The Fraser Reboot introduced Nicholas Lyndhurst’s Alan Cornwall as Dr. Crane’s long-time best friend – so where was he in the previous two shows? The new series sees Frasier return to Boston for his third act after his father Martin died. He Hoping to reconnect with his estranged son, Freddie, he bought Freddie’s apartment building and moved into the apartment across the hall from his, but Freddie isn’t the only one Acquaintances with whom Fraser reconnected on his return to Boston.
The first episode of the revival saw Frasier give a guest lecture at Harvard University as a favor to Alan, his classmate from his time at Oxford. Fraser ended up taking a professorship at Harvard and sharing an office with Alan. Alan was supposedly one of Frasier’s closest friends since they went to college, but he was never seen throughout the entire run of Good luck Or the entire run of the original Fraser series, so where was he during all that time?
Alan likely studied at Harvard during both Cheers and Freire
It is certain that he was at Harvard for a long time
It is established that Alan taught at Harvard for a long time – so long that he had tenure. Alan is shown to be disillusioned with learning, but he is so grandfathered that the university cannot get rid of him. This is a time-worn comic archetype: the tenured professor, who teaches for so long, and whose job is so secure that he hardly makes any effort. This means that Alan was probably studying at Harvard during Frasier’s entire run on television.
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It would certainly make sense that Alan was busy teaching at Harvard during Fraser‘s original run, because the original show was set in Seattle. If Alan was tied to a demanding job in Boston, it would make sense that he never went to Seattle to visit his old college friend. It would make less sense if Alan was teaching at Harvard during Good luck‘ Boston-set flow. Alan could have studied at a different university somewhere else in the country during Good luckOr it wouldn’t make sense for Frasier and Alan to never see each other at that time.
Why isn’t Alan mentioned in Cheers or Friar – is it a plot hole?
The real-world explanation is that he had not been created yet
The short answer is that yes, Alan’s away from Good luck And the original Fraser Series is a plot hole. It’s funny that Frasier and Alan have supposedly been best friends for 40 years, and counting Frasier did not mention Alan once in 20 seasons of television. Of course, the real-world reason for this is because Alan hasn’t been created yet. There’s no official in-universe explanation for why Frasier failed to mention Alan for two decades, but it could just be that that’s how life goes sometimes.
Since sitcoms have recurring cast members, they tend to stay in each other’s lives. The six friends in Friends Saw each other every day for a decade. But that’s not the way it works in real life. In real life, people come in and out of each other’s lives; Two people can be best friends for years, and one of them moves away for a job, and they don’t speak for a decade. Fraser and Alan were close at Oxford, then they led separate lives for several decades, and now fate has brought them back together.
Why did Frasier’s reboot introduce Alan when he wasn’t in Cheers or Fryer
Fraser needed a sidekick in Nils’ absence
So, what did the Fraser Reboot bother to introduce a character whose existence creates a plot hole in the two previous shows? It is because the writers needed to have this type of character for Frasier to play. Frasier and Alan’s long history doesn’t make sense in the context of the larger one Good luck Cinematic universe, however It makes sense for the reboot’s narrative, which sees Frasier going back to his roots. If David Hyde Pierce had agreed to play Niles in the reboot, then the reboot wouldn’t need Alan; Alan essentially fills the role.
The genius of Nils’ role in the original Fraser series is that he gave Frasier an even Frasier-er version of himself to bounce off of. in Good luckFrasier’s reliable intellectualism was contrasted with Sam Malone’s universal charm. In the first Fraser Spin-off, the writers introduced an even dumber intellectual—Frasier’s snooty brother—to make Frasier seem like more of a Sam-esque everyman by comparison. This is the role Alan plays in the Fraser Reboot.