I just watched the 2 hour series finale of Frasier, and I have to say that it made me wish that I had tuned in this season. The first hour with Fred Ward acting as psychiatrist to Kelsey Grammar’s Frasier was a nice overview, showing the evolution of each character over the series 11 year run.
Unlike the recent series ender of Friends, this felt like I was losing an old friend. Although I stopped watching the show a couple of years ago, deep down I still like the characters. My issue with Frasier and Niles in the later years was how two men as educated and sophisticated as they were, could still be at times such bumbling, ignorant, idiots. Some of the situations in which they placed themselves just strained my ability to suspend disbelief. My favorite episodes were not of the “comedy of errors” variety.
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Like Friends, one of the reasons I stopped watching Frasier was the cavalier attitude taken by the show in regards to having a child. Call me a prude, but Roz having a baby girl and then continuing in her “sleep with him first, ask questions later” mentality just irritated the hell out of me. And like the Friends series ender, Frasier apparently tried to make up for that in the final episode with the birth of Niles’ and Daphne’s son into a traditional family that would apparently not relegate the child to a background item.
The final episode itself had kind of a quiet dignity about it even with the screwball comedy involving Daphne’s brothers. 
It was really great to see everyone on the show finally “grow up”, Frasier in particular.
Just a really fine send-off to this show.
Well done.
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1 Comments
Most season or series finales are worth watching, and this one was no different. My biggest complaint with finales is that I find myself muttering, “If all the other episodes had been that good, I might have watched more.” I always thought Frasier lasted about six or seven seasons longer than it should have. There is only so far you can stretch even the best ideas before you start jumping some sharks.
Having said all that, Frasier was one of the better shows on television. It had a top-notch production team that came primarily from Cheers and Wings (including 9/11 victim David Angell). My favorite episodes fell squarely under the “comedy of errors” category. Like it or not, people kept tuning in to see what boneheaded things Frasier and Niles would do next. My all-time favorite was when Niles tried to iron his own pants and ended up unconscious and bleeding on a burning couch. In Living Color is the only other show that has ever had me laughing so hard.
In a way, it’s kind of sad to see shows like Frasier throw in the towel. Yeah, it needed to happen, but many columnists are starting to wonder if we’re witnessing the demise of sitcoms. One thing is for sure: high-quality sitcoms like Frasier don’t come along very often.
Brian