I agree; his Seattle lifestyle was that of someone on the upper end of the income scale.
Hilarious sendup.
I take it Freddie isn’t too thrilled with dad showing up on his doorstep? With his awful parents I wouldn’t blame him if he had changed his name and disappeared.
I can’t imagine a show without Niles or Martin. It will be interesting to see if it’s only half as witty and hilarious as the original.
Irl, wouldn’t Frasier have had to be syndicated to make real money? One radio station wouldn’t do it.
There was at least one episode that discussed the possibility of syndication so perhaps it happened in the years since?
I don’t think it made him wealthy. It must have a decent enough salary to cover his expensive apartment and expensive tastes in everything else. So assuming he was fairly well off when he moved there, and his notoriety in the area and his insane agent he would have been making a pretty good six-figure salary and getting wealthier while there and had investments that grew in value over time.
Also, a syndication deal was at least brought up on some episode. Don’t recall how that worked out.
He also had written several books. So yearly residual income from those could pay for a week’s tab at that coffee shop.
I never regularly watched Frasier, so this might all be wrong, or have been covered in show.
He was doing the radio show full time, and did not maintain a private practice, right? If so, then the radio station would have to be paying a salary somewhat competitive with what a psychiatrist would make practicing medicine, otherwise nobody would take the job. That would be well into a six figure salary.
(Of course, if the radio show was a part time thing, and he just hung around the apartment and bickered with his dad and house keeper the rest of the time, then he might be making much less.)
While he was in private practice in Boston, he would have been earning plenty of money, and would have enjoyed the market and real estate run up of the 80s and 90s in Boston. Then he goes to Seattle, buys a nice apartment, enjoys the Seattle real estate run up, as well as the continuing rise in the markets.
Anyway, to me it seems extremely reasonable that somebody Frasier’s age could easily have several million saved up doing nothing more than putting money in a 401k and accrued equity in Boston and Seattle real estate.
During a several month period when he was unemployed due to his station’s format change he didn’t chsnge his lifestyle at all or worry about money as I recall (unlike Niles who did downgrade his accommodations when his wife cut off his money)
Sitcoms aren’t known for accurately depicting character’s lifestyles on their supposed salaries.
I’m possibly misremembering some of the pre-show releases. I thought I remembered that the set up is that Frazier became very wealthy after the last show. He’s returned to Boston to reconnect with his son. He’s either taking a teaching position or someone is trying to get him to teach at a college. Also Nile’s son is in it. I’m sure the premise will be laid out in the first 15 minutes
You’ve pretty much summarized my views on the matter.
The original ‘Frasier’ was lightning in a bottle and perfect for its time. The collective cast was fabulous. Almost impossible to recreate such success.
I also agree the trailer was underwhelming and doesn’t bode well for the new series.
I may watch it once, but my expectations are low.
Don’t forget, Martin got married to a younger woman near the end of the show. She would likely have inherited any money Martin left.
Yes, but Niles and Frasier may have inherited directly from their mother.
Yes, just checked the final episode summary and noticed that.
Was she that much younger though?
I’m interested in to see if this is a sequel as some call it, or if it’s just the same show returning after a very long hiatus. Since it’s set back in Boston there’s always the possibility of Frasier running into anyone from the Cheers universe, which included the Wings universe as well as {gulp} The Tortellis universe. They could keep this show running for quite a while with strategic guest appearances.
She had been Frasier and Niles’ babysitter when they were children, and she was old enough at the time to have a crush on an active duty police officer. She was also young enough for Frasier at 40+ to pursue her before she made her interest in Martin known. So I would guess she was in her early to mid 50s when they tied the knot.
In one episode, she admitted to being over 40 in an argument with her mother, but stopped short of revealing her true age.
There’s rich and then there’s filthy rich. My wife and I pondered this when the new show was first announced. I mentioned reasons why we thought he would not be poor unless he experienced a financial disaster. Other than that we’ll have to see how it works out on the show.
The new supporting cast and quality of writing have been brought up and I think it does have to meet a high standard to gain the past audience and a new one to watch this show. I didn’t watch the latter half of the old series until recently. This is the streaming age and I know I have plenty of time to see whatever episodes of Frasier II are made. They need to hook people fast for this to continue.
The fact that doing a radio show would in no way pay for his sumptuous apartment in Seattle, let alone his art collection, theatre and opera tickets, and expensive tastes in food, wine, and haberdashery has arisen before. I can’t recall where I saw it, but one of the writers (I think) said the writers had recognized this and decided Frasier’s wealth came from brilliant investments in the stock market.
He certainly didn’t suffer much when he was temporarily unemployed after the radio station switched formats.
I wonder how much his divorce from Lilith cost him.
Well that makes sense. As I said, he must have been doing well when he got to Seattle. Whatever holdings he had then would likely have only multiplied over what is now more than 25 years since he arrived there.
I think nothing. Remember Lilith ran off with some fellow scientist. She seemed to be financially independent when she met Frasier and I’ve seen no indication she’d be the type to ask for anything that she didn’t pay for herself, or want more than her share of their joint investments.
The family was able to send Niles and Frasier to a fancy boarding school, and they had a summer home in the woods. They didn’t afford that on Martin’s police salary.