The Further Adventures of Niles and Daphne

Will Niles and Daphne finally trip the light fantastic?

Fans of NBC’s Emmy Award-winning sitcom “Frasier” may learn the answer on Thursday’s episode. Or maybe they won’t. . . .

The cast and producers of the NBC hit are keeping mum about the plot twists and turns of the hourlong season finale. But after seven years of watching the uptight Dr. Niles Crane (David Hyde Pierce) pine moony-eyed over his unrequited love--the down-to-earth British physical therapist Daphne (Jane Leeves)--fans are itching for the two to at least confess their true feelings for each other.

The episode, written by executive producers Christopher Lloyd and Joe Keenan, revolves around Daphne’s impending marriage to Donnie (Saul Rubinek) and Niles’ continuing, albeit toxic, relationship with Mel (Jane Adams), his ex-wife Maris’ neurotic plastic surgeon.

When this reporter shows up on the “Frasier” set at Paramount during rehearsals, everyone is extremely friendly but nervous that the cat will be let out of the bag. The Emmy Award-winning Hyde Pierce pleads: “Don’t remember anything you are about to see.”

A few minutes into rehearsal, stars Kelsey Grammer, John Mahoney, Adams, Rubinek, Leeves and Hyde Pierce play out the episode’s biggest surprise. It’s a doozy that sets the stage for the crazy shenanigans that take place during the final 30 minutes.

The decision to take the Daphne-Niles plot line to a new level this season was actually decided at the end of last year’s final episode. After doing another Daphne-Niles almost “get-together show,” says Grammer, who is an executive producer, it was agreed “we weren’t going to do that to the audience anymore. We had played it well enough that we were going to have some closure for that relationship. It has helped to craft the shape of this season. I think it was a good choice. There is a sense of responsibility you have to the audience. You can’t fool them too many times or they will get upset.”

Audiences have been miffed this year because the NBC promotions department has gone into overdrive, promoting Daphne-Niles plot lines, promising a lot more than has been delivered--thus far.

“That’s not our fault,” says Grammer. “That is NBC.”

Producer Lloyd, who is leaving the series this season, does promise that the finale “is a major step forward” in Niles and Daphne’s relationship. “They have been through a lot of life in [the last seven years] and their friendship has grown at a normal pace. I do feel this season we found a new dimension in their relationship, so it isn’t just the same thing of him mooning over her and her missing all the signals. We have found ways to indicate points of connection between them over the years. People love the tension that is built into the unrequited love story.”

The reason for the endless charm of Daphne and Niles is the undeniable chemistry between Leeves and Hyde Pierce, who are able to move effortlessly from scenes of silly slapstick to sweet, poignant moments in a blink of an eye.

And that chemistry extends to off-screen. Relaxing in a conference room during a rehearsal break, the two are as comfortable with each other as a pair of old shoes, often finishing each other’s sentences and thoughts.

Question: Well, what can you say about this episode?

David Hyde Pierce: We can tell you where we are so far for the foolish people who haven’t been watching. This last season, we finally found out how Daphne feels.

Q: How have you kept this game of love between Niles and Daphne as fresh as it was at the beginning of the series?

Hyde Pierce: It is a real testament to the skills of the writers.

Jane Leeves: Absolutely. . . .

Hyde Pierce: It also has to do with the fact that ours is not the only story line, so they are able to go to other areas and come back to this.

Q: What have you thought about the NBC promos this season teasing your relationship?

Leeves: Obviously we have no control over it.

Hyde Pierce: The promotional people have a job. They want to bring in the numbers. However, I would say if you are placing odds on what is going to happen and [considering] that this is the season finale in sweeps, then the odds are much better than earlier in the season, when realistically they weren’t going to have any big climax [to the relationship].

In this particular episode, our concern is not leading one to think that something is going to happen that doesn’t, it is giving too much information in a very critical episode where the surprises are really the fun.

Leeves: It’s so funny; my sister is coming to the show and didn’t want to know anything about it. People like to be surprised. The best experience possible to have is not to know anything.

Q: Can you talk about your working relationship?

Leeves: I am so inspired by David. I have a great time working with him. What tends to happen is that when we have a little bit or scene together, neither of us has any problem saying, ‘Do you know what would be fun? Can we try this?’ There is this constant sort of inspiration going on because it changes all the time. The dynamic between the two of us changes.

Hyde Pierce: I actually hate working with her! But I will say this, she has very good ideas which are surprising. You’ll have a moment and there is an obvious way to play it that could be very funny, and it’s Jane frequently who will come up with something that is from another planet.

Leeves: Like the hitting thing.

Hyde Pierce: That’s a great one because that actually became a running bit. In one of our first scenes together where we were having fun together, working on something in the kitchen, she whacked me, just playfully, but she whacked me. Then we got into sort of whacking each other.

When you understand the feelings between the two people, it takes on a whole different meaning, and then it becomes a part of our rapport, which hopefully is what people take away from seeing it.

Even though Niles has an undeclared feeling for Daphne and for many years we didn’t know if she had any feeling for him at all, you did as an objective observer see that these two people worked great together. You said that about us as actors but also the same about the characters.

The reason the show has been successful for seven years is that people have an underlying sense they are watching actual human beings who actually have feelings and relate to one another, not just funny characters.

Leeves: Nobody is dumb on this show, and that was very important. I watch a lot of shows out there that are great shows with great people, but it skims the surface.

There is something wonderfully old-fashioned about the show. Each one of them; they are like these 1940s movies at times.

Hyde Pierce: Especially some of the more stylized episodes can be really like a period piece.

Q: How did the Niles-Daphne plot come about?

Hyde Pierce: I can tell you the idea for the whole thing came at one of the very first photo shoots we did before filming the series. . . .

Leeves: I think I actually said it to you during the pilot.

Hyde Pierce: She said I wonder if we would have some sort of thing going, and then we sort of did the photo shoot kind of hanging out all over each other. I don’t think we actually spoke to the writers about it; it was based on seeing us that was the kernel of the idea.

Leeves: I just always thought from reading the script the first time and when I met David on the set. . . . Daphne was so earthy, and I just had this vision of her maybe with her butt under the sink fixing the plumbing and him standing in the doorway with a martini just looking--because it is so alien to the women he’s known. It just struck me as very funny.

Q: Why do you think fans love Daphne and Niles?

Hyde Pierce: There are a lot of reasons. It is a very innocent love. There is obvious lust involved, but it is so much more than that.

Leeves: It is just a pure love of a person, foibles and everything. We have certainly seen the flaws in each other’s characters.

Q: The series’ best episodes always are tinged with poignancy. Will this one have its share of pathos?

Hyde Pierce: I would say like with all of our best shows, and I honestly believe this is one of our best shows, it has a healthy mix of everything. I believe people will get some things they probably have been hoping for, along with some things they aren’t expecting.

*

* “Frasier” can be seen Thursday at 9 p.m. on NBC. The network has rated it TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children).