Every Frasier Season Ranked

"Frasier" ran for 11 seasons on NBC from 1993 to 2004 while racking up an enormous amount of award nominations (including 107 Emmy nominations and 37 wins) during its time on the air. This spinoff of "Cheers" follows psychiatrist Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) as he moves from Boston to his hometown of Seattle after his divorce from Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) to start a new job as a radio show host. Once in Seattle, he reconnects with his neurotic brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce), a fellow psychiatrist, and reluctantly agrees to have his retired cop father, Martin (John Mahoney), move in with him. Recently injured on the job, Martin requires a physical therapist, which leads Daphne Moon (Jane Leeves), a quirky Brit, to move into the apartment as well. Rounding out the main cast is confident single woman Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin), Frasier's radio show producer.

As mentioned above, the show ran for 11 seasons and produced a whopping 264 episodes — which is a lot of content for fans to watch and, likely, rewatch. Many will agree that "Frasier" proves to have consistently sharp and hilarious writing throughout, but some seasons are bound to be better than others. So, looking back at the 11 seasons of "Frasier," which one outranks all of the others — and which ones don't quite hold up to the rest?

Here's our ranking of every season of "Frasier" from worst to best.

Season 8 marks the first season in which the show's will-they-won't-they couple Niles and Daphne finally get together, following the end of Season 7 in which Daphne called off her wedding to Donny (Saul Rubinek). The couple faces multiple hurdles — including Daphne's unexpected and significant weight gain. After going to a weight spa, she reveals that her therapist speculated that the weight gain had to do with living up to Niles' expectations.

In reality, Levees became pregnant and the writers opted to cover it up with a weight gain rather than write a pregnancy into the plot (the timing certainly didn't make sense for Daphne to be pregnant). This decision led to mixed reactions — CheatSheet labeled it "cringeworthy," for example. On Reddit, fans were divided over the storyline, with some calling the jokes about her weight offensive and others praising the writers for avoiding a pregnancy storyline that wouldn't have made sense. Ultimately, the fact that the weight plot has such mixed reviews hangs over the season.

Season 8 is not without its triumphs, however. We get to see the hilarious camping trip that Frasier drags Frederick (Trevor Einhorn) and Martin on in "Cranes Unplugged." Beyond that, there is the episode in which Niles shockingly makes a shot at a Seattle Supersonics game after his seat number is drawn for a half-time moment in "Hooping Cranes." Plus, this season boasts the iconic moment when Frasier yells, "I am wounded!" 

It took nearly 20 years for Dr. Frasier Crane to return to TV screens, and by the time he did, there were some major shake-ups. Following the death of his father, Frasier returns to Boston to rekindle a relationship with his son, Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott), who has forgone a life of academia to become a firefighter. Freddy is living with his friend, Eve (Jess Salgueiro), a bartender and struggling actress who's raising a child on her own after the death of her firefighter boyfriend. Frasier decides to help them both out by buying the apartment complex they live in and moving Freddy into his place. He's also accepted a teaching job at Harvard, where his socially inept nephew, David (Anders Keith), is following in the Crane family footsteps. There he reconnects with his old college pal, Alan Cornwall (Nicholas Lyndhurst), a drunken professor who's constantly running afoul of the psychology department dean, Olivia (Toks Olagundoye).

All of the classic "Frasier" hallmarks are here. There are failed attempts at social climbing when Frasier, Alan, and Olivia compete against each other to join an exclusive Harvard club in "The Founder's Society," as well as comic misunderstandings when Frasier's attempts at becoming a full-time professor are foiled when the dean thinks he's an alcoholic in "The B Story." The newest season of "Frasier" even has the main character's classic unsuccessful romantic dalliances, as he competes with Freddy for two different women in "Blind Date." But there's also a surprising amount of heart, as the good doctor does his best to finally be there for his estranged son, even when it means competing with Lilith in "Freddy's Birthday."

We're definitely getting to the part of this list where the seasons are completely solid, just not quite as good as the top seasons of the list. Season 3 gives viewers one of Frasier's most notable romances with the new station manager Kate Costas (Mercedes Ruehl). Kate is extremely smart, capable, and witty — in other words, she can keep up with Frasier, which explains why Frasier finds her so insufferable at first. All in all, Kate's first episode, "She's the Boss," the one in which they hook up, "Sleeping with the Enemy," and the one in which they realize they're better off friends, "It's Hard to Say Goodbye If You Won't Leave," are all highlights of the season.

Season 3 also brings us "Moon Dance," which sees Daphne teaching Niles how to dance in preparation for an upcoming date he has at a society event. When his date pulls out, Daphne ends up accompanying Niles — which leads to a passionate tango between the two of them, leaving the other attendees (and the audience) in awe. In another memorable moment, Niles dramatically falls in Café Nervosa in an elaborately hilarious stunt to set up a countersuit in this season's "High Crane Drifter."

Other highlights include "Chess Pains," where Frasier becomes obsessed with beating Martin at chess, and "Shrink Rap," in which Frasier and Niles speak with a couples' therapist to settle a feud between the two of them.

Season 6 is brimming with fantastic episodes — which makes sense considering that we've now officially made it to the better half of the show. For instance, in "Hot Ticket," Frasier and Niles go through great — and ridiculous — lengths to be seen at (rather than to see) the hottest play in town. In "Secret Admirer," Frasier receives a note from a secret admirer, causing him to reach out to old flames to find out who it is, jeopardizing his current romantic prospect. However, it turns out that the note was meant for Niles, and it's from his estranged wife, Maris.

Then, in one of the show's best Christmas episodes, "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz," Frasier and his family must pretend to be Jewish for Frasier to continue dating Faye (Amy Brenneman) without upsetting her mother, Helen (Carole Shelley). The whole mixup results in a surprised Faye and Helen opening up the bathroom door to see Niles dressed as Jesus for a holiday performance in the building that Daphne is organizing. Another series highlight occurs in "Three Valentines," in which the opening scene presents Niles getting ready for a date — only for him to end up setting Frasier's couch on fire after a series of mishaps.

The season also introduces the character of Donny, Niles' divorce lawyer who begins dating Daphne, which sets up the trajectory for Niles and Daphne to finally get together at the end of Season 7.

Season 7 marks the season where Daphne and Niles finally get together, and the lead-up offers a multitude of memorable episodes. To begin with, the episode where Daphne finally finds out about Niles' feelings for her, "Back Talk," stands out as one of the best in the series. There, Frasier is loopy from pain medication when he lets Daphne in on the secret in a hilariously nonchalant manner. "Back Talk" sets the stage for the rest of the season, which sees the tables turning. Daphne is now pining after Niles, while Niles begins finding contentment in his new relationship with Mel (Jane Adams). Finally, the truth comes out at Daphne's wedding in the two-part finale "Something Borrowed, Someone Blue" and the will-they-won't-they pair finally kiss, followed by Daphne deciding to leave Donny to be with Niles.

The season is also full of fantastic episodes outside the Daphne and Niles storyline. In "A Tsar is Born," Niles and Frasier begin to think they come from Russian royalty. In "The Apparent Trap," Frasier and Lilith think Frederick is trying to get them back together when, in actuality, Frederick wants them to think that so that they'll buy him a gift out of guilt for not rekindling, but Frasier and Lilith catch on to the meta plan anyway. In "Big Crane on Campus," Jean Smart guest stars as Frasier's high school crush, and dating her turns out to be a bit different than what Frasier expected.

Finally, we've made it to the best "Frasier" season: Season 4. The season kicks off on a high note with "The Two Mrs. Cranes." In this episode, Daphne wants to ward off her unambitious former fiancé, Clive (Scott Atkinson), who she suspects is visiting Seattle to try to rekindle their relationship, so she spontaneously decides to pretend Niles is her husband — much to Niles' delight. This leads to Roz pretending to be Frasier's wife — "Maris" — and, after Daphne discovers Clive has become motivated with his life, Daphne and Roz vie for Clive's attention, despite the fact that they're both "married."

The rest of the season is full of more hilarious episodes. In "Mixed Doubles," Frasier persuades Niles not to ask Daphne out, only for Daphne to immediately meet and start dating Rodney (Kevin Farrell), a man who is eerily similar to Niles. In "A Lilith Thanksgiving," Frasier and Lilith go to ridiculous lengths to get Frederick into a snooty prep school. Later, in "Ham Radio," a controlling Frasier directs his colleagues in a radio drama for KACL, only for the whole production to go hilariously awry.

The season also sees the introduction of Sherry (Marsha Mason), one of Martin's most prominent love interests. The brash and gregarious Sherry doesn't mesh well with Frasier, Niles, or Daphne, which leads to plenty of funny predicaments throughout the season, beginning with her introductory episode "Dad Loves Sherry, the Boys Just Whine."