A sequel of sorts to this thread
The Frasier gang seem to be better than the Friends guys. It’s been a while since I watched Frasier; I can’t think of anything more than minor ethical quibbles but I’m sure there’s a lot I forgot.
Same rules, only things done chronologically between “The Good Son” and “Goodnight Seattle” count. Anything that happened on Cheers or in flashbacks/exposition doesn’t count.
No hate for Eddie?
Hard to really meet the Friends criteria, the characters were more annoying to each other than truly cruel. Lemme see:
When Fraiser made his will, and gave it to the main characters, noting what they’s get with tags and wanted to celebrate with a fine wine, Niles said, “Maybe something else …” Fraiser says fine. And Niles quickly tags the wine bottle with his name. Is that evil? Daphne and Martin could clearly care less. Subverting Frasier’s inheritance wishes? Yeah, if he stole Frederick’s $10 mil trust fund, that’s evil. But wine? Meh. On the other hand, anytime you subvert a will, that’s kinda cold blooded.
Frasier and Niles are a little disrespectful of Martin, but on a level that’s the point of the show. The brothers will never have his blue collar tastes. So they want to replace a rotten couch with advanced Swedish furniture. So they prefer pretentious dining to eating at a steakhouse. So they invest in urban development, only to find out its demolishing Martin’s bar. Martin reacts each time like they’re trying to dump him as a crippled old man. But they’re not. Its just a standard comedy of errors – miscommunication and culture clash.
There was the time that Bebe threatened to commit suicide in order to get Frasier a better contract.
That was pretty messed up.
B. That’s what agents are for!
Without digging into plot summaries, it seems to me that the characters of Frasier were embarrassed by their actions when they stepped over the line. That takes them completely out of “asshole” territory.
How about that time at the cabin when Niles plotted with Roz to split up Donny and Daphne?
Even better (and funnier) was when they couldn’t make it stop through no fault of their own. F’rinstance, when Daphne wanted her room fixed up and a lock for the door and every male got caught in her room looking like perverts. Even Eddie (the end credits).
Bebe was hardly one of the five main characters.
I’ll go with dressing up like a clown, deliberately scaring Martin and giving him a heart attack.
Second place - sleeping with Roz
Third place - forbidding Daphne From having sex with boyfriend while residing in his apartment
And a whole lot of instances or callous treatment towards women that weren’t hot enough to meet his taste.
They were just trying to maximize net happiness. :rolleyes:
Missed edit window
Just reread the OP and realized the question was about all the main characters, not just the title character. My “top three” still stands as Frasier was the biggest ass of all, but the last item applies to all 3 male characters
Fraiser telling everyone his father was dead was pretty assholish. But that happened on Cheers and was only explained on Frasier.
Frasier was often assholish toward his radio callers. Too many to mention.
Niles sleeping with Lilith was pretty bad.
All the men were pricks to Daphne when she “got fat” (Jane Leeves was pregnant). Example:
Daphne was on the floor and couldn’t get up. Frasier, Martin and Niles had to help her stand. Martin says, It took three Cranes to lift her.
Martin fell in the elevator and hurt himself. Frasier had a date coming over, so he berated Martin and ordered him to leave, instead of helping him back into the penthouse.
Roz let her boss think that Frasier was gay, even though she knew it would put her boss in an awkward position.
I think, but have not seen them for a while, that in the early episodes where Niles was still officially happily married, and Daphne had no idea about his feelings, Niles stepped over the line of creepiness a few times but cannot remember a particular example.
He filmed her behind for awhile during a road trip, until Frasier made him stop.
I’ve always thought it’s kind of assholey whenever Frasier snaps at Niles for lusting after Daphne.
Niles is a grown man; if he wants to worship Daphne from afar, that’s his business. Who the hell does Frasier think he is, interrupting (and knocking) his brother’s fantasies?
Is Roz one of the 5? I hated it when she got knocked up and started blubbering and whining and kvetching about having a baby. She sounded like she was 15 years old and was going to be sent to live in a garden shed with the squalling thing. Roz is a grown woman, IRL she should have had an abortion, and if she was going to carry it…WHY couldn’t she just give it up for adoption??? She seemed entirely unsuited for motherhood. She should have given it up for adoption.