.
 * Fridge Horror: Yes, watching Niles struggle with his kite on Frasier's balcony (in the episode "Docu.Drama") is hilarious, but he comes close to being yanked onto the sidewalk from 19 stories up...
 * Fridge Logic: Martin is disappointed that his sons ended up as snobbish, effete sophisticates. However, with Prophetic Names like "Frasier" and "Niles," what else could they possibly have become? It's like naming your son "Thrungnir the Bold," then being surprised when he grows up to be a Barbarian Hero.
 * He presumably let his wife name them (especially given she named them after her lab rats), along with most of their upbringing. If anything, it's surprising he doesn't see them more as Someones To Remember Her By.
 * A first season episode has him point out that their mother was a much more down-to-earth person who was very welcoming and didn't sneer at "lower-class" tastes. Martin's disappointment comes from how they don't take after her more than how they do.

"Niles: I've never said 'Wow' when describing another man before. I wonder what that means. Frasier: It means you're a gay man! [Niles gives Frasier a disapproving look]"
 * The show often hints that Martin doesn't place a lot of stock in Psychology- a better question might be how or why he managed to marry a psychologist given his thoughts on the profession.
 * Genius Bonus: Almost every episode.
 * Ham-to-Ham Combat: Frasier. Niles. Sibling Rivalry. Impromptu ham-offs every couple of episodes.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight: The plot where Frasier and Niles become convinced they're descended from the Romanovs is much funnier given another of Kelsey Grammar's roles.
 * This exchange from "My Coffee with Niles", considering David Hyde Pierce finally came out in 2007:

"Niles: I'll miss the coffees."
 * The episode with Patrick Stewart wouldn't be the last time Kelsey Grammar and Patrick Stewart would worktogether.
 * It wasn't the first time either.
 * The episode where Sam Malone shows up, Sam and Roz do a bit of flirting. Almost 2 decades later, Ted Danson and Peri Gilpin play husband and wife on CSI.
 * Large Ham: Any time Frasier gets riled up, any time Niles gets... let's just say many.
 * Also, Cam Winston.
 * WINSTON!
 * Best example: Jackson Headley in The Show Must Go Off, who delivers a performance so hammy Brian Blessed would be proud.
 * Bebe Glazer for sure.
 * And she, like Winston, gets Frasier riled up. "She has no scruples, no ethics, and no reflection!"
 * Hollywood Homely: In both Cheers and here, Lilith's general unattractiveness was harped on. Later in Frasier, though, they do play up the fact that Bebe Neuwirth is really hot when she turns off the frump and stops being so cold.
 * The Scrappy: Kirby Gardner, who was written in as a regular during the 9th season, but was quickly dropped.
 * Strangled by the Red String: Inverted. There was really no reason for Roz and Bulldog not to get together. They shared numerous interests, they have similar personalities, they've been proven to be able to enjoy each other's company, Bulldog adored Alice and was great at taking care of her (and the apartment), their sex life was fantastic when they had one, and Bulldog displayed a willingness to change and try to be the man Roz wanted him to be. Roz never even articulates why she refuses to try a real relationship with him, so it comes off as the writers just grabbing some cheap failed almost-relationship drama.
 * Straw Man Has a Point: In "Room Full of Heroes", Niles begins to say, in-character as Martin, that he and Frasier were disappointments to him. Martin sharply cuts him off and says he's portraying him as a drunken jackass. While Niles was certainly over the line and had indeed had a few beers, considering how Martin treats the two of them and routinely expresses exasperation about their behavior, it's hard not to see why Niles would think this way.
 * Tear Jerker: I dare you to watch the episode Rooms with a View without tearing up. I dare you.
 * Season 4's Mixed Doubles; in particular, the final scene.
 * The finale. The man taking Martin's chair from the apartment and especially:


 * The Woobie: Niles. Although he's in love with another woman, he stays faithful to his cold and unloving wife for years, only to discover that she's cheating on him with their therapist. After the brutal divorce is over, the woman he truly loves is dating his divorce lawyer. And the list goes on, and on...
 * On occasion, Frasier can also become this; particularly when his loneliness and romantic despair is stressed.
 * Even Daphne's fiance, Donny, can fit; yes, we're rooting for Niles and Daphne to end up together, but he still gets it rough, and he's a fairly decent guy. His counterpart, Mel, never gets the same sympathy, as she's portrayed as a much crueler individual.
 * The first scene of Donny after Daphne and Niles get together, Frasier finds him sitting in the dark in his office, despondant and talking to the groom from his wedding cake, who he's named "Mr. Chump". The guy may have been announced as suing Daphne in the previous scene, but this makes it clear that he was thrown into a Heroic BSOD.