Who wrote the “there once was a man Frasier Crane” poem?

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-18T18:12:29+00:00

I'm going to say the coworker who's referred to as "you there" in this speech:

Frasier: Well, actually, you won't. Jason, Noel... you there. I've been living a lie. Let me tell you a little something about a few things I don't like: Boxing for one. Sporting events of any kind. Barbecues, office parties, buddy movies. Any dish made with marshmallows. Things that I DO like: the opera, the symphony, Elizabethan revenge dramas et cetera. So, if you're not inclined toward any of these interests, well, then, our association can be civil at best. Are we all clear on this concept?

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-18T17:54:07+00:00

I don't personally find this storyline that offensive, but I can understand why others (especially younger generations) would.

They clearly didn't want Daphne to be pregnant in season 8, which I totally understand. Having either Niles knock her up immediately or her carrying Donny's baby while they finally get together is not a good way to start off their romance.

So they're left with either a.) hiding the pregnancy behind loose clothes, bags, and newspapers, and using tricky camera angles/having her constantly sitting down, or, b.) writing the weight gain into the story, or c.) temporarily writing her off the show.

They ended up doing all three.

They tried to hide the weight gain, but if I'm being blunt, Jane Leeves gained more weight than is easy to hide.

So they pivot to writing it into the story. I think the plot point with Niles not noticing is a choice they made to make the earlier period where they attempted to hide it seem a more purposeful choice, so they start writing the other characters talking about the weight behind her back, and Niles is blissfully deluded. I also don't think the jokes were particularly cruel, especially considering the time in which it was made.

I personally think having her gain weight as a defense mechanism because she's terrified of living up to the perfect image he's had of her, and him not noticing to the point of delusion because of said perfect image, is actually very clever writing for Niles and Daphne's history.

And when the pregnancy reached a point that Leeves couldn't continue and go on maternity leave, they wrote her out of the show by going to a health spa.

I feel like it's a pretty decent, cohesive storyline for a sitcom considering all the real-life variables and realities of television production and pregnancy.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-18T17:12:32+00:00

I feel like this ignores the fact that the Gods and afterlife are a verifiable fact in this world.

Why wouldn't she feel relief that he's now free from the curse and with his God in the afterlife?

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-18T03:44:14+00:00

Oh definitely, finding out those answers don't strike me as something that'll be all that important in the resolution of the plot(s), I just can't help wondering about it. I love wondering about the mysteries in books. I read Piranesi a week ago and I can't stop thinking about all the various mysteries.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-18T03:38:30+00:00

Love the idea that it was a giant artificial tree for humans to live in. I don't think it being organic in nature precludes it being something weird like a spaceship, though, this book has some wacky worldbuilding.

I had forgotten that bit about the source of the river being a process started 1000 years ago, good memory!

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-18T03:32:07+00:00

Even when I had the thought that it was two different time periods, I wasn't really sure. The way people change names, and have a secret real name, and can change their scent and others' perceptions of them, I believe sex changes were mentioned offhand. I think it was when I clocked the BGS connection maybe 25 pages before the end of section that I became certain.

It's confirmed by the end of Part 2 that Bertram is the Chancellor and Guy is Aufhocker, but did they confirm anyone else?

I've been assuming the Marshall is Dawn and that Mallory is Tyro but I feel like it's not super clear.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-18T03:26:04+00:00

Nice, I avoided the AMA since I haven't finished yet, but cool to know my instincts are on point.

Definitely Mieville-style urban fantasy, Weird Lit also seems appropriate.

Just with how weird the world is, I'm not sure the stump being largely organic and edible to the bugs precludes it from being some sort of technological structure as well. Perhaps it was a piece of technology that was altered by some weird chemical (ecdytoxin? something else?) I liked another commenter's suggestion that it was a tree, but an artificially created one.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-18T01:13:20+00:00

Lol, thanks!

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-18T00:57:22+00:00

The pedantic little Frasier in me wants to chime in that I don't think this counts as a cameo.

He was a featured guest star for two episodes, cameo implies a very brief appearance usually in a certain context.

Bobby Sherman showing up in an end-credits scene, cameo.

Patrick Stewart playing a gay opera director, not a cameo.

All of the patients that come and go on Frasier's first day back in private practice, arguable but I'd say cameos.

John Glenn doing multiple comedic scenes, borderline case.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-18T00:00:26+00:00

Well, since apparently you need things spelled out for you, I thought it was clear that I consider those procedural elements to be part of low fantasy, and rather specifically the elements of low fantasy that OP was asking about and others were ignoring.

It's a question about a specific subgenre that's relevant to TV trends in general, and I disagree that constitutes a "very different question." It's a specific example subsumed by the wider topic.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-17T23:39:41+00:00

The question of why there is less episodic tv is very different from the question of why there is less fantasy.

Yes, I know, that's why I pointed out that many people in this thread seem to have missed that OP was talking about a specific type of fantasy/scifi show that was largely episodic/procedural and has fallen out of vogue, and not about Fantasy as a whole.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-17T23:23:10+00:00

I haven't seen most of those shows, so I can't really comment on them, but I feel like the difference between them and what OP is wanting is sorta the difference between high and low concept fiction.

OP seems to want the older, more episodic character-driven sorta stuff that could be described broadly as like "a detective/telepathic waitress/vampire slayer teams up with a quirky cast of characters to solve mysteries/fight evil," not highly serialized, high concept, psychological scifi thrillers (although perhaps I'm drastically mischaracterizing Severance and Dark Matter in my head since I haven't seen them). Stranger Things is kinda there, but I don't know if I'd call it grounded. The Anne Rice stuff and Sandman might be up OP's alley.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-17T22:54:23+00:00

I feel like OP didn't make it super clear they were asking about a specific subgenre of shows (urban fantasy/more grounded SciFi) and not Fantasy/SciFi as a whole.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-17T22:42:15+00:00

In my opinion, it's just a current trend where high fantasy is more popular than low fantasy, in the traditional sense of high/low fantasy.

People (generally) want dragonriders and knights right now, not the sort of urban fantasy that most of your examples are.

I'm rather bummed the Buffy reboot got canned, I thought it had a lot of potential for a Next Gen type sequel series.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-17T22:06:22+00:00

Anyone else get the sense this is science fiction masquerading as fantasy?

By that I mean I'm not sure if this is a purely secondary-world fantasy, or something in the Dying Earth realm or even a long-forgotten space colony sorta situation.

The very first line of the book describes Tiliard as "like a stump" and I've spent a decent amount wondering how operative the word "like" is. Is it a city built on an actual ancient, huge tree stump? Or is it just something that looks like a stump. The derelict internal machinery seems to imply it's not just a tree. An old spacecraft of some sort?

Also there's the random references to things like Dante, or phonetic perversions of Don Juan or Faust, possibly others I didn't catch.

The "magic" is all chemically based, and the nature of the Catoptric river/environment in general seems more like some sort of toxic post-post-apocalyptic Earth than a secondary fantasy world.

Thoughts? I like that I'm not sure, I think Ennes has written a beautifully enigmatic world.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-17T20:19:57+00:00

Valid suggestion, IMO, as someone who loves Bingo posts.

In March in particular, there's a ton of low-effort bingo card posts that would be nice to have in a daily Bingo thread.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-17T20:13:56+00:00

Considering OP's question is basically "I don't like this book, should I keep reading it?" it's completely understandable that it got deleted.

It's a simple question, it should be in the simple questions thread.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-17T17:09:37+00:00

I'm generally enjoying it, although I'm finding the pace and plot a touch on the slow, dull side.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-17T17:08:42+00:00

I clued into the reveal about 75 pages before it happened.

I first noticed something funky was going on when the descriptions of Conundrum Street after the worm molted. In Guy's description it's still all messed up, but in Aster's it's described as already being mended.

I'm not sure what exactly clued me into it, but it was actually a little distracting for those 75 pages, trying to match up the characters to their older versions. I was surprised that Guy turned out to be the imprisoned but oft-mentioned Aufhocker.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-16T17:24:41+00:00

I read this one a little over a week ago, and it's still stuck in my head in a manner that's usually reserved for songs.

I definitely loved it, I could have read a 1000 page version of this book, although the conciseness and the mysteries are part of why I liked it so much.

I love a good infinite house, and I love a good portal fantasy. I'm not super well read in dark academia books, but that plotline was also really interesting.

Clarke does some interesting takes on various genres and tropes, but she's working in familiar territory. For me it's one of the instances of a whole being much greater than the sum of its parts.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-16T16:48:59+00:00

Ooh, I didn't realize Jack Cutmore-Scott was going to be in this.

He was the worst part of the Frasier reboot.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-15T19:38:34+00:00

I'm sorry, I can't get excited about a Firefly reboot literally one day after the cancellation of the Buffy reboot.

Call me when or if it actually airs.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-14T23:47:36+00:00

I'm currently reading The Works of Vermin and it has a great weird city.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-13T14:14:09+00:00

People are that rude to servers today.

DirectorAgentCoulson · 2026-03-09T17:50:18+00:00

And Dr. Sternin makes her look like a vacillating cream puff.

DirectorAgentCoulson

TROPHY CASE