10 Reasons Why Frasier Is The Best US Sitcom In History

6. The 'Cheers' Links

Frasier Crane obviously sat at the end of a Boston bar for many years and when he took flight to Seattle, he left all of that behind. In reality though, you never just 'leave your life behind' and, just as Frasier has an ex-wife and child, he also has a great many friends. Again, these are cameos but baring in mind they're characters we watched for up to eleven years previously on Cheers, they're clearly more than that. Sam Malone running away from a wedding with a woman he met at a sex addiction meeting only for Frasier to discover he has slept with the woman previously, Cheerful Goodbyes where the Cranes attend Cliff Clavin's retirement party with Norm and the other barflies and, most interestingly, The Show Where Woody Turns Up, a sad episode where Frasier realises that, past the Cheers bar, he doesn't really have anything in common with his old friends. Finally, and most importantly, there is the relationship with his wife, Lilith. What's great about this is that the complexities were already set up in Cheers so all the writers had to do was keep them going. We see Frasier despair at his wife's child-rearing of Frederick but, beyond that, we see two lonely people try to make their way in the romantic world, even crossing paths with each other and, most terrifyingly for the Crane boys, Lilith's dalliance with Niles. You always get the feeling that they still care deeply for each other though and, in their final episode together, Guns 'N Neuroses, it's quite heart-breaking as both Frasier and Lilith, and Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth, say goodbye for the last time. Frasier: We do have our baggage, don't we? But then sometimes that's what makes the trip so interesting. Lilith: With one hand the past moves us forward, and with the other it holds us back. Frasier: Good-bye, Lilith. Lilith: Good-bye, Frasier.