History YMMV / Frasier

** JerkassWoobie: Daphne and Niles's fiancés, Donny and Mel, while not especially sympathetic characters by the end of their respective appearances on the show, do get put through the wringer after receiving substantially more emotional depth than just run-of-the-mill [[RomanticFalseLead Romantic False Leads.]] Donny loses quite a few sympathy points for his callous treatment of his new fiancés, as does Mel for her harsh treatment of Niles, but you can't blame them for feeling miserable and vindictive by the end of it.
*** The first scene of Donny after Daphne and Niles get together, Frasier finds him sitting in the dark in his office, despondent and talking to the groom from his wedding cake, who he's named "Mr. Chump". He furthermore tells Frasier he doesn't hate Daphne for what happened, but he weakly jokes that as a (GREAT) lawyer, suing people is just his knee-jerk reaction to handling problems. While Frasier's confession of his hand in the events gets him riled up, the scene makes it clear that he was thrown into a HeroicBSOD by what happened and just doesn't know how to handle it.
*** The group runs into him a few more times after that. The first time, he's getting married to another woman, claiming that it's true love and he's happy. The next time we see him, he's with a different woman, with the implication that he and the first one are already divorced. When he witnesses (what he thinks) is Niles and Daphne breaking up, he goes on a long, angry speech about how Niles knows how it feels to be dumped by the love of your life and "good luck trying to find someone just as good ''because she just ain't out there''." He then turns around and realizes that he's said this right in front of his visibly shocked and irate new fiancée (but doesn't much care as he simply shrugs and says "What?").

** In "Look Before You Leap" Frasier encourages Roz, Martin and Daphne to go outside their comfort zones and try something new...and unfortunately, the guy on the bus Roz takes whom she fell for turns out to be married, the plane Martin is taking to see a friend in Montana nearly crashes and he's almost crushed by a large woman while evacuating, and Daphne's new hairdo is botched by an incompetent stylist. They all blame Fraser for the terrible things they experience, but it's hardly his fault that things went wrong.

** Martin Crane: Long-suffering but loving down-to-earth father, or emotionally abusive and utterly ungrateful JerkAss? The two are also not mutually exclusive, meaning he can lie on any point of the spectrum between them.

** One episode has a boy call in the show asking for advice because he was being bullied for being smart. Frasier's advice is basically "Just hang on, because one day you'll be more successful than them". The kid condescendingly points out that his advice isn't helpful to solving his problem right now which, while he might be a bit of a smug little snot about it, is a pretty valid point. (Though on the other hand, he quickly learns why it's not a good idea to be a smug little snot to the guy trying, however unhelpfully, to give you advice ''on broadcast radio'' when Frasier maliciously reveals his location to his bullies.)

** One episode has a boy call in the show asking for advice because he was being bullied for being smart. Frasier's advice is basically "Just hang on, because one day you'll be more successful than them". The kid condescendingly points out that his advice isn't helpful to solving his problem right now which, while he might be a bit of a smug little snot about it, is a pretty valid point.

* FandomRivalry: With, oddly enough, ''Series/{{Cheers}}''. Despite being a spin-off of the latter, plenty of ''Frasier'' tend not to care for ''Cheers'' at all, considering it mediocre at best and unfunny and unwatchable at worst. ''Cheers'' fans consider ''Frasier'' too pretentious and pompously highbrow to be enjoyable and prefer ''Cheers'''s more relaxed pacing and greater balance between working class and upper class.

** That's ''Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace'' to you!

** JerkassWoobie: Daphne and Niles's fiancés, Donny and Mel, while not especially sympathetic characters by the end of it, do get put through the wringer after receiving substantially more emotional depth than just run-of-the-mill [[RomanticFalseLead Romantic False Leads.]] Donny loses quite a few sympathy points for his callous treatment of his new fiancés and Mel for her harsh treatment of Niles but you can't blame them for feeling miserable by the end of it.

*** The group runs into him a few more times after that. The first time, he's getting married to another woman, claiming that it's true love and he's happy. The next time we see him, he's with a different woman, with the implication that he and the first one are already divorced. When he witnesses (what he thinks) is Niles and Daphne breaking up, he goes on a long, angry speech about how Niles knows how it feels to be dumped by the love of your life and "good luck trying to find someone just as good ''because she just ain't out there''." He then turns around and realizes that he's said this right in front of his visibly shocked and irate new fiancee (but doesn't much care as he simply shrugs and says "What?").

** In "Love Stinks," when Roz starts dating the garbage man Roger, Frasier and Niles make a few jokes about it, which Roz [[ActuallyPrettyFunny participates in]], and before she heads out, she adds one of her own: "Don't worry, guys; I won't get '[[JustForPun dumped]]'." Fast forward to the later episode "Frasier Has Spokane," and [[spoiler:not only does she get dumped, but [[TheWoobie it was one of the most emotionally devastating breakups she's ever gone through on the show.]]]]

** “Boo!” features Frasier scaring Martin and inducing a “very, very mild cardiac event”, leading to the brothers to ponder about life after Martin’s passing and his effect on them. It becomes much harder to watch after John Mahoney’s passing and knowing it will likely be addressed in the show’s 2022 revival season.

** The episode "Dinner at Eight" (aired in 1993) opens with Frasier taking a call from a woman whose in-laws [[Series/EveryBodyLovesRaymond have a habit of dropping by unannounced, so she hides and pretends she's not home]].[[note]]More specifically, ''Everybody Loves Raymond'''s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEu1sUzVXpI&ab_channel=GotPilot Season 3 opening intro]] shows them specifically doing just that.]][[/note]]

** Even Daphne's fiancé, Donny, can fit; yes, we're rooting for Niles and Daphne to end up together, but he still gets it rough, and he's a fairly decent guy. His counterpart, Mel, never gets the same sympathy, as she's portrayed as a much crueler individual.

** Maris’ toxic treatment of Niles in their marriage arguably carries more weight nowadays, where modern viewers will likely see the effects of her behavior as much bigger red flags. Niles is constantly walking on eggshells and acquiescing to her needs and demands without her ever considering his needs or willing to compromise, and while Niles’ unwillingness to confront her is pointed out often, he’s never framed or blamed as the cause of her harmful actions. Niles is a rare example of a male victim in a toxic relationship for a sitcom of the 1990s, and it’s played more seriously than a mere HenpeckedHusband that would normally be played for laughs.

* FandomRivalry: With, oddly enough, ''Series/{{Cheers}}''. Despite being a spin-off of the latter, plenty of ''Frasier'' tend not to care for ''Cheers'' at all, considering it mediocre at best and unfunny and unwatchable. ''Cheers'' fans consider ''Frasier'' too pretentious and pompously highbrow to be enjoyable and prefer ''Cheers'''s more relaxed pacing and greater balance between working class and upper class.

** Some fans suspect that [[ObliviousToLove Daphne]] might have been secretly in love with [[DoggedNiceGuy Niles]] as long he was [[CannotSpitItOut secretly in love with her]], but repressed and concealed her own attraction better than he did.[[note]] Indeed, according to several interviews, Creator/JaneLeeves herself believed this, and played Daphne accordingly.[[/note]] Certain moments, such as the time she ill-conceivedly sort-of-tried to seduce him in "Daphne Hates Sherry", her behavior towards him in several episodes such as "First Date" and "A Midwinter's Night Dream", and her suspiciously sincere words and actions in "Moon Dance" make it difficult to be sure that her feelings for him were ''really'' as innocent as everyone assumed. [[https://daphnemoon.tumblr.com/post/163180649651/ A pre-series photo shoot]] with Daphne confidently pulling his tie and enjoying the flirting game was, according to the actors, the spark that gave the writers the idea in the first place.

* MorePopularSpinoff: Zig-zagged. While ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' is still more popular among the general public, ''Frasier'' matched ''Cheers'' in length, had better critical reception and fared better at the Emmys. So More Acclaimed Spinoff sounds more appropriate. ''Frasier'' is also more popular among modern viewers and the show's fanbase is still very active. While ''Cheers''' fanbase is still decently active, it's mainly just seen by most as a relaxing sitcom from the 80s.

*** [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E18CauseAndEffect It wasn't the first time, either.]] [[Literature/AnimalFarm Or the second.]]