Frasier, a popular situation comedy starring Kelsey Grammer as the pompous, insecure psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane, first premiered on NBC in September 1993. The character had appeared originally in the long-running and much-loved comedy show Cheers, with which Frasier shared the same creative team. Frasier relocated the doctor from his original Cheers setting in a Boston tavern to Seattle, where he became the host of a call-in radio show on fictional local station KACL. Frasier immediately won accolades for its sophisticated humor and literate dialogue, and secured a consistent position in the top 15 network shows. In 1998, the show became the first to win five consecutive Emmy awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, ensuring its place in television history.

Grammer's character was moved to Seattle in order to give the show enough distance with which to create a sense of identity separate from Cheers, yet the choice of Seattle also meant...