Yahoo News Frasier Confronts His Past as a Cheesy TV Talk Show Host — Read Recap
In the years we weren’t watching Frasier, he went on to become a popular Dr. Phil-type talk show host. He’d rather you didn’t bring that up, though.
Thursday’s episode of the Paramount+ revival finds Frasier nervously preparing for his first day as a Harvard professor. He frets over what to wear (“Is herringbone too whimsical?”) before settling on a classic tweed jacket… and quickly ditches it when he sees David is wearing the same thing. When he gets to the classroom, Olivia encourages him to wear a “thinking cap” like the one he used to wear on his old talk show, but he’s determined not to pander to the lowest common denominator. Once he begins his lecture, though, he’s interrupted by students eager to get advice on cheating boyfriends and other salacious topics. He invites anyone not interested in actual learning to leave… and to his horror, about half the class takes him up on the offer.
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Frasier tries to vent to Alan at the bar, but Alan just ignores him, too. Olivia nudges Frasier to add a little razzle-dazzle to his lectures, but he is adamant: “I’m not a dancing bear!” Back at Alan’s office, Alan introduces him to his cat Margaret Scratcher (great name!) and also presses Frasier about why he’s so ashamed of his TV show. Frasier shows him some old clips of his show to illustrate: In Year 1, Frasier was doing honest, hard-hitting therapy with his guests. But by Year 13, he was a preening buffoon who danced around and put on silly costumes to entertain his audience. (“And Tom Arnold is here!”) We see him put on his trademark thinking cap in the clip, too, and he confesses to Alan that he doesn’t want that show to be his entire legacy.
When Frasier shows up for his second day of teaching, Olivia has made a few small adjustments: She’s lit up the classroom like his old TV set, with music blasting as he walks in. He runs out in terror, but Olivia points out that she only hired Frasier because of his celebrity, so: “Dance, bear, dance!” She also admits that she’s locked in a never-ending competition with her overachieving sister at Yale, adding: “I don’t know if you’ve ever dealt with a sibling with whom you have an intense, competitive relationship.” Frasier can only grimace in recognition: “I am familiar with the dynamic.”
A despondent Frasier tells Freddy and Eve he’s thinking of leaving Harvard, which sends Freddy into a mocking lecture: “You’re thinking of dropping out? Of Harvard?!?” Eve volunteers to be a plant in his class and ask him intellectually stimulating questions, but that goes south quickly when David feels left out and the two of them get into a shouting match right there in the classroom. The only way Frasier can calm things down is by — you guessed it — putting on his old thinking cap, to his students’ delight. He feels like he sold out, but Olivia tells him after class that she got that thinking cap years ago when she went to see a taping of his show. She was in his fan club, too. (A Craniac!) He even inspired her to get his Ph.D, which convinces Frasier that he made an impact after all. Never mind that Alan notices there’s still a price tag on the thinking cap. So she made that part up… but she really was a Craniac, though.
Got thoughts on this week’s Frasier? Put on your thinking caps and join us down in the comments.
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