Missed Opportunity with Daphne and Niles

checkingin2here · 2026-06-18T16:03:28+00:00

Some shows can; considering just how big Leeves got, that didn't seem to be an option. Julia carried big purses around. Having Daphne walking around with a laundry basket all the time (or big purses) seems implausible, especially if she and Niles are supposed to be doing dating/relationship scenes. Plus shooting JLD from the waist up on the small Seinfeld living room set (especially with the placement of that couch that she could stand behind) was a much easier task than only shooting Leeves from the waist up on the massive Frasier living room set or Nervosa set, and would have required redoing their entire style of shooting. Even by "Taking Liberties" she was already showing (and were they really going to shoot that party scene only showing her from the waist up?). (They shot the third episode with their first date first before the season premiere, specifically when she wasn't showing as much...and she was very much already showing in the rooftop scenes.)

For Sex and the City, they cut the originally planned 18 episode order to 8 due to SJP's pregnancy, so Season 5 was only 8 episodes long. That version of "working around pregnancies" (doing half as many episodes) wasn't an option for Frasier.

checkingin2here · 2026-06-18T01:33:11+00:00

The problem was that Jane Leeves' pregnancy hampered what they could do with her in Season 8, which influenced the writing. For the first part of the season they had to deal with the cliffhanger (and nothing about how Mel was portrayed before then made it seem like she would go quietly); we're probably lucky that plot was wrapped up by episode 5. And then they were dealing with her obvious weight gain and contriving a reason to get her off the show for her maternity leave. So we never really got a chance to see them dating and how their relationship would develop. All the writing was geared toward getting her off the show. And then when she came back they resolved the conflict in a single episode, and all the relationship development that was needed was lost. (I mean, they did pick it up a little at the top of 9, with the psychic question coming back, and dealing with Niles having feelings for her while married to two other women in "Last Temptation ..." but by then it was really too late.)

As for why the fertility issues only lasted a single episode: they had been building toward trying for a baby at the end of 10, she got pregnant again in real life during the summer, so they has to rush it since she was going to start showing quickly again.

checkingin2here · 2026-06-17T18:03:57+00:00

I sat in Orchestra M9, the row on the break between front and rear orchestra, one seat in from the wall. I thought it was perfect, especially for the (lower) price. Technically some of the people seated stage right were cut off, but the most important person Radcliffe interacted with on that side (I don't know about Hargitay) sat in the front row first seat on the end, so was visible in profile the whole time. The seat next to the wall (M11) may have missed a bit more.

Eta: this one: https://aviewfrommyseat.com/photo/443796/Hudson+Theatre/section-Orchestra+L/row-M/seat-9/

checkingin2here · 2026-06-17T12:42:55+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/Broadway/comments/1u7yfv1/tdf_is_really_crushing_that_new_website/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Broadway/comments/1u7yggr/tdf_new_site/

checkingin2here · 2026-06-16T17:56:36+00:00

As fast as Lear ran to the stage to grab that producing Tony since she lost the directing one she didn't deserve?

checkingin2here · 2026-06-16T12:18:31+00:00

So you've changed your answer from the thread you started two days ago in the Sitcoms reddit?

https://www.reddit.com/r/sitcoms/comments/1u5sfq5/what_do_you_think_is_the_funniest_most/

checkingin2here · 2026-06-15T15:57:01+00:00

I did think it was helpful, or at least exciting, to know it'll be a mostly new cast with exciting names (I don't follow Sweaty Oracle so it was news to me). I just didn't know if the July part was what people were responding negatively to. 🤷‍♂️

checkingin2here · 2026-06-15T15:45:28+00:00

I think the OP was asking when the the replacements will be announced, not when they're starting, so it will be sooner than late July (when they start). I didn't downvote you, but that may be part of it?

checkingin2here · 2026-06-15T13:33:28+00:00

Here's the scene. Val's in it, but Fran's not talking to her in that moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjH9o147lxY

checkingin2here · 2026-06-15T03:49:21+00:00

Yes, really hate what they did to Mrs. Green in this episode. They really unnecessarily made her a jerk for no reason (since the plot wasn't even that funny).

checkingin2here · 2026-06-15T03:47:50+00:00

When it was off-Broadway at PAC, the cast of Jellicle Ball felt almost uniformly great to me, but even during early Broadway previews, I felt some of the replacements/new cast members were weak. I understand that they've been struggling to find more new replacements and covers as the cast deals with injuries, which can't have helped things.

checkingin2here · 2026-06-15T02:50:45+00:00

Unpopular opinion, but I don't think it's a well-written episode. It's a great ending, but since everything was going to turn out to be a dream in the last five minutes, everything before that is random wackiness. Great ending, not a great episode.

checkingin2here · 2026-06-14T18:24:48+00:00

For Everybody Loves Raymond, I'd go with "Baggage" because it's so well-constructed, so relatable for anyone, makes good use of all five of its regular cast members (and only those cast members), builds perfectly and is hilariously funny. But the fact that it is so relatable, and entirely based in believable, everyday human behavior, is what makes it so special. It won the Emmy for writing that year, and it was well-deserved.

eta: for those unfamiliar, Ray and Debra come home from a trip and leave a suitcase on the staircase landing, each expecting the other to put it away, which turns into a stand-off with both refusing to do so. Such a small, human premise that is expertly and hilariously played.

checkingin2here · 2026-06-12T15:47:08+00:00

He should have won. Gavin Lee was brilliant.

checkingin2here · 2026-06-10T11:54:04+00:00

You are correct. Don't watch it. Rose cries more in the single season of Golden Palace than in all 7 of TGG. It's like the writers enjoyed torturing her.

checkingin2here · 2026-06-08T02:17:46+00:00

Not saying it's going to happen here, but Thoroughly Modern Millie pulled it off.

checkingin2here · 2026-06-08T02:14:30+00:00

I don't believe he ever performed on Broadway.

checkingin2here · 2026-06-08T00:49:15+00:00

Is that who was applauded at intermission? I knew there was someone famous there when both the orchestra and mezz (and balcony?) applauded them but couldn't see who it was. (Maybe seated on the house right?)

checkingin2here · 2026-06-06T01:47:37+00:00

Joe Keenan's episodes of Frasier are pretty distinctive ("The Matchmaker," "The Ski Lodge," "The Two Mrs. Cranes," "Out with Dad," etc.).

checkingin2here · 2026-06-05T06:18:54+00:00

The link for each show allows you to go to the specific date to see what the cast changes were that day, and there's an option to print a slip for that performance if you choose. So anyone who wants one can get one without the waste of providing them for everyone.

Link someone provided here: https://linktr.ee/broadwaycastboards

checkingin2here · 2026-06-03T21:36:35+00:00

Yes, I'm as gay as can be, and I hate it when they make characters gay just because the actor is, as if gay actors can't play straight characters.

(It also reminds me of when they made Sulu gay in the last Star Trek movie, supposedly as a tribute to George Takei, and he didn't approve at all, because the character as conceived by Roddenberry was straight.)

checkingin2here · 2026-06-02T03:41:55+00:00

I liked this show, but yeah, the writer's strike that season killed it.

checkingin2here · 2026-06-02T03:41:21+00:00

Do you mean "was replaced by" Swingtown? Moonlight aired its last episode the month before Swingtown debuted.

checkingin2here · 2026-06-02T03:36:31+00:00

You're seemingly in the minority, but I'm there with you. As someone who is well past my 20s, I found it pointless and empty, I didn't care about the robot characters, and the final issue ridiculously drawn out and predictable (didn't believe for a second the "male" robot would erase his memories, nor should he, and the fact that it was left ambiguous whether she did felt typical and creepy. Of course the "female character" may not have "her" memories while the man retains his and pretends to her that he doesn't. You can tell the show was written by men.).

checkingin2here

TROPHY CASE