Frasier 9/23 (Hey, 24's not on yet)

Two new shows.

I thought it was rather unrealistic that Niles would find out he was infertile because of a clerk behind the desk at the sperm bank. It would seem to me that she would refer him to a doctor, not say, “Sorry, low motility, too bad” and shrug.

But Daphne is preggers anyway, so good for them. Is Jane Leeves pregnant again in real life?

Second show…now, I’m a big fan of Julia (for the life of me, I can’t remember the actress’s name, but I’ve liked her since Sports Night) but she turned into a complete nasty rude shrew, which I think was totally out of character. She seemed to be a rather standoffish character who warmed to Frasier once he saw her real issues, and I thought they got along well together.

And Roz can kiss her career goodbye…yes to job, no to job, yes to job, no to job. She better hope KACL doesn’t fire her…that whole plot line was pointless.

Now I remember why I switched over to 24…when does it start up again?

Bah, i thought Frasier was great. Who watches comedies for the plots anyway? So long as it makes me laugh, then it’s met its quota.

As far as finding out he was infertile being unrealistic, well…it is a sitcom.

My guess is with the actress playing Julia - they probably wanted to write her off the show, and figured she might as well go out with a bang - so to speak.

There were still some funny lines and, if you think this show has slipped, you only have to watch Happy Family to realize Frazier is still gold in comparison to a lot of other sitcoms.

I thought there were a few laugh-out-loud funny moments.

I got a side look at Jane Leeves tummy in one shot. It sure looked a little round. Maybe the writers had hoped to do a trying-to-get-pregnant storyline and simply cut it off when they found out Jane Leeves was actually preggers.

Otherwise, the whole “Niles is infertile” plot was pointless – introduced and resolved in the same episode.

Julia is Felicity Huffman (who is married to William H. Macy). The character has always been self-centered and abrupt, and she and Roz never cared for each other, so I didn’t find that to be too objectionable.

But the word is that Emma Thompson will make an appearance as Nanette, Frasier’s first wife. She originally did it years ago, on Cheers, and was absolutely hilarious. Let’s hope she gets a script worthy of her.

The whole “Niles being infertile” storyline was there so you could see him casting about with loose trousers and boxers. David Hyde Pierce is excellent at that type of physical comedy.

Nanny Gee is back!! That would be a great episode, but Frasier would have to have a love interest to play off the “Nanny Gee wants him back” angle which made it work so well on Cheers.