| Frasier Season 8 | |||
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| Country of origin | United States | ||
| No. of episodes | 24 | ||
| Broadcast | |||
| Original channel | NBC | ||
| Original run | November 24, 2000 – May 22, 2001 | ||
| Home video release | |||
| DVD release date | June 13, 2006 | ||
| Season chronology | |||
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The eighth season of Frasier was a 24 episode season, that ran from October 2000 to May 2001, beginning on 24 October 2000.
| № | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 169 | 1 | "And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon (Part 1)" | Pamela Fryman | David Angell & Peter Casey | October 24, 2000 |
| Niles and Daphne, inside Martin's Winnebago, are about to run from Daphne's wedding. As they reach the end of the driveway, they both realise that they cannot run from their responsibilities and bravely choose to go back and face the music. Reluctantly, Daphne confesses her feelings for Niles to Donny, and Niles breaks up with Mel. The next day, both Niles and Daphne are more intimate but more uncomfortable around each other. Daphne receives flowers from Donny, accompanied by a summons, revealing that Donny is suing her for emotional distress and breach of contract. Against Martin's advice, Frasier goes to see Donny, and attempts to persuade him to drop the lawsuit. Unfortunately, he inadvertently reveals his own minor role in events, which only prompts Donny to add him to the lawsuit. Niles, meanwhile, is not faring much better; Mel has no desire to be embarrassed by her husband leaving her for another woman after only four days. As a result, she agrees to grant Niles a divorce, but she has a list of demands: she will end the marriage, after what she deems a suitable a period of time; meanwhile, Niles will play the dutiful husband in public. Niles agrees, but is less than thrilled to hear that their first social function will be their wedding reception, to be held that night. | |||||
| 170 | 2 | "And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon (Part 2)" | Pamela Fryman | David Angell & Peter Casey | October 24, 2000 |
| Daphne is less than pleased to hear about Niles and Mel's arrangement, still less his wedding reception, which means that Niles must cancel a date the two had planned. The reception proves far from enjoyable for the "happy couple". Mel in particular is not pleased to see Frasier, having heard from Donny about his "minor involvement" in their recent unhappiness. She takes spiteful pleasure in pointing out to Niles that, under the terms of their arrangement, he cannot be seen in public with Daphne. When she hears this, Daphne is furious and very upset, rashly wishing she could reverse the last few days. Frasier's attempts to mediate and avoid an argument only sees Niles and Daphne viciously turn on him, angrily blaming him for his interference and for ruining everything. Daphne storms to her room, and Niles, refusing to apologise to Frasier, is thrown out of the apartment. Soon afterwards, Daphne timidly attempts to initiate a conversation with a hurt and unreceptive Frasier, before tearfully apologising. Frasier accepts Daphne's apology and they reconcile. He decides to help her and Niles out once more: if they cannot go out to dinner, he will bring the dinner to them. | |||||
| 171 | 3 | "The Bad Son" | Sheldon Epps | Rob Hanning | October 31, 2000 |
| Frasier espies an attractive woman while travelling on a bus in the rain. He is not quick enough to introduce himself before she disembarks, but he does hear enough of her conversation to gather that her name is Miranda, and she works at a retirement home called The Colonnade. Encouraged by Niles, he decides to go there, and tricks Martin into accompanying him; Martin believes they are on the way to see a basketball game. Frasier finds Miranda, and pretends that he is considering The Colonnade as a home for his father. Later on in the conversation, he asks her for a date, and she accepts. Meanwhile, Martin has been talking to some of the residents, who are playing poker. Frasier, of course, has no real intention of putting Martin into the home; it is only later, on his date with Miranda, that he learns his father has filled in the application. Niles and Daphne have planned a romantic dinner together, hoping to watch a meteor shower. Frasier moves them onto the roof of Elliott Bay Towers, so that he and Miranda can have some privacy. In the course of the evening, the door onto the roof closes, separating Niles and Daphne until the night watchman arrives. | |||||
| 172 | 4 | "The Great Crane Robbery" | Katy Garretson | Gayle Abrams | November 14, 2000 |
| The new owner of KACL is a young computer billionaire, who is a fan of Frasier's radio show. Frasier arranges a meeting at his apartment, so that he can offer some suggestions to improve the show. Once the owner, Todd, arrives and they start talking, Frasier learns that Todd has become rich so quickly that he now finds himself in high society with no idea how to dress, behave or hold conversation. He is clearly in awe of Frasier's own apartment and sense of style, so Frasier offers to act as his mentor. He is subsequently very surprised when his protégé does not merely take advice from him; he replicates his clothes, his car, even the design of his apartment. Niles is struggling to keep up with Mel's demands. She announces that he must be seen to drive her away, by behaving badly and thus humiliating himself in public. Since it is against his nature not to act with the utmost decorum at all times, he finds this demand difficult, and when he finally manages to obey it, Mel's plan backfires spectacularly. | |||||
| 173 | 5 | "Taking Liberties" | Kelsey Grammer | Sam Johnson & Chris Marcil | November 21, 2000 |
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Frasier is perusing the "Help Wanted" section of the newspaper when Niles arrives at Café Nervosa, intent on drowning his sorrows in espresso; he is still trapped in his marriage with Mel, who is still forcing him to act the fool at various social gatherings, now merely out of spite. The latest occasion was at the funeral of a local luminary, who Frasier is interested to learn employed a butler whose services are now available. So it is that Ferguson, a classically trained and refined Englishman from a long line of butlers, comes to live in the Crane household, immediately impressing the family with his polite manner and charming intelligence. He advises Frasier on appropriate gifts to send to the new chairman of the Opera Board, Alan Murchie, to gain his favour and therefore secure a vacant place on the Board. When hearing of Daphne and Niles' clandestine relationship, he expresses a belief that social class remains too strong a presence in such relationships, inevitably dooming them to failure. Frasier decides to hold a pre-opera party, at which his place on the board will hopefully be sealed. Once again, Ferguson's talents prove essential, both in organising the party and ensuring that Martin is removed. Niles arrives to go on a date with Daphne, but unfortunately, Mel has been invited along to the party at the last minute.Daphne begins to despair that the charade will never end and that Niles will not risk his social standing for her. She soon sees, however, that Niles has a breaking point. Cultural references: Frasier concludes the episode with the line "Carry on, Ferguson", a reference to P. G. Wodehouse's book, Carry on, Jeeves. The Wodehouse character, like Ferguson, refers to himself as a "gentleman's gentleman", but he is a valet rather than a butler. |
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| 174 | 6 | "Legal Tender Love and Care" | Pamela Fryman | Saladin K. Patterson | November 28, 2000 |
| Frasier has hired an expensive lawyer to represent him and Daphne in the lawsuit that Donny is bringing against them. He claims to have chosen the best; everyone else believes he chose the prettiest. When Abby arrives to have a meeting with them at Frasier's apartment, she makes the startling announcement that Donny has just called and dropped the case. Daphne and Niles are delighted, but Frasier, though pleased for them, is anxious not to lose the opportunity to get to know Abby better. He suggests a celebratory dinner, and Abby interprets this as being for everyone, so he has to clarify when he walks her to the elevator. Fortunately, she is happy to go out with him; unfortunately, when he receives her bill, he cannot help feeling that he is being overcharged. Martin has his own ideas about how trustworthy lawyers are. Daphne gets another shock soon after the first: while out at dinner with Frasier, Niles, Martin and Abby, she runs into Donny, who announces that he is engaged again. | |||||
| 175 | 7 | "The New Friend" | Scott Ellis | Bob Daily | December 5, 2000 |
| While waiting at a restaurant for Niles to turn up, Frasier espies Roz with a man, and asks if he can join them. Before long, Roz receives a phonecall from her babysitter and has to leave in a hurry, which gives Frasier a few minutes of conversation with her date, Luke. He learns that Luke lives on a boat, having dropped out of Harvard and sailed around the world in search of adventure, and he has plenty of stories to tell. He and Frasier get on well for some time afterwards, until Roz arrives at Frasier's apartment in tears one day and announces that she caught Luke with another woman and dumped him. Frasier knows that he owes it to Roz, who was his friend first, not to continue spending time with Luke, but he is in the middle of helping Luke write his memoirs, and since he does not make good friends very often, he cannot bring himself to end the friendship. He decides to spare Roz's feelings by not telling her this; little does he know that she also has trouble keeping away from him. Martin becomes cross with Niles on discovering that, instead of looking after Eddie while Martin was on a fishing trip, Niles put him in a boarding kennel (although he insists it was a spa). | |||||
| 176 | 8 | "Mary Christmas" | Pamela Fryman | Eric Zicklin | December 12, 2000 |
| It is nearly time for the Seattle Christmas Parade, and Frasier, who as a child viewed this event as marking the official start of Christmas, is keen to co-host the KACL coverage with Kelly Kirkland. He ingratiates himself by inviting her for a meal at his apartment, and prepares dishes that have featured in her Channel 6 show. She is very happy to give him the job, but the following day Kelly announces that she has food poisoning and is unable to host at all. Suddenly, Frasier finds himself co-hosting with Mary Thomas ("Dr. Mary"), recently returned to KACL by popular demand. | |||||
| 177 | 9 | "Frasier's Edge" | David Lee | Jon Sherman & Dan O'Shannon | January 9, 2001 |
| KACL has nine nominations in this year's Seattle Broadcasting Awards, and Frasier is being given the Stephen R. Shafer Lifetime Achievement Award. He receives some flowers and a congratulatory note from his old Harvard mentor, Dr. William Tewkesbury. His analytical mind raises a concern that the note says: "you must be very proud" (not "I am proud of you"). He decides to call on Dr. Tewkesbury before attending the award ceremony, to ask him about a possible subtext in the note. There is none; his secretary wrote it for him. However, the ensuing conversation sets Frasier thinking about his achievements, and he suddenly feels a terrible sense of emptiness. Meanwhile, Martin is doing his best to give Niles constant reassurance that, although Frasier is the one receiving an award, Niles is just as successful. Niles is touched, but finds his efforts a little tiresome. He also seems not to have noticed that Daphne is eating more than usual and starting to gain weight. | |||||
| 178 | 10 | "Cranes Unplugged" | Sheldon Epps | Lori Kirkland | January 16, 2001 |
| In the wake of his conversation with Dr. Tewkesbury, Frasier has decided to stop defining his success by his career, and to focus on his son. To this end, he invites Frederick to stay for the weekend, and makes several plans for edifying activities. He is disappointed when Frederick, now thirteen, arrives and shows no interest in spending time with his father; he prefers watching MTV, playing on his Game Boy, and talking on the phone with his friends. Frasier, frustrated, decides to take his son on a camping trip, so they can bond away from all electronic distractions. When Frederick protests, saying he and Grandpa never do things together, Frasier decides to bring Martin as well. Meanwhile, Daphne is trying to set Roz up with Niles' squash partner, an attractive surgeon called Jack, but Roz is distressed when he cancels at the last minute, claiming a medical emergency. | |||||
| 179 | 11 | "Motor Skills" | Pamela Fryman | Story: Sam Johnson & Chris Marcil Teleplay: Eric Zicklin |
January 30, 2001 |
| After an embarrassing occasion when Frasier's car broke down and he had to admit to his date that he knew nothing about engines, he and Niles decide to attend an evening class in basic car maintenance. The experience reminds them of being back at school, but this time they struggle and decide to quit. However, when Daphne and Martin reveal to Niles and Frasier respectively just how proud they are, they wonder if their decision to quit was too hasty. Roz persuades them to try an approach that they never used at school, and which they held in great contempt: coasting. Roz has bought a Dalmatian puppy for Alice, and asks Martin for some help looking after him. However, Roz becomes annoyed when Martin starts to become overbearing in his efforts, even to the extent of naming the dog before Alice has a chance. | |||||
| 180 | 12 | "The Show Must Go Off" | Robert H. Egan | Mark Reisman | February 6, 2001 |
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While attending a science fiction convention for the benefit of his son, Frasier espies Jackson Hedley (Derek Jacobi), an actor whom he remembers from childhood; it was this man who first introduced him to the delights of Shakespeare. He has long since given up the stage, and now plays an android called Tobor in the television show Space Patrol. Frasier thinks (and Niles later agrees with him) that this was a great loss to the theatre, and the brothers decide to revive Hedley's career by producing a one-man show for him. Hedley is delighted by the proposition. However, when they see him in action, the brothers start to have their doubts as to whether it is really such a good idea. |
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| 181 | 13 | "Sliding Frasiers" | Pamela Fryman | Dan O'Shannon & Bob Daily | February 13, 2001 |
| Frasier is in Café Nervosa trying to decide whether to wear a smart suit or a casual sweater to go speed dating. The episode has two parallel storylines, which interchange throughout. They diverge at the point where he makes the decision: (1) Frasier chooses the suit. He then collides with an attractive woman on the way out of the café, falls and injures his shoulder. The woman, Monica, takes him to hospital, and he returns home afterwards in an excellent mood. He then proceeds to dote on Monica, sending her endless flowers, poems and chocolates. At first, she is touched by his attention, but by the time they attend the Heart Association benefit dinner together on Valentine's Day, she is becoming tired of it. Meanwhile, Roz has been getting on very well with Mike Schafer, a KACL employee whom she encountered in Nervosa. (2) Frasier chooses the sweater, and while Monica collides with Mike in the background, he goes speed dating and has a miserable evening. He returns home later in a foul mood, which is not helped by Daphne and Niles each planning something special for the other for Valentine's Day. Roz suggests Frasier join her for the benefit dinner, and offers to bring a date for him. He is horrified when he discovers that this blind date is one of the women he encountered speed dating. | |||||
| 182 | 14 | "Hungry Heart" | Kelsey Grammer | Gayle Abrams | February 20, 2001 |
| Kenny appears at Frasier's apartment in a panic, and explains that he has a date with a young woman he met in a bar. Frasier, realising that Kenny does not want to jeopardise his marriage, offers to go to the restaurant and make his apologies to this Janis. What he does not realise is that Janis left a message on Kenny's answering machine at home, and Kenny's wife went first to the restaurant, chased Janis away, then sat and waited for her husband. Frasier arrives, and assumes that she is Janis, and she decides not to tell him the truth. They end up dining together, and Frasier believes he has saved Kenny's marriage. However, when they decide to meet again, Kenny starts to suspect that his wife is having an affair. Meanwhile, Daphne has now gained so much weight that even Niles cannot ignore it, especially when she has a fall in the apartment and it takes all three Crane men to lift her back up. Niles promises to help her lose weight, but Daphne is unable to stop eating just like that. | |||||
| 183 | 15 | "Hooping Cranes" | Kelsey Grammer | Jon Sherman | February 27, 2001 |
| Frasier receives four free tickets to a Sonics basketball game from a grateful caller, and Martin is delighted, thinking his son put a lot of effort into getting them. They both go with Niles to the game, and Martin sells the fourth ticket. Both his sons find the experience tedious, and insist on repeatedly switching seats. Then Niles is shocked to hear that his seat number has been selected to attempt a shot at the basket at half-time, with the chance to win a pickup truck. Everyone else is even more shocked when he makes the shot successfully, and he spends the next few days enjoying the notoriety. Frasier is pleased for his brother initially, but soon becomes annoyed at all the glory he is receiving for a fluke shot. Meanwhile, Roz has started dating a Frenchman who speaks no English. | |||||
| 184 | 16 | "Docu. Drama" | David Lee | Sam Johnson & Chris Marcil | March 6, 2001 |
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Roz has the chance to create her own documentary, and she has decided to use the theme of outer space. Frasier persuades her to let him act as narrator, assuring her that he has no problem working for her for a change. However, at the first meeting they have with the scriptwriters, Frasier makes many suggestions and Roz dismisses them all. This leads to an argument, in which she accuses him of being overbearing and he quits the programme. The atmosphere between them is tense for a while afterwards, with neither agreeing to apologise or back down. Then Roz announces that she has replaced Frasier with former astronaut John Glenn (playing himself). He is furious, but determined to prove that she was shutting him out deliberately. Meanwhile, Martin and Niles decide to build a kite together for the recently reinstated spring kite festival. They are extremely proud of their dragon, but Martin forbids Niles from testing it outdoors. Niles, however, cannot resist the temptation of a handy balcony. |
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| 185 | 17 | "It Takes Two to Tangle" | Wil Shriner | Rob Hanning | March 27, 2001 |
| Bryce Academy is in danger of closure, and Frasier and Niles are desperate to find benefactors to help save their old school. Having no success with alumni, they decide to organise a party for some wealthy friends of theirs. Unfortunately, almost all the guests turn out to be short of funds themselves, but then the brothers espy Penelope Janvier, a rich widow with her own foundation. Martin meets her first, and she asks him out, much to his sons' surprise, although they realise this could prove useful to them. They are even more surprised some time later, when Martin returns from dinner with Penelope, and has another woman with him (Estelle). He announces that he plans to juggle the women, as he has seen Frasier do. This turns out not to be the only potential problem for the brothers, when they meet Penelope's obstructive son, William. | |||||
| 186 | 18 | "Forgotten But Not Gone" | Pamela Fryman | David Lloyd | April 17, 2001 |
| On the night of Niles' inauguration for a second term as Corkmaster of the Wine Club, Frasier arrives late and announces his resignation. It turns out that he plans to host a new segment on KACL at the end of Gil Chesterton's Restaurant Beat, called the Wine Corner, and he prefers not to do both. Frasier invites the members of the club to call into the show to enliven the discussion. He is subsequently very disappointed to receive no calls from them whatsoever. He discovers that Niles, annoyed at being upstaged at his inauguration, is using a rule in the Wine Club constitution to prohibit all Wine Club members from calling in. This leads to a rift between the brothers, which Martin refuses to tolerate. He, meanwhile, has a temporary new physical therapist, Frederica, who works him very hard but provides excellent food. | |||||
| 187 | 19 | "Daphne Returns" | Pamela Fryman | Dan O'Shannon & Bob Daily | May 1, 2001 |
| Daphne is returning home from the weight spa after her recent struggles with weight, and Niles goes to collect her. He is excited about their planned weekend getaway, and the chance that he will finally get to consummate his relationship with Daphne. Returning from the spa, however, Daphne reveals that her therapist, Gloria, informed her that her recent weight gain stemmed from her own insecurity about her relationship with Niles. Niles is hurt and defensive about this revelation, and so Daphne’s welcome-home party is an unusually tense affair. In the end, Niles’ touchy and mean-spirited remarks about Gloria’s advice begin to set Daphne’s mood on edge, until she angrily tells Niles to leave. The next day, Frasier visits Niles at his office to help sort matters out. He suggests to Niles that Gloria’s advice might be sound, as Daphne has seven years of Niles’ fantasy to live up to; Niles insists, however, that he has a realistic appraisal of Daphne and her virtues. Niles and Frasier revisit several previous episodes in flashback: "Dinner at Eight", "Moon Dance", "First Date", with the later incarnations of the characters pasted in by computers. It soon becomes clear that, contrary to his protests, Niles has placed Daphne on a pedestal and has formed an unrealistically idealised impression of her and her virtues. Niles is shaken. Frasier suggests that this is because Niles is afraid of embracing the real, flawed Daphne in case her flaws prove too much for the relationship to survive, thus resulting in Niles having spent the previous seven years pining for nothing more than a dream. Niles decides to sort things out with Daphne, and his approach to the problem is direct but effective. | |||||
| 188 | 20 | "The Wizard and Roz" | Sheldon Epps | Saladin K. Patterson | May 8, 2001 |
| Frasier has been receiving some informal therapy from Dr. Tewkesbury, his old Harvard mentor, whom he holds in the highest esteem. He runs into him unexpectedly one day at Café Nervosa, and introduces him to Roz. He is subsequently startled when, calling round to Roz's apartment a few days later, he finds Dr. Tewksbury there with Roz, wearing one of her robes. It turns out that they got on well after that initial introduction. After that, Frasier cannot get the image of his esteemed mentor in a silk robe out of his head. Daphne makes Niles promise not to go to Nervosa after she has a premonition that something bad will happen to him there. She later catches him in there with a coffee, and is very angry. They decide to call in a specialist, who can apply scientific methods to test her alleged psychic abilities. | |||||
| 189 | 21 | "Semi-Decent Proposal" | Katy Garretson | Lori Kirkland | May 15, 2001 |
| While shopping for a DVD player, Frasier meets an attractive woman called Claire. He soon discovers that she is a friend of Lana, former prom queen of his school whom he dated briefly in the past. Claire confides in him that she is organising a surprise birthday party for Lana, and asks Frasier if he can bring her, pretending it is a friendly date; Frasier agrees, but only to gain access to Claire, whom he finds more appealing. Unfortunately, he does not realise that Lana already has someone in mind to match up with Claire, so once at the party he has to compete for her attention. Lana is also looking for someone to tutor her son in U.S. History. | |||||
| 190 | 22 | "A Passing Fancy" | Kelsey Grammer | Jon Sherman | May 15, 2001 |
| Lana has agreed to ensure that Frasier gets a chance with Claire, if he tutors her son Kirby in U.S. History so that he gets a passing grade. Frasier finds Kirby difficult to motivate, until he introduces him to Roz. They come to their own arrangement: Kirby promises to study hard if Frasier can persuade Roz to accompany him to his prom. Roz has already asked Frasier for a particular day off, so she can queue for tickets to a Bruce Springsteen concert, and he has refused. Now, therefore, he offers to get the tickets for her if she will do this for Kirby. All these arrangements are secrets, but they can only stay under wraps for so long. | |||||
| 191 | 23 | "A Day in May" | Kelsey Grammer | Eric Zicklin & Lori Kirkland | May 22, 2001 |
| On this particular day, the three Crane men are all in different places: Frasier is reluctantly helping Lana as she tries to sell a house, despite the depressed owner driving away all potential buyers; Niles and Daphne take Eddie for a walk in the park, and Niles meets Jim, an attractive dog owner whom Daphne sees there often; Martin is attending the parole hearing of the man who shot him years ago. | |||||
| 192 | 24 | "Cranes Go Caribbean" | Kelsey Grammer | Mark Reisman & Rob Hanning | May 22, 2001 |
| Frasier is planning to take Claire on a trip to Belize. He has a collection of brochures which Martin finds, and he also decides to go, hoping to do some fishing. Frasier discusses the plan with his brother, and Daphne overhears and assumes Niles is planning to go with her, to celebrate one year of their relationship. In the end, they all go, but Frasier and Claire arrive late after missing their flight; Lana drove them to the airport and her impatient driving caused an accident. Frasier has increasing difficulty enjoying himself, arriving late and discovering that his special room has been given away, that his restaurant table is gone, and that most of the fish on the menu has run out. Martin, however, has great fun fishing, and Niles and Daphne sample the experience of public nudity, not realising that there is a fisherman nearby with a telescopic camera lens. | |||||
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