FRASIER: MERRY CHRISTMAS, MRS. MOSKOWITZ (TV)
Summary
One in this comedy series about Frasier Crane, a divorced psychiatrist who lives in Seattle and hosts a phone-in radio show.
Frasier goes out Christmas shopping with Roz, secretly hoping to purchase something for her while she is distracted. He is nearly discovered but receives surreptitious help from a lady shopper. While Roz is away the lady, Helen, introduces herself to Frasier and recognizes him from his radio show, explaining that she is in Seattle visiting her daughter. She attempts to set Frasier up on a date with her daughter Faye, and he feels compelled to accept. He arranges a potential avenue of escape with Niles, but when Faye arrives he finds that she is rather attractive and is more amenable to going through with the date. Niles and Daphne look on from afar. Faye explains that she was once an attorney but quit and now works as a pastry chef at a local French restaurant. Daphne tells Niles that she has been put in charge of a community Christmas musical production and gets him to agree to be its music director despite the show’s attempts to cater to both religious and secular interests.
Faye and Helen decide to stop by Frasier’s apartment on their way to the airport, as they plan to spend the holidays in Florida. Faye is surprised when she sees Frasier’s Christmas decorations, as she was under the misapprehension that Frasier was Jewish. She warns Frasier that Helen will not be pleased with this news and Frasier decides to hide his decorations in order to spare Faye from her mother’s ire. Helen arrives and Frasier scrambles to disguise evidence of his Christmas celebrations, including his dog’s Santa costume. He also lies about his background to make it appear that he had a Jewish upbringing. He gets Niles and Martin to play along with the deception. Daphne calls Niles away to fill in for a performer dropping out of the Christmas revue. Helen’s flight is delayed and Frasier continues to deceive her, although he is unsure of how much longer he can keep it up. Faye attempts to get Helen out of there by claiming that their flight was moved up, but Frasier keeps them there in order to prevent Helen from spotting a Christmas tree he was having delivered to the apartment.
Martin has the tree placed in the bathroom as Niles comes back up to the apartment, dressed as Jesus for the revue. Frasier conceals Niles’ presence from Helen and tries to get him out of the apartment before she notices him, although he is forced to take refuge in the bathroom. Upon entering the bathroom, Helen spots both Niles and the Christmas tree, much to Frasier’s embarrassment. Faye tells Helen the truth, but Helen is not particularly concerned that Frasier is not Jewish. They get into an argument about the matter when Helen says that Faye has embarrassed everyone with the charade, and Faye accuses her of being overly controlling of her life. They both suddenly burst into tears and profusely apologize to each other as Frasier and Martin look on in confusion. They make up and leave in order to catch their flight. After they leave, Frasier and Martin have an argument about their feelings about Christmas decorations which quickly escalates into a fight about how their lives are incompatible with each other. They both start crying and soon apologize to each other in a way that mirrors Faye and Helen’s earlier incident. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: December 17, 1998 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:21:31
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:60292
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; Families; Psychiatrists
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1993-2004
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Christopher Lloyd … Executive Producer
- Peter Casey … Executive Producer, Created by
- David Lee … Executive Producer, Created by
- David Angell … Executive Producer, Created by
- Kelsey Grammer … Executive Producer, Director, Theme Music by
- Joe Keenan … Co-Executive Producer
- Rob Greenberg … Supervising Producer
- James Hirsch … Supervising Producer
- Jeffrey Richman … Supervising Producer
- Joe Kogen … Supervising Producer, Writer
- Maggie Randall … Producer
- Lori Kirkland … Co-Producer
- Tony Hicks … Associate Producer
- Glen Charles … Based on the character "Frasier Crane" created by
- Les Charles … Based on the character "Frasier Crane" created by
- Bruce Miller … Music by
- Darryl Phinnessee … Theme Music by
- Kelsey Grammer … Cast, Dr. Frasier Crane
- Jane Leeves … Cast, Daphne Moon
- David Hyde Pierce … Cast, Dr. Niles Crane
- Peri Gilpin … Cast, Roz Doyle
- John Mahoney … Cast, Martin Crane
- Amy Brenneman … Cast, Faye
- Carole Shelley … Cast, Helen
- Lombardo Boyar … Cast, Delivery Man
- Jihad Harik … Cast, Sales Clerk