Filming Frasier
Filmings for Frasier took place between August and May in Paramount Studios studio number 25, Los Angeles, CA. This studio is the same one they used to film Cheers, so if Frasier wanted to go back to Boston he wouldn't have far to travel!!! :-) Kelsey Grammer insisted that when Frasier started, they use that stage so that he felt at home with it.
To get in you needed a ticket, but even this didn't guarantee you'd get it as due to demand it was a "first come, first served" attitude. It was a good idea to reserve a ticket, and when you got there you needed to queue up a few hours before the filming began. The filming took about 3 hours and you were advised to dress up warmly as it can get cold in the studios. This is due to the air conditioning - it was turned on high so the actors don't get hot from the vast numbers of lights in the studios. You were also not allowed to eat and drink whilst there so a good meal should have been eaten beforehand.
Before the filming started, Moose or Enzo (who played Eddie) and their trainer, Mathilde DeCagney, often appeared on the stage as a "warm up". The dogs performed trick for the audience. However sometimes Moose or Enzo weren't there - either Eddie wasn't in that episode or his part had already been taped. Kelsey Grammer himself often entertained the audience with things such as jokes or a recital of the Frasier theme song. There was also a "warm-up guy" telling the audience some Frasier trivia.
The different sets for the episode were set up - the "main 3": the apartment, Cafe Nervosa and KACL - as well as any others needed. They were all next to each other, which saved time having to change the sets around. Each scene was filmed as a whole, as if a play were being performed. In fact, one of the staff had mentioned once that each episode could be considered as a play!!!
The audience laughed at the bits they found funny, but didn't spend ages laughing - this was so the actors could carry on and their words could be heard. No-one "whooped" in a Frasier filming, even in scenes such as in Ep 32 "Adventures In Paradise Part 1" where Madeline took off her towel. This was something the producers were glad about, as only "other comedies" (think Friends!) whooped.
Each scene was filmed twice (for different camera angles and also to take the best bits from each take and put them together in the finished episode). Some shots took numerous takes (such as David Hyde Pierce trying to get a basket in Ep 179 "Hooping Cranes"), and some shots were filmed elsewhere (such as when the cast went on location in Seattle for Ep 100 "The 1000th Show", so the audience were shown the video of these shots and their laughter was recorded. And at the end, if they were very lucky, the audience got to see the end scene (the "tag scene") which was shown during the credits. Filmed in silence (as there's no dialogue, even if there were we couldn't hear it as the theme song would be playing over it), it was normally filmed after the audience had gone home.
When they had, the staff decided if certain bits worked or not, and put together the finished episode. It was then sent to NBC and Channel 4 for them to broadcast.
The finale episode of Frasier was filmed on March 23rd 2004, and was a very emotional time for everyone involved. Afterwards, cast and crew all went to Hawaii for the week to celebrate the end of the show and as a thank you for all their hard work over the years.
Of course there will be no more Frasier filmings now, but to reserve tickets for other NBC comedies you might want to see a filming of, call (323) 956 1777 (USA and Canada) or +1 323 956 1777 (UK and rest of the world). Or, try www.audiencesunlimited.com.
If you have any more information about the filming of an episode, contact me and let me know.
Legal Stuff:
Frasier created by David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee. Based on the character "Frasier Crane" created by Glen and Les Charles and featured in the NBC / Paramount production "Cheers". Frasier is a Grub Street Production for NBC and Paramount. All Frasier characters are copyright NBC, Paramount and Grub Street Productions.
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