31 Plays in 31 Days, #14 - "The Cousins Crane"

The results of my (otherwise mostly pointless) labors— an early scene imagining the next-generation Frasier spinoff I was musing about, at ridiculous length, in my entry yesterday. This would be the first scene between the two main characters, cousins Freddy and David Crane, almost twenty years after the end of the previous series.

The challenge of such a show would be twofold. One, to evoke the tone and style of the comedy of Frasier without copying it exactly. And two, to update and modulate for both modern comedic tastes, as well as for significantly younger characters. Even if Freddy is in many ways my Frasier stand-in, he’s thirty-three in the near future, not the eighties like Frasier was, not to mention the fact that Frasier was over forty for most of his show.

I’m tentatively assuming the multi camera setup like Frasier had, and I’d want to use the title cards between scenes. But I’d also want to include allusions to familiar elements of the show non-literally. Like, for example, there could be a physical point of contention between Freddy and David similar to how Frasier hated Martin’s old chair in his apartment, or a similar animal companion issue the way Martin’s dog Eddie was. Maybe something with a call-in element? I don’t know. It could also be fun to have an unseen character that people talk about, like Maris on Frasier or Vera before her on Cheers.

As a side note, I’d probably have to take into account the time skip with the setting. I would probably look to how Parks and Recreation handled it for inspiration, as they incorporated it pretty well. The future-stuff also might be another source for humor.

And NBC, if you’re paying attention: PLEASE BUY THIS FROM ME TO LEGITIMIZE THIS OTHERWISE RIDICULOUS USE OF MY TIME.

( Day #14 - The Cousins Crane )