> Dorfman's tone lacks the subtle disdain Dr. Crane has for his radio callers.

Kelsey Grammer I know was cast as "Sideshow Bob" on the Simpsons before he was a radio host in Frasier, but I always thought he brought a lot of the Frasier character to the Sideshow Bob character. The disdain manifesting of course as homicidal rage with Bob.

>Dorfman's tone lacks the subtle disdain Dr. Crane has for his radio callers.

I've seen 99% of Frasier episodes and never once got the sense that Frasier has disdain for his callers.

The show wouldn't work if he did, because Frasier is a good person. His snobbishness and pretensions are funny characteristics, but they don't define him.

I think you're right; it's more he disdains his own station vs being a "real" practicing psychiatrist working with patients over a number of years like his brother. But he also loves his callers, and deeply values when he can help them.

Frasier does not disdain or dislike KACL in any way. He could go into private practice anytime and does so briefly. Frasier quite enjoys being a local celebrity.

If anything, Niles is the one who envies his brother, however mildly; despite his jokes about Frasier's "fast-food" psychiatry, Niles sometimes admits to envying how his brother is well-known, and that he helps many people over the air while Niles's own work is anonymous to the public.

I don't know where this idea that Frasier is a snob comes from. A "snob", to me, is someone who looks down upon those he views as his lessers; views them as fundamentally different and forever unable to achieve his own far greater status. Frasier never once acts as a snob to his uneducated father. He never shows anything but respect for Daphne despite being the product of a family from the bottom of Manchester, and never says or implies that she would in any way be unfit for Niles (Niles's own marital status conflicting with his lust is a different story).

Frasier sometimes gets irritated by Martin's habits, or failure to appreciate the same things as his sons. He sometimes gets irritated (but more often amused/bemused) by a rambling or bizarre story from Daphne. But if such is the definition of snobbery then we are all snobs. To put another way, we are all snobbish about some things (and the Crane brothers have more things on their own lists than most people), but only snobs believe that such things make them inherently better than others.

Sorry that's confusing - by his own station I meant his own work situation.

It's true that Niles also envies Frasier. This is not mutually exclusive - there's no need for any "if anything" statements that require a binary choice.

As for snobbishness - I didn't mention that. So I'm not sure what to make of the bulk of your comment.

I interpreted it more as exasperation.