‘Frasier’ writing team breaks silence at UCLA
Writers to share the secrets of creating an award winning
show
By Rodney Tanaka
Daily Bruin Staff
The secret behind the success of NBC’s "Frasier:" long
silences.
"Although we have an incredible writing staff, when a show
enters its fourth season, the stories get harder to come by," says
"Frasier" producer Chuck Ranberg. "(You) sit in long silences until
you think of something better."
Ranberg and the rest of the writers from the hit Tuesday night
sitcom will offer more than just silence as they participate this
evening in the UCLA Extension class, "Tune in Tonight."
"Frasier" follows the life of the character first introduced on
"Cheers." He has moved from Boston to Seattle and works as a
call-in radio psychiatrist. Frasier shares his home with his father
and a live-in caretaker. His brother, Niles, also a psychiatrist,
shows viewers the person Frasier might have been had he not spent
those many years in Boston.
Kelsey Grammer portrayed Frasier for nine years on "Cheers"
before headlining his own show. "(Frasier’s) world was sufficiently
different than the world of the bar that you could do something
that didn’t feel like just a continuation, but a fresh spin-off,"
co-producer Joe Keenan says. "I think the most interesting thing
that they did in adapting the show was to keep everything about
Frasier that delighted the ‘Cheers’ audience, and to give him a
core of reality and a heart and a complexity that the character was
never allowed to have as a member of a large ensemble."
Past episodes have featured appearances from Lilith, Frasier’s
ex-wife, and Sam, the owner of Cheers. "You mainly want to bring
back characters who are important enough to Frasier that there’s a
real story or unfinished business," Keenan says. "Sam was Frasier’s
best friend, but he has so many real personal issues with Lilith
and with Diane that it made sense to do stories about them."
Diane Chambers, played by Shelley Long, will enter Frasier’s
life again in an upcoming episode. The former Cheers barmaid left
Frasier at the altar many years ago. "It was a delight working with
Shelley again," Keenan says. "To be able to be on the stage
contributing to an episode where she was playing that character
probably for the last time – that was very exciting for me."
The Emmy awards gave the show reason for excitement, as
"Frasier" took home five awards, including one for best comedy.
Ranberg describes the atmosphere on the set the next day as "really
goofy."
"It makes you a little more cocky for a few hours," Ranberg
says, "but then it’s back to work."
"The cheer of winning awards can dissipate rapidly when you’re
dealing with today’s script and the problems no one knows how to
solve," Keenan adds.
Keenan’s first story to air on television dealt with Frasier’s
attempt to match caretaker Daphne with the new manager at the radio
station. The writers had tossed around the idea of opening a show
with a fire alarm. Frasier’s dad, Martin, immediately grabs his
dog, Eddie, and Frasier is left alone with Daphne.
"They have a conversation about her loneliness and how strange
it is for her living in that house; her love life isn’t going well,
and that lights a fire under (Frasier) to do something about it,"
Keenan says. "We couldn’t figure out why Frasier bringing his boss
home would be funny, and it occurred to me that if (his boss)
thought he was out on a date with Frasier, then that would be
funny."
The episode that filmed last week deals with Niles’ attempt to
reconcile with his wife by fixing her parking ticket problem with
the help of some underhanded people.
"Niles is so much a creature of a particular world and mind-set
that when you throw him up against circumstances he’s not prepared
for, his responses are always funny," Keenan says. "Niles’ world
has become so rarefied that the world we know is alien to him."
David Hyde Pierce, the actor that portrays Niles, is far removed
from the stuffiness of his character. "You almost never see him in
a shirt that’s been pressed unless the cameras are rolling,"
Ranberg says. "(The actors) are not really like their
characters.
"I think in Kelsey’s heart, he’s really a beach boy," Ranberg
adds. "They’re a very relaxed group."
The group of writers contributing to "Frasier" have become
comfortable with each other. Ranberg and his writing partner, Anne
Flett-Giordano, were hesitant about appearing at the UCLA Extension
class alone. "We asked the rest of the writing staff if they wanted
to become part of it and we ended up making it a gang thing,"
Ranberg says. "We’ve become such a strong group that we’re insecure
doing things by ourselves."
CLASS: "Tune In Tonight," featuring the writers of "Frasier,"
Monday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. Runs every Monday through March 11. FEE:
$145 for the series. For more info call (310) 206-1542.
Kelsey Grammer stars in the award-winning sitcom "Frasier."
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