What Really Prevented Frasier from Being Happy?

Summary

• Frasier chronicled the character's failed attempts to find happiness.
• Dr. Crane's self-contradictory nature is to blame for his misery.
• Things seem to have gotten better for him on the new show.

A spin-off of NBC's classic sitcom Cheers, Frasier proved to be much more successful and popular with audiences worldwide than its predecessor. Premiering in 1994, it was an instant hit and ran for a whopping eleven seasons, becoming one of the longest-running sitcoms on television.

Centered around the title character, psychiatrist Dr. Crane, who finds employment at a Seattle radio station, the show follows him in his daily life as he tries to find happiness. And while he excels at his job as a podcast host, Frasier's romances always turn out to be unsuccessful. As a result, the character feels lonely despite having a large family and many friends. And it seems that he's the only real reason for his own unhappiness.

Too Pretentious to Appreciate His Life

Although Frasier is an acclaimed psychiatrist, he seems to have little understanding of his own personality and true desires. Furthermore, Dr. Crane exhibits an inconsistent pattern of behavior, wanting both to fit in with his peers and to feel superior to them. Presumably, he has an inferiority complex and desperately seeks the validation of others, which leads him to exaggerate his flamboyance and sophistication. But it doesn't make him any happier.

'Frasier enjoys appearing to be one of the snobby wealthy people more than he enjoys actually being one,' one Redditor observed. 'Is this the tragedy of Frasier? That he might have been happier as a man of more simple tastes, more like his Dad but felt he had to be more like his Mom and Niles?'

A Hidden Solution

It seems that Frasier should have taken the path of authenticity and found a close partner who would love him unconditionally and tolerate him and his antics. But unfortunately, Dr. Crane enjoyed whining about his unhappiness more than trying to do anything to change it.

In other words, the character approached happiness as something he would encounter someday, but instead he should have worked to achieve it. Since he didn't, he fell into depression after his supposed happiness slipped away again and again.

Interestingly, Frasier in this year's Paramount+ reboot seems much happier and mellower than his original version. Perhaps he has grown older and wiser and realized his mistakes. Hopefully, he'll find a way to be happy in the next installments of the revamped sitcom, if it's ever going to continue.

Source: Reddit.