The Best ‘Frasier’ Guest Stars… and the Worst
Frasier was a success for eleven seasons largely due to it’s clever writing and a terrific core cast. For these reasons it managed to largely steer clear of the cornier sitcom tropes that plagued contemporary shows, such as a celebrity cameo clumsily dropped into an episode. The series got around this mainly by having celebrities as unseen callers on the radio show seeking Dr. Crane’s advice. Sometimes, however, the show would enlist the help of a guest star to spice up a supporting role to which a lesser known star might not do justice, particularly in the later seasons when episode ideas were perhaps running out. Below I have ranked the best of these cameos, when the roles were written smoothly into the lives of the central characters and the guest actors were captivating. I have also listed a handful of the rare bad guest roles that were grating or very forced, usually not to the fault of the actors.
10. James Earl Jones as Norman Royster in “Roz’s Krantz and Gouldenstein are Dead” (Season 4, Ep. 15)
This is an understated cameo that only lasts a few minutes but serves as the focal point of this sentimental episode. Frasier visits Roz, who is volunteering at a retirement home (and is having bad luck with patients dying on her). Frasier meets Jones’s Royster, a blind man who reminisces with Frasier about his fulfilling life. The scene throws in a bit of slapstick as well when the doc breaks the man’s treasured possession and tries to fix it without him knowing.
9. Christine Baranski and Piper Laurie as Dr. Nora Fairchild and Mrs. Mulhern in “Dr. Nora” (Season 6, Ep. 20)
Christine Baranski plays Dr. Nora, a no-nonsense radio psychiatrist who makes waves by berating her callers for their low morals. After failing to break through to her sens eof decency, Frasier enlists the help of her mother (Laurie) to fix her nasty personality; Laurie revisits her role from Carrie as the mother and shows why Dr. Nora acts so judgemental.
8. Teri Polo as Abby Michaels in “Legal Tender Love” (Season 8, Ep. 6)
Hot off ‘Meet the Parents’ fame, Polo guest stars as a lawyer representing Frasier in his defense against Donnie. She get involved with Frasier romantically after the case ends but predictably the doctor gets in his own head and convinces himself that she is overcharging him. Instead of approaching this dilemma with tact, Frasier sabotages yet another relationship.
7. Gary Cole as Luke in “A New Friend” (Season 8, Ep. 7)
Cole plays Roz’s new boyfriend, an exciting and traveled man who Frasier strikes up a good friendship with. Unfortunately, he is not loyal to Roz and after the two break up Frasier tries to maintain his friendship in secret. Roz starts seeing Luke again, but doesn’t tell Frasier because he is being such a good friend about the break up. After both try to avoid letting the other know, the truth comes out in a typically comical fashion.
6. Luis Guzman as George in “Enemy at the Gate” (Season 10, Ep. 2)
Frasier and Niles pull into a parking garage to turn around in traffic and Guzman plays the parking attendant who informs them that they owe $2 for any amount of time. Frasier refuses to pay “out of principal” and creates a roadblock at the exit, leading to a long line of angry drivers. Guzman’s George gets increasingly upset and offers reasonable outs for them, but Frasier’s “pride” is too strong to take any of them.
5. Allison Janney and Bridget Wilson-Sampras as Susanna and Kris in “Three Blind Dates” (Season 9, Ep. 17)
Frasier once again finds his love life in a slump and his family and friends set him up on blind dates, which of course end poorly. Janney plays an artist friend of Roz who quickly gets into an argument with the doctor due to their big egos. Wilson-Sampras is a co-worker of Martin’s who is beautiful and a lot of fun, but largely ignores Frasier on their first date to a pool hall.
4. Tony Shalhoub as Manu in “The Focus Group” (Season 3, Ep. 23)
The Monk star plays a member of a focus group giving feedback on Frasier’s show and is the lone participant to give a negative review. Frasier, of course, cannot let this go and seeks out Manu to change his opinion, only to make a further mess of the situation.
3. Michael Keaton as Blaine Sternin in “Wheels of Fortune” (Season 9, Ep. 16)
Keaton plays Lilith’s brother Blaine, a con man who has gotten the better of Frasier many times in the past. He shows up again in a wheelchair claiming to make amends, but Frasier is suspicious of his true intentions. The episode itself is a bit obnoxious as everyone but Frasier can see how clearly devious Blaine is, but all is forgiven due to Keaton’s magnetic performance as the loveable swindler who predictably pulls off another successful con.
2. Derek Jacobi as Jackson Hedley in “The Show Must Go Off” (Season 8, Ep. 12)
The great Shakespearean actor plays an exaggerated parody of himself in another hilarious examples of the Brothers Crane poor business acumen. A childhood idol of Frasier and Niles, Hedley has found success as a robot on a Star Trek type show, in the process throwing away at the cost of his self respect. The Crane boys offer to produce a one man show of Macbeth , only to quickly regret the decision when Hedley is not as talented as they remember.
1. Patrick Stewart as Alistair Burke in “The Doctor is Out” (Season 11, Ep. 3)
People mistaking the Crane men of being gay is a central theme of many of the show’s funniest episodes (despite aging controversially in today’s climate) and this is the most comically absurd of them all. Stewart plays Alistair Burke, a famous opera director who begins dating Frasier after the doc is “outed” by a caller on his show. Frasier acts oblivious at first because he is rubbing shoulders with Seattle’s artistic elite. It’s not the most clever of the show’s attempts at this scenario but Stewart’s hilarious performance elevates the whole episode.
Worst: Dr. Phil as Himself in “The Devil and Dr. Phil” (Season 10, Ep. 21)
While he is one of the major television icons of the 21st century, Dr. Phil is not a great actor. Worse still is how the show forced him into the show as an old peer of Frasier and now somehow a client of his agent. The episode never really gets above the gimmick of Dr. Phil’s celebrity and is a prime example of how the show fell off in quality in it’s later years.
Worst: Griffin Dunne as Bob in “The Friend” (Season 3, Ep. 11)
Griffin Dunne, star of Scorsese’s underrated “After Hours” and other classics like “An American Werewolf in London” joined the show as the guest star in one of it’s most infamous episodes. Frasier wants to make friends with the common man and makes time for Bob, an annoying BBQ enthusiast who he has nothing in common with. Bob is also confined to a wheelchair which makes Frasier unwilling to break off his friendship. To no fault of Dunne, the episode is an awkward, unfunny episode and one of the few early entries that I frequently skip.
Worst: Julia Sweeney as Ann Hodges in “The Anne Who Came to Dinner” (Season 11, Ep. 13)
Anne first appeared a earlier in the season as one of Frasier’s blind dates and she was extremely obnoxious then, but still decently funny. The second appearance is far more grating as the SNL alum injures herself in Frasier’s apartment and he lets her stay there in hopes that she wont sue. The episode slogs on as the Crane family is annoyed beyond belief at her behavior, as is the viewer. It’s not that Sweeney is bad, in fact she plays her part very convincingly, but it doesn’t excuse how unpleasant the character is, let alone making us watch her twice in one season.
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Best Frasier Episodes