My Least Favorite Frasier Episodes

     Ah, you knew it was coming, didn't you? I'm such a creature of balance and symmetry, I just couldn't do a "favorites" post without following up with a "least favorites" post. Mind you, it isn't that I dislike these episodes (well, a few of them I really do dislike); it's that I don't find them very engaging, or I find Frasier to be particularly unbearable in them. Sometimes his ego and competitiveness get just downright annoying, and those are the episodes I skip altogether. I realize the point of those particular episodes is precisely to show that Frasier is flawed and that he does get his comeuppance, but they still bug me, and I'd rather skip them. 

Season One:

• "Can't Buy Me Love"  Frasier has a date with a model, but the model is called on assignment at the last minute. She leaves her tween-age daughter with Frasier since she can't find a babysitter on such short notice. It's the kid that bugs me. I skip this one completely.

Season Two:

• None. I like/love them all.

Season Three:

• "The Friend"  It is in this episode that Niles' age is revealed (38 in season three). Near the end of this season, Frasier celebrates his forty-third birthday; so they are about four and a half years apart in age. In an effort to make new friends, Frasier decides to meet one of his radio callers, who turns out to be wheelchair-ridden. Though it turns out they have nothing in common (in fact, the new friend becomes something of a nuisance), instead of respecting this person enough to be straight with him, Frasier is instead reluctant to break off the friendship because of his infirmity. His lack of honesty, of course, ends in public embarrassment.
• "The Focus Group"  Only one person out of a focus group of twelve says he doesn't like Frasier's show. When pressed for a reason, the man says, "I don't like him." Frasier's ego simply won't allow him to let that go; he pursues the man and hounds him for an explanation until Frasier accidentally sets the man's newsstand on fire.

Season Four:

• "Three Days of the Condo"  One of those I simply don't find engaging enough to watch. One of the other residents in Frasier's building persuades him to run for condo board president.

Season Five:

• "Frasier's Imaginary Friend"  One of my least favorite comic premises is where nobody believes a characters' story. Frasier has a romantic weekend in Acapulco with a super model and no one believes him. That's the whole thrust of the story. I don't know; I just find that basic premise really frustrating. I skip this one completely.
• "Beware of Greeks"  This is the episode in which Patti Lupone guests as the most annoying woman ever. Which is one of the reasons I don't like this one. Also, Martin suddenly has a brother with whom he hasn't spoken in years because of this annoying Greek woman he married. This is the only time we ever see or hear about Martin's brother; in fact, in "Author, Author" (season one), Martin clearly states that he never had a brother. Frankly, I think this kind of blatant inconsistency is unworthy of such a superlative series.
• "Bad Dog"  I'm not overly fond of Bulldog to begin with (however, I like Gill even less), but he's just downright unlikeable in this episode, taking credit for a good deed to cover his own cowardice.

Season Six:

• "The Seal Who Came to Dinner"  As far as pure farce goes, this one ain't my cup of tea. It's plain silly, and not even interestingly silly.

Season Seven:

• "Radio Wars"  I don't know, I just don't like storylines where someone's made a complete fool of. Even if that someone is Frasier.

Season Eight:

• "Docu.drama"  Roz gets to do a documentary about space. Frasier persuades her to let him narrate it, then he proceeds to take over the whole project. Roz fires him (yea, Roz!) and, much to Frasier's consternation, she hires Senator John Glenn to replace him. Frasier at his most insufferable.
• "Forgotten But Not Gone"  No, wait—this is Frasier at his most insufferable! Niles is re-elected, fair and square, as Cork Master of the wine club, and Frasier not only quits the club but does his best to undermine Niles and steal the allegiance of the club members. I definitely skip over this one.

Season Nine:

• "Sharing Kirby"  I'm just not fond of this episode, though it is amusing to see Niles' opulent library. Frasier tricks Niles into hiring Kirby, the son of a woman he dated, to reorganize Niles' library. Niles learns that one of Kirby's classmates is the granddaughter of a well-known wine connoisseur. The connoisseur consents to let one, only one, of the Crane brothers tour his exclusive wine vaults.
• "Wheels of Fortune"  The show where Michael Keaton guests as Lilith's unscrupulous brother. Don't like it, just don't like it. Skip.
• "Cheerful Goodbyes"  Maybe it's because I never watched Cheers. I don't mind the episodes where only one Cheers character comes to visit, but an episode devoted to almost the whole Cheers cast just doesn't appeal to me.

Season Ten:

• "Proxy Prexy"  Frasier wants to run for condo board president, but he knows he's not popular enough to win, so he persuades Martin to run so he can simply use him as a "front." But when Martin asserts his own authority as president, Frasier doesn't like it at all!
• "Kissing Cousins"  Roz's condescending younger cousin, a pain-in-the-neck know-it-all who trashes everything and everybody, comes to visit. The most unlikeable guest role in the entirety of the series. Skip!
• "Tales of the Crypt"  Prank-playing hijinks at the radio station. Not my cup of tea. Skip!
• "The Devil and Dr. Phil"  Yes, Dr. Phil appears briefly, but this is really a Bebe episode, and my least favorite of the lot.

Season Eleven:

• "The Doctor Is Out"  Doesn't appeal. Patrick Stewart guests as an opera director who thinks Frasier is gay and pursues him romantically. Skip.
• "Frasier Lite"  Team KACL and a team from another radio station do a series of appearances on a popular local TV show to see which team can lose the most collective weight. Meh. Even the subplot is meh—Niles and Martin attempting to nurse an injured pigeon.
• "The Ann Who Came to Dinner"  This one has the second most unlikeable guest role, Roz's insurance agent friend Ann, with whom Frasier has a spectacularly bad blind date in an earlier episode. In this one, Ann agrees to come to Frasier's apartment to evaluate it for insurance purposes, falls and breaks her leg, and Frasier, afraid of getting slapped with a lawsuit, takes her in. Needless to say, she overstays her welcome.
• "Detour"  There's nothing about this episode I really like, actually. Frasier and Charlotte (Laura Linney) are stranded on the road and have to stay with this creepy family, and Niles mistakes a candidate for his and Daphne's nanny position for a stripper—or was it a candidate for the physical therapist? I forget, because I seldom watch this one. Definitely not my favorite.