Top 10 Worst Episodes of 'Frasier'

I love Frasier. It's totally my favorite sitcom of all time. It is also one of the few long-running shows that is consistently watchable for its entire run. But Frasier couldn't hit a home run for each of the 264 episodes. Here are the 10 worst episodes of Frasier.

10. "It's Hard to Say Goodbye If You Won't Leave" (season 3, episode 10)
Frasier the show had a terrific arc with Frasier the guy battling sexily with KACL station manager Kate Costas (Oscar winner Mercedes Ruehl), the female version of Frasier. But the arc ended on a sour note with a seemingly endless episode of romantic miscommunications and misunderstandings. The episode attempts an elaborate Casablanca homage that it doesn't really pull off. I got the impression the show didn't want to lose Kate so soon but hastily wrote a last episode for her when the actor's contract wore out.

9. "Kissing Cousin" (season 10, episode 4)
Roz's mid-20s, hipster cousin (played by future star Zooey Deschanel) comes to visit and her too cool for school attitude irritates Frasier. That's a good recipe for comedy but the episode doesn't really milk that opportunity for all it's worth. Then the episode takes a weird turn with the Deschanel character offering life advice to KACL station manager Kenny Daly (Tom McGowan). Because the audience cares about his existential crisis. I mean, you know an episode is in trouble when it features extended scenes with none of the lead cast and Kissing Cousin falls victim to that.

8. "Call Me Irresponsible" (season 1, episode 7)
It was six episodes before Frasier got a love interest but this episode is no sweet introduction to the series-long arc of Frasier trying to find love. The premise of this episode is interesting: Frasier convinces a commitment-phobic caller to break up with his girlfriend but then said girlfriend (Amanda Donohoe, in one of the worst guest star performances in the show's history) comes to the station to chew Frasier out. Of course, they hit it off but Frasier can't date her because it's an ethical violation. There's a funny scene with Frasier and the woman trying to make love which makes Frasier queasy but it's not enough to save the episode. It's poorly written and executed, with the poor woman being the rope in Frasier and the ex's tug of war.

7. "The Focus Group" (season 3, episode 23)
Frasier's pomposity was a deep well for comedy throughout the show but sometimes the writers took it a bit too far. The Focus Group is one of those episodes. Frasier chases after a member of a focus group (Tony Shalhoub) who just "doesn't like him." That sort of vague disdain drives Frasier nuts so he has to know why and in the process ends up ruining this guy's life. It's one of the few times they couldn't make Frasier's pomposity lovable but annoying and selfish. Surprisingly, season 3 is my favorite season though it contains two of the worst episodes in the show. The other 22 episodes are absolutely brilliant, though.

6. "Slow Tango in South Seattle" (season 2, episode 1)
For an ordinary episode, this one is just mediocre. But as a season premiere, it is downright awful. Frasier discovers an old acquaintance wrote a book based on Frasier's first time with a woman (he was a teenager, she middle-aged). This leads to some light teasing between the characters until Frasier discovers he never thanked the woman for the statutory rape and goes to see her. Constance Towers of The Naked Kiss fame (seriously watch the clip) plays the woman and she's fine. But the whole sequence is bizarre and icky. I didn't like how the season opens with an episode that features so little of the other four characters. Especially since any of the next five episodes could have served as excellent season openers (especially Matchmaker or The Botched Language of the Cranes).

5. "Frasier's Curse" (season 6, episode 2)
Frasier being humiliated is a rich source of comedy for the show. But Frasier's Curse is almost unbearably mean-spirited. I like laughing at the guy when his ego gets taken down a peg but this episode, detailing his bad luck at finding a job, is akin to kicking him when he's down. The jokes aren't funny and the episode becomes a tragedy with a laugh track. Cringe comedy can be great but Frasier's Curse misses the mark. The episode is just a series of humiliations for Frasier with no victory in sight and ends with Frasier on his way to more humiliation.

4. "Motor Skills" (season 8, episode 11)
I really dislike this episode. Frasier and Niles in auto shop night school is all right though their shenanigans are really out of character. And they're way too old to be taking such glee at being rebellious. It's just not funny and this plot should have been in season 2 or something. But the real downer of the episode is Roz and Martin fighting about dog-raising. When a show becomes long-running and character combos start to become tired, the plots start to feel inorganic and contrived  Roz and Martin, the sanest members of the cast, are a good pair but this episode is joyless and frustrating.

3. "Beware of Greeks" (season 5, episode 16)
Coming after the season 5 classics Ski Lodge and Room Service, there's a lot of pressure on Beware of Greeks. And it fails spectacularly. Patti LuPone guest stars as Frasier's Greek aunt on his father's side who hates him because he convinced his cousin to give up medicine and become a street performer. Except Frasier shouldn't have a Greek aunt on his father's side because Martin mentioned a few times being an only child. The episode just isn't funny because of the overload of Greek stereotypes and LuPone's over the top performance which does not fit at all with the show. The episode is just lousy and almost unwatchable.

2. "Wheels of Fortune" (season 9, episode 16)
Frasier hit a low point with Wheels of Fortune, another episode introducing a previously unheard of relative. This time it's Michael Keaton as Lillith's wheelchair-bound brother Blaine. It just doesn't make any sense. It's one of those con episodes, with Frasier trying to convince everybody that this guy is no good and no one believes him. The jokes are just not funny and Keaton's performance is just horrible (though I don't like him in general). But the episode is too frantic and busy and it's unbelievable that the characters would fall for Blaine's nonsense. The major problem with this episode is that it's just so poorly conceived. How does Lillith end up with a scheming con man brother? She probably would have whipped him into shape a long time ago!

1. "Liar! Liar!" (season 4, episode 10)
And here we are. The absolute worst episode of Frasier. It is just horribly horrible that I am embarrassed for poor Kelsey Grammer and company for having to act in it. A discussion about lying leads Frasier to confess lying about an old prep school bully to get him kicked out of school. He then seeks out this guy, now in prison, hoping that his life of crime was independent of getting kicked out. It's another example of Frasier being unlikable in ways that don't fit into his character. And the episode keeps spiraling out of control until the end when Frasier ends up at that guy's apartment with his nymphomaniac wife who likes getting caught while doing it. It's just so bizarre and unfunny. I just cannot believe this episode was even produced by the brilliant Frasier team.

So there you have it. 10 episodes of Frasier that just completely missed the mark. Here's a reminder of everything that Frasier did right. This is one of the best moments in the show's history, the famous "Buttons and Bows" sequence from season 3, episode 16 Look Before You Leap.