Bad Therapy

Season 2. Episode 3: Bad Therapy. And here’s the question we want to answer for history: We know that Frasier is the most decorated sitcom in the history of the Emmys. We know that the show was almost flawlessly written and acted. We know that Frasier and Niles Crane were lovable, learned and pretentious. We know so much about the Crane Brothers. But do we know -- do we have even the slightest idea -- if they were competent psychotherapists? 

Frasier and Niles were the flaccid superheroes of 1998. From the Elliot Bay Towers they plotted their takeover of Seattle’s upper crust. They plotted ways to date women two to three leagues above them. They chafed at their father’s no frills common sense. They drank countless lattes and even more sherry. Across nearly 270 episodes, Frasier was mostly perfect and always lovable.

That being said, great entertainment can obscure deep and dark mysteries, such as:

• How was a part time, AM radio therapist able to live like a man with generational wealth?

• Was Frasier Crane more of a ladies’ man than Jerry Seinfeld? More than Sam Malone?

• Was he secretly the most testosterone addled, alpha male on TV?

• Over eleven seasons, did either Frasier or Niles even once demonstrate basic competency as a therapist or physician?

The more we pull at the thread from Niles’ cardigan, the more the Crane brothers’ story unravels. Join Matty Wishnow, Kevin Blake and panelist, Josh Kaufman, as they determine if Niles and Frasier upheld their Hippocratic oath.