50 best television shows set across the United States
By Sundi Rose
Washington: Frasier
The premise: Frasier Crane is a transplant from Boston, and his namesake show is a spinoff of the beloved show Cheers. Frasier relocates to Seattle to start a radio show in which he uses his skills as a psychologist to offer advice to callers.
Frasier lives with his former-police officer father, his scruffy dog, and his pretty in-home caretaker. Frasier’s father, Martin, is gruff, unrefined and finds Frasier’s snobbishness irritating and bothersome.
The setting: Picking Seattle as home base makes sense to accommodate Frasier’s need for culture, refinement, and fine art. Seattle in the ‘90s was hotbed of new art and culture, and Frasier would have been right at the cusp of everything, including the growing music scene, although I’m not so sure how he felt about Pearl Jam.
The most Seattle thing about it: Although Frasier’s apartment wasn’t a real place, it was designed to be ultra modern in an eclectic style, and he never fails to mention that or comment on it to his visitors. Also, the view from the apartment was a real conversation starter as well. You can see Seattle’s most famous landmark, the Space Needle, from the view of the apartment.
According to bonus material on the Season 1 DVD, the picture production used for the Needle was possibly taken from a cliff in Kerry Park, a frequent stop for amateur photographers.