Frasier / Tropes T to Z

T

• Take Our Word for It: Maris, when it became clear that no actual appearance of her could match the stories.
  • "The Show Where Woody Shows Up": In an homage to The Taming of the Shrew, Frasier describes the karaoke night with Gil, Noel and Woody ending in a rousing number of "Anything You Can Do." Subverted during the credits gag, when we see (but not hear) Gil and Noel's drunken duet.
  • Hilariously subverted with the painting of Niles as a satyr. For most of the episode, the face of the painting is kept away from the viewer - only to have the state trooper reveal it at the end when he seizes it as evidence since Maris used it as part of a gambit to flee the US to avoid her trial.
• Take That!: Niles comments on Alistair Burke's talent as an opera director by telling the others, "He once staged a Philip Glass opera and no one left!"
• Talk About the Weather: In the episode "Boo!", Martin has had a heart attack and doesn't want Ronee to know. Ronee lampshades that she Hates Small Talk with her elderly mother - which prompts Martin to engage in it himself, trying to avoid the subject of his "cardiac event".
  Martin: No. So, uh, good weather over there in Spokane?
  Ronee: God, no. It rained the entire time. I basically just sat there and made boring small talk with my mother. God, I hate small talk.
  (awkward pause)
  Martin: Oh, tell me. Rained here some, too.
  This continues for some time until Ronee figures out something's wrong.
• Talk About That Thing: "Niles/Daphne/Dad, can you help me in the kitchen?"
• Talking through Technique: Nicos and Crystal in "Beware of Greeks". She turns up at his wedding rehearsal dinner, splutters helplessly... and then starts juggling bread rolls with him. That's enough to convince him to leave his fiancée.
• Talk Like a Pirate: In "Roz's Turn," Frasier and Niles briefly talk in pirate accents while helping Roz record a promo.
• Tangled Family Tree: Martin refers to (a hypothetical) one in "Lilith Needs a Favor."
  Martin: Well, I bet if you say "No" she'll go to Niles. And Niles'll say "No" for sure. Which means only one thing. (gets a worried look) She'll come to the source. Me. The fountainhead.
  Frasier: What?
  Martin: Can you imagine? Lilith's and my kid would be brother to you and Niles and Freddie.
  Frasier: What are you talking about?
  Martin: And if you and Lilith got back together, you'd be his step-father and his brother and Niles would be your son and his own uncle. (morbidly fascinated) It's almost worth doing just so that I can tell the story.
• Teen Rebellion: In one episode, Niles realizes he never had a rebellious phase as a teenager. Feeling he missed out, he decides to eat a pot-laced brownie. Unfortunately, his dad eats it before he has the chance.
• The Tell: Niles' nose bleeds when he's broken his ethical code. Likewise, when Frasier has knowingly broken his ethical code, he starts having attacks of nausea.
  Niles: That wasn't a sniff, it was a snort of contempt.
  Frasier: Snorts go out, that was in!
• Temporary Substitute: The show has done this once, in the episode "Head Game." Originally written for Frasier, it was rewritten for Niles due to Kelsey Grammer being in rehab. The opening scene featuring Frasier that explained his absence was filmed many weeks later.
• Terrible Interviewees Montage:
  • The first episode of the show, and again in a later season episode where Daphne moves out and they need to find a new housemate.
  • Also after Frasier hires a matchmaker, he goes on a series of terrible dates. He ends up falling for... the matchmaker.
  • Frasier has a Terrible Producers Montage when Roz leaves to produce Bulldog's show, including an old woman smoking like a chimney, a Crazy Cat Lady, a Dumb Blonde, a Nervous Wreck reduced to Inelegant Blubbering by the stress of the job, and an old man who falls asleep (and later dies) on the job.
• That Came Out Wrong: A common usage of humor, especially when Niles is talking to Daphne. But Frasier does it as well, like when visiting the fertility clinic in "Lilith Needs a Favor". Another patient asks if he's been there before. Frasier, who's filling in a form, says he's been doing it (filling in forms) since he was twelve. It takes a nudge from Lilith to clue him in what he just said.
• That Makes Me Feel Angry: In damn near every episode. It makes sense though, since two of the main characters are psychiatrists, leading them to constantly discuss their feelings with each other, as well as encouraging everyone else to do the same. Frasier himself, being particularly self-absorbed, brings this trope to staggering heights.
  "I AM WOUNDED!"
• That One Case: Martin continued to pore over the Weeping Lotus Case during retirement, and eventually solved it with a bit of help from Frasier. Admittedly Frasier's aid consisted of accidentally rearranging the crime scene photos so that Martin realized what he'd been missing, then coming up with a theory that the woman had been killed by a chimpanzee trained to use a gun (she wasn't).
• That Was Not a Dream: "Frasier Crane's Day Off". Daphne inverts, subverts and lampshades the Trope after Frasier raced to the studio in a fever and drug induced mania and made an utter fool of himself on the air (Roz: "Captain Kirk's got control of the bridge and he's gone insane.") When Frasier wakes up, Daphne reassures him it didn't happen and it was all a dream.
  Martin: Why'd you tell him it was a dream?
  Daphne: No fun telling him the truth now, when he's all doped up. I'll wait til tomorrow morning, when he's good and lucid!
• The Friends Who Never Hang : Due to the character's positions, Martin is almost never seen (and never alone) with Frasier's colleagues (except Roz, with whom he shares a nice friendship). Daphne and Bulldog only share one story.
• Thing-O-Meter: Niles snarks that the psychic researcher they've invited over will be bringing a "ghost-o-meter" (long "o" like "owe"). Daphne rejoins that it's called a "ghost-om-eter" (short "o" like "thermometer").
• The Thing That Would Not Leave:
  • Most of the subplot with Daphne's irritating mother in the later seasons of the show involved her greatly over-staying her welcome when staying with Niles and Daphne. Daphne's brothers also fell into this trope, but mostly because they really were ungrateful and obnoxious spongers who barged into Frasier's apartments and took unreasonable liberties whilst they were there.
  • Although he doesn't stay with Frasier, in "The Show Where Woody Shows Up" Woody from Cheers becomes something like this. After they meet by coincidence and have a wonderful evening catching up and reminiscing, Frasier gradually realises after spending more time with Woody that the two don't really have anything in common and finds their increasingly frequent hang-outs ever more torturous, but doesn't want to hurt Woody's feelings by admitting it. It's played with, however, since Woody ends up admitting that he basically feels exactly the same way about the situation, only he thought that Frasier was the one enjoying himself and didn't want to hurt his feelings. The two basically end up acknowledging that they had a great time that first night (but only that first night) and decide to part ways, maybe to catch up "in another ten years or so."
• Think Unsexy Thoughts:
  • Frasier and Kate Costas are trying to get over their mutual lust after their affair nearly loses them their jobs. Attempting to avoid the press by taking a service elevator, they get stuck and soon discover the elevator is full of the belongings of a romance novelist who's moving house, and a few accidents later they're in a mood-lit compartment with sultry posters on the walls, reeking of spilt musk oil, and with a double mattress taking up most of the floor.
  • Niles' advice to Frasier when he's trying to resist Lilith;
    Niles: Do you remember when we were young and we found that dead horse, crawling with maggots? Hold on to that image, you can ride that horse to safety!
    Frasier: You're right. When it comes to unpleasant images, you can't beat a dead horse.
  • In an episode when Niles was desperate for sex, Daphne makes one of her typical Innocent Innuendo remarks that sends Niles' mind off to fantasy land. Frasier brings him back down to Earth with the phrase "Grandma in a teddy."
• Three Is Company: Happens occasionally, most notably in Season 11's "I'm Listening," when Frasier repeatedly overhears Martin and Ronee's private conversations.
• The Three Faces of Adam: Niles is The Hunter (brash and ambitious), Frasier is The Lord (wise, but pompous) and Martin is The Prophet (grouchy and experienced).
• Title Drop: The names of the episodes will often be mentioned in the show itself, whether by the title cards following each act break or by the characters themselves.
• Token Houseguest: The series centers around the Crane family: Martin and his sons Frasier and Niles, who are joined by Martin's physical therapist Daphne.
• Too Awesome to Use: Played straight, then touchingly subverted with the 1945 Château Pétrus in "Something Borrowed, Someone Blue".
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Cam Winston in "Mother Load: Part 2." In the other episodes where he appeared, Frasier and Cam's rivalry is motivated by their surprisingly similar personalities and interests. In this episode, however, Cam suddenly turns into a demagogue who's selfishly and arrogantly willing to use people's patriotism to turn them against Frasier.
• Totally Radical: Whenever Frasier or Niles try to be "cool," this is inevitably the result.
  Niles: Who was that babe-o-rama?
  Frasier: Niles, please don't try to be hip. You remind me of Bob Hope when he dresses up as the Fonz.
• Touché: Niles had heart surgery, and Frasier made a promise to God to be nice to Niles if he lived. Niles then acted insufferably (over his fear of what might happen again), and Frasier wanted to lay into his brother, but felt he couldn't break his promise. Then he found a loophole, and felt it was enough. But it turned out their father already talked Niles out of it. Frasier then just said "Well played, God. I'll see you at Easter."
• Tough Room: Depends on the situation. If Frasier or Niles make a deliberately highbrow, inaccessible joke, they'll both laugh at it but be met with blank stares or frowns from everyone else. However, if they make a joke that's easily understood by the others (most often put-downs), the others can be seen to smile and laugh quite often.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Drinks in both cases; Sherry for Frasier and Niles, Ballantine for Martin. Frasier running out of sherry was used as a metaphor at the end of the series, as was the Ballantine brewery closing around Daphne's wedding.
• Triangles Are the Worst Instrument: * When Frasier is tasked to write a theme song for his radio show, he promises Roz that there will be a part for her guitar-playing boyfriend. Eventually, he creates an over-the top song requiring a choir, a full backing orchestra and Niles doing a spoken-word part in the recording booth, but he forgets about the guitar-playing dude. He does get included in the recording after being given a triangle... and thinking it looks complicated.
• Truth-Telling Session: In one Christmas Episode, Frasier's current girlfriend has a Jewish My Beloved Smother, and at the climax have a massive teary-eyed airing out of dirty laundry in front of him and Martin. When Frasier offers to mediate, the mother turns and smoothly tells him, "Relax! We're nearly finished!" At the end, they hug and reaffirm their mother-daughter love. After they leave, Frasier and Martin attempt to reconcile in the same way but fail badly. Frasier cries, "We shouldn't have tried it! WE'RE NOT JEWISH!"
• TV Genius: As his character had to move closer to normality when he became the lead in his own series, Frasier himself is only intermittently this when his social aspirations get the better of him - as he himself says, "I'm a teamster compared to [Niles]" and, in a direct reference to Cheers, "I used to have a regular bar and a regular bar stool, I even had a tab". He does seem to be largely aware of his social shortcomings compared to "normal" people like his father and Roz, while at the same time occasionally happily going to barbecues with his work colleagues or joining his father down at his local bar for a beer. Even Niles's self-awareness increases throughout the series.
• TV Telephone Etiquette: Of course, Frasier frequently hung up on callers whenever worked best for the punchline with no use of words like "Goodbye". A specific example (crossed with fridge logic) occurred in "Policy Story".
  Martin: Hey, Charlie, yeah, Marty Crane, how ya doing? (less than a second long pause) Hey, listen, Charlie, I'm trying to track down a woman officer who was on traffic tonight, uh, near...
  Frasier: Blanchett and Fourth.
  Martin: Blanchett and Fourth. (less than a second long pause) Great, OK, thanks. (Hangs up) Her name's Maureen Cutler, and she usually goes to McGinty's after work. Charlie said she's probably there now. (The fridge logic, of course, is how exactly Charlie managed to tell Martin so much information in so little time.)
• 24-Hour Party People: Every time Frasier or Niles hold a party, plenty of people show up who the audience has never seen before, seemingly just to fill party space. These people often leave offended; one wonders how the Crane brothers keep meeting these folks! On the other hand, their social circle is frequently described as being composed of interchangeable, shallow, insincere socialites who will turn up to whatever gathering will make them look good.
• Two Decades Behind: The show's portrayal of talk radio represents the climate of the 70's and 80's, before the politicization of the medium sparked by the launch of Rush Limbaugh.
  • Zig-zagged in terms of technology. On one hand the series was far ahead of its time in its use of cell phones, with almost every main character owning one as early as the late 90s. However, with a few exceptions like Frasier trying to write the foreword for Dr. Honey Snow's new book, and Daphne chatting with Donny, it seems as though nobody in the main cast regularly uses a computer or accesses the internet despite the series running through 2004. Interestingly, the presence of computers used by the main cast actually diminishes in the later seasons.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: The majority of the episodes have this structure. Typically, there's the main A plot and the secondary B plot, one of them focusing on Frasier and the other on one of the four other major characters. The main plot isn't necessarily about Frasier, though: Niles especially gets plenty of A plots as his character becomes more rounded. One episode ("Death and the Dog", Season 4) hangs a lampshade on it. The events of the episode are being told as a Whole Episode Flashback to a caller, and Roz wonders why Frasier is telling the caller about her date in the episode.
• Tyrannical Homeowners' Association: The apartment-dwellers in Elliot Bay Towers have their equivalent of a HOA, a home-owners' committee headed by a woman who is both tyrannical and petty. The apartment-owners can't complain or object to her decisions, as their terms of residence grant these powers to their local HOA-equivalent. Frasier resorts to getting his father to stand for election to her position, when the chance is offered.

U-V

• Uncle Sam Wants You: Frasier was dressed as Uncle Sam in "Crock Tales" and did the pose specifically at Martin's request.
  Frasier: Dad, I bought you these headphones, so that I wouldn't be subjected to your sports drivel. Please put them on.
  Martin: All right, I will. But only if you say it.
  (Frasier sighs and points his finger at Martin.)
  Frasier: I WANT YOU... to wear those headphones!
• Underdressed for the Occasion: Referred to in several episodes in regards to the many fancy restaurants Frasier and Niles love. In one episode, they realize Martin will be underdressed for their restaurant reservation, Frasier calls to find out their "minimum dress code". The trope is inverted when, after they find that they don't have a reservation, Martin takes the boys to one of his favorite eateries, where the host cuts off Frasier and Niles's ties because they are overdressed for the occasion.
• Under Strange Management: Frasier and Niles (two psychiatrists with no experience in the restaurant business) take over a restaurant— and their father later recounts it as the craziest blunder they ever make.
• Unexpected Positive: Niles gets a toothache, but a dental X-ray revealed no problems with his teeth, so he decides to get a full physical, on the off chance that the toothache could be referred pain from a more serious condition. Roz spends the entire episode pointing out that's a complete overreaction to a simple problem, while all the while Niles seems to beat impossible odds, which he reads as a premonition that his very unlikely referred pain issue might come to pass as well. It turns out Niles was entirely right; he has a heart condition so severe that his doctor refers him to emergency surgery.
• The Unfettered: Bebe Glazer. She will do anything to see Frasier's career thrive. Risk falling off a window ledge, kill a bird with a jawbreaker, manipulate Frasier and any one else, she'll do it. Only when Bebe has to quit smoking does she temporarily stop being unfettered.
  Bebe: That's it, is it? I'm not virtuous enough for you, not noble. Fine, quit! Next time you need a deal made, call the Dalai Lama. A long time ago, I had to make a choice between being a good agent and a good person, because trust me, you can't be both! So forgive me if I don't have time to make everybody warm and fuzzy. I am just too busy spending every waking minute pulling any string, pulling any shameless tricks I can to make my clients' dreams come true! I AM A STARMAKER!
• Un-Installment: The title of "Agents in America, Part III" is a reference to the Angels in America dyad.
• Unnaturally Blue Lighting: For some reason, most of Season 7 has a blueish tint on the screen (mainly in the in-door scenes).
• Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Niles, Daphne, and Mel.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Niles and Daphne, which rose, fell, switched back and forth, found new ways to express itself every few episodes, and progressed through Daphne's obliviousness; both of them being unwilling to even communicate their feelings, much less act on them, because Niles was married to Maris; the slow, lingering death of Niles and Maris's marriage, complete with much backsliding, temporary reconciliations, and emotional and psychological abuse; heartwrenching silent years of Unrequited Love on Niles' part; and Daphne coming within an inch of marrying her Romantic False Lead; all before they so much as expressed their attraction to each other. It took another couple seasons for them to finally stabilize and marry.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Frasier himself can skirt in-and-out of this, due to his snobbishness, often unpleasant behavior, and tendency to constantly get himself into trouble through boneheaded decisions and lies. Same occasionally goes for Niles.
• The Unreveal:
  • A season 4 episode has Frasier worrying about whether he should advise Niles to reconcile with Maris. He decides that if he wants to know what Maris thinks he's going to have to "go to the source". Cut to him in Cafe Nervosa, apparently waving hello to a thin, well-dressed blonde woman... who walks straight past him. He's actually there to meet Maris's housekeeper, Marta.
  • In Season 11 episode "No Sex Please, We're Skittish", Roz tells Niles she slept with Frasier. Niles, understandably, is shocked, but not too shocked ("Well, When the wolf and the lamb work together, it's only a matter of time before the wolf gets his way... I hope you were gentle with him.") Later, Frasier tells Niles to "brace himself", and tells him that he slept with Roz.
    Niles: (feigning shock badly) NO WAY! You and ROZ?
• Unseen No More: Whilst the show's most famous The Ghost, Maris, remained unseen throughout, Roz's mother finally made an on screen appearance after six seasons of mentions, and Daphne's mum and dad made their first appearances in the finales of Seasons 7 and 9 respectively.
• Unusual Euphemism: Done straight on occasion, usually with Frasier and Niles' expansive vocabulary and literary wit. Sometimes played with, as seen in with the Gaggenau reference in Poor Man's Porn above.
  Frasier: Truth be told, it’s been a while since, I, uh... (covers Alice’s ears) romped with abandon through the perfumed gardens of Eros.
  Roz: Next time you say something like that, cover my ears.
  • Just before that line, to avoid traumatizing Alice (Roz's daughter), Frasier uses the word "hug" to mean "sex." When Roz asks him if he got hugs while married to Lilith, he replies that he had to settle for a weekly "handshake."
• Variations on a Theme Song: At the end of the episode where the station manager decides to switch KACL to "all Latino music, all the time!", the Theme Tune is changed to a Latino version, with lyrics in Spanish.
• Viewers Are Geniuses: This show definitely qualifies, and gets a special mention for being one of the shows that pulled it off well while still getting high ratings. Frasier, Niles, and some of their highbrow friends frequently make reference to all manner of obscure, highbrow things, often within the subcultural worlds of opera, wine appreciation, and psychology. They're particularly full of clever puns or sassy insults that show off their knowledge, though these can be difficult to follow for the non-elite.
• Vignette Episode: "Three Valentines", which shows a different story set on Valentines Day in each of the episode's three acts — the first an almost completely silent skit with Niles preparing for a date, the second having Frasier trying figure out how to respond to a woman giving him mixed signals, and the last with Martin and Daphne having an inane argument in a restaurant.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • Frasier and Niles Crane, although they're brothers, so it's not as much of an oddity. They snark at and insult each other almost every time they speak, but seem to view it as some form of strange etiquette and assurance of the other's state of mind, with one often complimenting the other's skill with words after a particularly witty jab with a raised cup or knowing grin. If one really impresses the other with an insult, the insultee will go so far as to say "touche".
  • Also, over the seasons Niles and Roz developed into this after starting out as enemies. In an outstanding instance of Character Development, the insults they threw back and forth in later seasons are exactly like the ones they threw back in season 1, but their delivery and demeanor changed subtly over the years from vicious contempt to good-natured teasing.
• Vocal Evolution:
  • Frasier's voice gets flatter and less "plummy"-sounding as the series goes on, to the point that he's basically speaking with Kelsey Grammer's natural voice in the last couple of seasons. This is given a Snap Back for the revival show and he sounds as snooty as ever.
  • Daphne definitely plays up the "Mancunian" accent Jane Leeves devised for her early on before it mellows into a more generic English accent (closer to Leeves' own) with time.
  • Bebe Glaser's Mid-Atlantic accent becomes more pronounced each time we see her, so that by the end she sounds like a young Katharine Hepburn on speed.
• Volleying Insults:
  • Frasier isn't afraid to have polite slinging matches with Niles when sufficiently riled. Then there's Niles and Roz, who do it sincerely at first, then make a sport of it long after they've warmed up to each other.
  • Roz and Julia during the tenth season, including one hysterical scene in which they try complimenting each other and end up hurling insults - and loving it.
    Julia: Well, you certainly made an impression on me. I remember, I kept thinking: "Who did she sleep with to get this job?" And then I found out. Everybody!
    Roz: That's a good one! [they laugh] You know, there's a plunger in the bathroom, what do you say we go look for your career?
    Julia: Great! While we're in there I can get your phone number.
    Roz: Don't bother, it's 1-800-BITE ME.
    Julia: "Bite me," that's the best that you've got?
    Roz: Oh, I could spend half an hour on your hair.
    Julia: Well, you should have spent half an hour on your hair.
    Roz: Oh, really? (They laugh.)
    Waitress: It's closing time, ladies, I'm afraid you'll have to leave.
    Roz: But we're just warming up.
    Julia: You know, there's a place down the street that, uh, is open all night.
    Roz: Just like your mouth?
    Julia: Just like your legs? (Julia leaves.)
    Roz: Hey, wait up!

W-X

• Wacky Marriage Proposal: The show did this when Niles proposed to Daphne. Although the build-up throughout the episode was leading to one of these, it was ultimately subverted; it turned out when Daphne arrived at the apartment that she had the flu and a roaring headache, so Niles got everyone out and ended up just proposing to her quietly. Frasier tackling the trumpeter was the best part of that.
• Waxing Lyrical: When Cam Winston one-ups Frasier by hanging a giant American flag over his balcony, obstructing Frasier's view of Seattle, Frasier finds himself awake at the wee hours of the morning because of the giant flag, and has this to say about it:
  Frasier: It's nearly dawn's early light... and our flag is still there.
• Weapon for Intimidation: In one episode, Niles needs to get Maris a gun for protection. After not being able to procure one, he buys a starter's pistol since having any kind of gun would make her feel safe.
• Weight Loss Salad: When the radio station has a weight loss competition, at the first weigh-in, Frasier has actually gained weight, which causes him to exclaim "Impossible, I added a salad to every meal!"
• Wham Episode: "The Last Time I Saw Maris", as Niles and Maris go into separation, which ultimately results three seasons later in their divorce.
• Wham Line:
  • Frasier is high on painkillers as Daphne gives him a massage in "Back Talk". The following lines even shocked the studio audience, who gave out a loud Gasp! What makes Frasier's line particularly whammy is that it comes in the middle of a comedy of misunderstandings plot (Daphne overhears Frasier saying he loves her, not realizing he didn't mean it in a romantic sense), which were very typical of Frasier, and which were usually resolved by the end of the episode so that status quo could return. The viewers most likely didn't predict that a simple line in a seemingly throwaway scene in a seemingly generic episode would finally lead to resolving one of the series' overarching plot arcs.
    Daphne: When I said to your father "Dr. Crane's in love with me," he said it's been going on for six years now. What did he mean by that?
    Frasier: (dreamily) Oh that ... he meant Niles.
    (Kaboom!)
    Daphne: What?!
    Frasier: (dreamily) Niles ... he's crazy about you.
    (Cue Daphne BSOD)
  • Later, after Frasier tells Niles that Daphne is in love with him in the second part of "Something Borrowed, Someone Blue", another wham line caused the studio audience to GASP! again, even more shocked. After Daphne told Niles how upset she was that Frasier told him how she felt about him, Niles responded, "No, Daphne, I'm glad he told me - because I love you."
  • Two from the episode "Halloween":
    • In the beginning, where Roz delivers one to Frasier.
    Frasier: "Sorry" just doesn't cut it, Roz! What possible explanation can there be for this level of unprofessionalism?
    Roz: I think I'm pregnant.
    • In the ending, when everyone is speculating on who the father of Roz's baby is, after Frasier blows the secret that Roz might be pregnant.
    Frasier: No! Listen, everybody, I am not the father of Roz's baby! In fact, we don't even know for sure if there is a baby!
    Roz: (appearing) We do now.
  • "Bristle While You Work" has a deadly serious one:
    Niles: (frivolously) Okay, lay it on me. I'm prepared for the worst. Is it my heart?
    Doctor: I'm afraid so.
    Niles: Ah-ha! (Delayed Reaction) What?
    Doctor: There is an anomaly in your EKG. I'm gonna have to check you into the hospital.
    Niles: (lightly) Oh, uh, well, hmm. Uh, I guess I can clear my schedule. How's, how's tomorrow afternoon?
    Doctor: (very serious) No, no. Niles? You need to go right now.
  • "No Sex, Please, We're Skittish" after Daphne tells Niles she got a positive result on the ovulation test:
    Niles: This isn't the ovulating test, this is the pregnancy test.
  • Not to mention the words the series ends on:
    Pilot: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Chicago.
    Frasier: ...wish me luck.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • The episode "The Seal Who Came to Dinner" combined this with an Evil Lawyer Joke. In the episode's beginning, Roz says she accidentally rammed into a car that happened to have four high-powered lawyers in it, and that she'll be paying for the damages for a very long time. It never gets brought up again after that... unless her becoming the new station manager of KACL in the series finale allowed her to pay off that debt once and for all.
  • In an early episode, we learn that Martin's estranged best friend from the police force, Artie, is in the hospital in critical condition. The two men make up, and Artie laments that as he's on his deathbed, they won't have time to do their favorite activities together anymore. Martin rebukes him for being so pessimistic, that he will get out of the hospital and they will have fun together just like the old days. After the episode, Artie is never seen, or even mentioned, again. It's hard to say if this was a subtle way to imply Artie's passing, or if the writers subsequently simply forgot about him.
  • In the second season episode "The Matchmaker", Frasier has a Mistaken for Gay "date" with Tom Duran, his new boss at KACL. Tom appears once more later in the season, so it seems he was supposed to become a recurring minor character, but after his second appearance Tom is never seen or mentioned again. Granted that in the very beginning of Season 3, Kate Costas has become the new station manager.
  • In the season 9 episode where Niles, Daphne, Roz and Martin try to get Frasier to start dating again, Frasier eventually ends up going out with the bookstore owner named Lisa. The episode basically builds up to that moment, suggesting that Frasier's relationship with her would become a new story arc. By the next episode, she's gone and never mentioned again - even in Niles's Continuity Nod-laden list of Frasier's flings in Season 11!
• What the Hell, Hero?: In season one, after embarrassing himself over discovering his father had spent the night with a female neighbor, Frasier brags about on the radio and an angry Martin calls him out on it for embarrassing him and his date by showcasing it to all of Seattle on his radio show.
  • In a later season, after Daphne loses a lot of weight and returns to normal, Niles starts coming off as snobbish and a jerk because of Daphne's therapist telling her how he was blind to her weight gain simply through "love goggles". Martin and Frasier are quick to call him out on it and when he refuses, Daphne tells him to leave.
• Where Everybody Knows Your Flame: An episode of sees Frasier and Niles enter a Gay Bar in search of one of Roz's boyfriends, who they believe has entered the establishment. Tuesday night, apparently, is Leather Night, but the bar patrons we see are mostly men sitting at tables chatting and drinking beer. Rumor has it that part of this was out of respect to the cast: two actors were openly gay (Dan Butler, Edward Hibbert), and two others (David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney) were in a Transparent Closet. Morever, writers Joe Keenan, Chuck Ranberg and David Lee were gay as well.
• Where There's a Will, There's a Sticky Note: After one of Niles's co-workers passes away, Frasier gives stickers to Niles and Martin and tells them to label any possessions of his they would like to inherit. Later in the episode, Frasier finds a sticky note on his expensive bathrobe labeled "Niles", and mutters, "The vultures are circling."
• White Guilt: Lampshaded in the episode "Dr. Mary''. Frasier hires an African-American call-screener who takes over his show by calling herself "Dr. Mary", spouting ghetto-psychology; but he's afraid to say anything because she's black and came from an underprivileged background. Eventually she gets her own show spouting more ghetto-psychology, but finds out about his guilt and tells him, "God bless your guilty white ass!"
• Whole Episode Flashback: A popular narrative technique which was used often. Most notably in the penultimate episode "Crock Tales" where an inanimate object is the basis for multiple flashbacks in different time periods of the show.
• Whole-Plot Reference:
  • "My Coffee With Niles" is a Homage to My Dinner with Andre.
  • "Sliding Frasiers" is this to Sliding Doors.
• Willing Suspension of Disbelief: It is quite a stretch that Frasier, by all accounts charming, handsome, and successful, is incapable over the course of 11 years of having a relationship that lasts longer than a month. That being said, the show's plot simply would not work if Frasier were to enter a long-term relationship.
• Wine Is Classy: Shows up often. Frasier and Niles are even part of a wine club. Subverted in that the other members of the wine club just want to drink.
• Women Are Delicate: Daphne jokingly refers to it in one of the timelines in "Sliding Frasiers," when Frasier turns down helping her with the groceries despite still having one good arm.
  Frasier: (excitedly) Oh! I met a girl today!
  Daphne: (dryly) Yeah, so did she.
• Word Salad Lyrics: The Ending Theme, and some of its variations make it even more so. Amusingly, said Word Salad Lyrics involve an actual salad. Word of God, by the way, is that the "tossed salad and scrambled eggs" really is meant to be a relatively nice way of referring to some of his patients. Tossed salad can't be un-tossed and scrambled eggs can't be un-scrambled, just like some neurotic people can't be cured.
• Worthless Foreign Degree: After Dr. Schachter gives the Crane brothers a virulent "The Reason You Suck" Speech regarding their Sibling Rivalry ("That is it! That is it! In thirty years as a couples therapist, I've never said what I'm about to say: Give up! It's hopeless! You are pathologically mistrustful of each another, competitive to the point of madness! So, trust me, just meet each other at weddings and funerals, and the rest of the time, stay the hell away from each other!"), the boys agree on his prognosis, but then use his degrees as an Ad Hominem argument to ignore his advice, even though they admit Martin says the same exact thing, and kick him out of the building!
  Frasier: Well, there's no arguing with Dr. Schachter's credentials. My God, the man is an expert in his field. He graduated from the University of... Grenada!
  Niles: [shocked] Well, surely that was just his undergraduate schooling.
  Frasier: Oh yes, of course, his graduate work was done in... Aruba!
  Niles: An all-Caribbean schooling... well, tally me banana!
• Worthy Opponent: In the first few seasons, Roz and Niles actively despise each other, but by the later seasons, they have come to enjoy their verbal fencing, and there is unmistakable affection, such as in Season Eight's "Hooping Cranes":
  Roz: (sees Niles's complimentary letterman jacket) Wow, Niles! Finally made varsity after thirty years, huh?
  Niles: Yes, but it's not a real varsity jacket, Roz, so you're under no obligation to sleep with me.
  Roz: (smiles) See ya around.
  Niles: Take care.
• WPUN: The radio station Frasier and Roz work at uses the call letters KACL, a nod to series producers David Angel, Peter Casey and David Lee. Several episodes mention a rival station, KPXY, which goes by the nickname "The Mighty Pixie".
• X Called; They Want Their Y Back: Frasier to Niles: "Niles, I've got news for you — Copernicus called and you are not the centre of the universe!"

Y-Z

• Yiddish as a Second Language:
  • Parodied in the episode, "Merry Christmas Mrs. Moskowitz," where (as part of a "Fawlty Towers" Plot) Frasier needs Niles to pretend to be Jewish for reasons too complicated to explain. Niles takes the job to heart, liberally injecting common Yiddish words into the conversation, much to Frasier's annoyance.
  Niles: [proposing a Jewish toast] L'chaim! Mazel tov! Next year in Jerusalem!
  Frasier: Take it down a notch, Tevye.
  (...)
  Frasier: Niles, why don't you see if you can go help Dad in the kitchen?
  Niles: Oh, all right, but he'll probably just kvetch at me and, frankly, I don't need that tsuris.
  Frasier: Niles! [whispering] Half that!
  • When Daphne attends a bat mitzvah, she comes back dropping Yiddish expressions into everything she says.
• You, Get Me Coffee: A continual annoyance for Daphne Moon, that verges on being a Running Gag, is when visitors to the apartment (usually Frasier's girlfriends or professional contacts) mistake her for a lowly housemaid and imperiously demand she makes the coffee for them. Coffee is quite often served with extra added snark.
• You Need to Get Laid: This strikes all of the cast members at least once in the series.
  • Frasier tends to suffer this the entire series. In the appropriately named episode "Frasier Gotta Have It", when he earns a sexual fling with nutty artist Caitlin, Roz asks him an important question:
    Roz: For as long as I've known you, you've been complaining about your lack of a sex life. Suddenly, you have one. So why are you still complaining?
  • Niles in "Look Before You Leap" is tantalized by Maris' rare offer of sex that he starts hitting on every female he sees, including Roz.
  Frasier: It’s high time you and Maris sat down and talked through your problems.
  Niles: (excited) She doesn’t want to talk. When she says “get together” she means in the “You wear the crème fraiche, I’ll lick it off” sense. She’s cleared her schedule from seven till seven-thirty, that means foreplay AND cuddling!
  • Roz in "Crock Tales" bemoans her lack of a sex life.
  Roz: Used to be I’d go out and get a little wild on my birthday. Now I go out and get a little dinner.
  Frasier: There’s nothing wrong with dinner.
  Roz: I know, but it used to come with sex.
  Daphne: Oh, come on, Roz, sounds like you need a drink.
  Roz: Oh, that used to come with sex, too.
  • Daphne has a ton of dry spells; once it was the plot to "The Matchmaker", in which Frasier connives to introduce her to the new KACL station owner, who, unbeknownst to Frasier or Daphne, is gay.
  • Inverted in one episode where Frasier has for once cheerfully accepted being single and just decided to roll with it for a while... prompting everyone else to decide they need to set him up out of concern. Their efforts inevitably just make things worse, but he ends up meeting a nice lady (ironically the woman Niles tried to set him up with) completely by accident.
• Younger Than They Look: When Frasier gets a TV job, Bebe recommends the plastic surgeon she's been using "for years" to him. He's about to turn her down, when a balding, grey-haired man pokes his head in and addresses her as "Mom"...
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame. Every time Bulldog expresses pride in any one of Frasier's embarrassing public sex scandals.
  • In "The Adventures of Bad Boy and Dirty Girl", Frasier has just had sex live on the air, making the papers ("I Won't Fink Says Kinky Shrink").
  Bulldog: Doc? I got one thing to say to you.
  Frasier: Go ahead, take your best shot.
  Bulldog: (admiration) I am so proud of you, man.
  (Bulldog hugs Frasier warmly.)
  Frasier: (dripping with sarcasm) Well, doesn't that just put the cherry on the parfait.
  • In "The Harrassed":
  Roz: Hey, Frasier! Thanks for ruining my weekend.
  Frasier: Oh, Roz... come on, you know it was just a mistake. What do you think I am, some kind of disgusting Lothario?
  Bulldog: Hey, there's my man!
  (Frasier has a priceless look of despair on his face.)
  • When Niles covered for Frasier:
  Bulldog: Hey, Dr. Doolittle. I heard your show. It didn't suck!
  Niles: Ah. "Dear diary..."
  • When Niles is forced to leave the Montana in How to Bury a Millionaire, Frasier sets him up in a tacky apartment complex called the 'Shangri-La'. Frasier tries to convince himself that Niles will be alright, and Niles immerses himself in his new lifestyle in an attempt to avoid feeling depressed. Sadly, when Marty tells both of them that the Shangri-La is 'his kind of place', both brothers start weeping in horror and despair.