Frasier is without doubt one of my favourite shows, it’s rare a TV show can make me laugh like this one does.
If you don’t know then Frasier follows, well, Frasier who is a Psychologist who works for a Radio Station and gives advice over the air. It’s a spin off from Cheers where the character would first be seen. Frasier lives with his Dad, Martin (the late John Mahoney), and his Dad’s care worker, Daphne (Jane Leeves). He has a brother called Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and the Producer of his Radio Show, Roz (Peri Gilpin) is often kicking around somewhere. They make up the core cast, along with Eddie the Dog, The show follows Frasier as he makes his way through life, normally from one blunder to another.
Virginia Madsen took a guest role on the show for three episodes in the sixth season. Technically, four episodes but the last two are Parts 1 and 2 and I’ve never seen them apart. The box set even plays them as one episode on the DVD.
She plays Cassandra Stone, she works at the same Radio Station as Frasier as a Public Relations Executive.
When we first meet her it’s in the episode 14 of the Season in an episode called “Three Valentines“. Frasier is out for the evening with Cassandra, but doesn’t quite know if he’s on a date or not. He’s had mixed signals and ends up sat at the table waiting for her unsure on if this is a Business meeting or not. Things aren’t any clearer after she arrives and Frasier spends the dinner confused. It doesn’t get any clearer. 
Not even after Cassandra invites him back to her room to make things easier the next day for a meeting they are both going to.
And. not even after they end up in bed together…
We next see Cassandra in the 21st Episode, “When a Man Loves Two Women“. By this point Frasier and Cassandra are dating, but on random meeting with an old girlfriend, Faye, Frasier gets confused about who it is he really wants. Ultimately he decides that life with Faye is what he wants the most. Well, that is until he learns that Cassandra has being seeing someone else as well. This brings out the green eyed monster in him and he decides it is Cassandra that is the one for him. But, in typical Frasier fashion, once he sits down to talk to Cassandra he realises that it’s Faye he wants. Or, is it… Once he’s back with Faye he starts to doubt that decision as well.
(C’mon Frasier – It’s a no brainer here, surely?- Right? RIGHT?)
Moving on to Episodes 23 and 24 – “Shutout in Seattle Parts 1 and 2“. Frasier has been seeing Faye for a good few weeks now, but he keeps calling her Cassandra by mistake, obviously she’s still on his mind in a big way (well, yeah, Frasier). He’s managed to cover it up so far by insisting that his Aunt is called Cassandra and that Faye reminds her of his Aunt. Faye seems to be OK with this, but then in a fleeting moment it all goes terribly wrong and Cassandra bumps into Faye, introducing herself as she does…
Game over Frasier, game over. You fool.
Although she has limited screen in time in all three shows, it’s an utter delight to see her in this kind of role. Sure she’s the sexy smart woman we’ve seen her do before, but just to see her shine in a proper comedy role is worth the price of admission. I honestly wish the Producers of the show had found a bigger role for her in this show, but I’ll take what I got.
Virginia Madsen throughly enjoyed her time on the show, speaking in 2013 with The AV Club she’d remember her time with the cast and crew fondly;
“When I did Cassandra, I wasn’t quite to the point where I was when I did Sideways, but I was just starting to turn my life around. I was still a good deal heavier than I wanted to be, but I was starting to get really healthy, Jack was a little bit bigger at that point, and life was all coming together, but I wasn’t getting any work. I wasn’t really getting movies that were… well, they were sort of pay-the-mortgage movies. So I decided that I would try and guest star in shows that I really liked, so that I could continue learning as an actor. Star Trek: Voyager was one of those, because I’m a huge Star Trek fan, and Frasier was another one, because I’m a huge fan of that show and because I wanted to learn about comedy. I’d never really done any comedy before.
So my agent called and asked if I could meet the show creator, and they said, “Well, we have an episode for her!” I was like, “What?!?” [Laughs.] I just got offered the part! And it was a three-episode arc for a season finale… or, rather, I did one episode, then they turned it into that. But I just couldn’t believe it. Those people on that show, it was like they were a theater company, and they made me feel like I was a part of the cast, not just a guest star. I’m sure that they could see that I was still very vulnerable at that time. I was not very confident. But I really wanted to learn, and they were just like, “Here, Virginia, we’ll show you how to do it! Come on the stage with us, we’ll teach you how to dance!” And they did! And that did so much for my self-esteem. To perform in front of a live audience was just icing on the cake, and I will always be grateful to those actors and the showrunner for giving me that chance, because it really created momentum for change… very big change…in my life.”
Frasier will be forever a part of her history, and Virginia Madsen will live on in Frasier history, even if by proxy. The first episode she was in, Three Valentines, is widely regarded as one of the best episodes as it featured the infamous scene of Niles getting ready for a date and things going disastrously wrong. It is genuine comedy gold and has me in creases each and every time I see it.
In fact, I don’t have a trailer or any other video for this page, so you can have a giggle at that instead…
Availability:
Excellent. The DVD’s for both the Season and the Full Series are easy to find, and cheap! – Not sure why but I feel like I stole both the Season box set and the series box set when I picked up mine.
The show is currently a part of the Paramount+ line up as well if you’re a subscriber, or as it seems there is a lot of this, you can probably find copies of the episode(s) to watch on YouTube as well.
Gallery:
| < Previous | Home | Next > |
