MISSING LINKS: ON THE ROAD WITH FRASIER CRANE

"America has always been enchanted with the romance of the open highway. 

Jack Kerouac went on the road. 

Buzz and Tod got their kicks on Route 66."

Dr. Frasier Crane

'Frasier'

The position taken by Toobworld Central is that if a TV character mentions another TV character without the context of origin, then we can assume he is accepting the "reality" of that other character.

So in this case, where Frasier rattles off the names of Buzz Murdock and Tod Stiles in the same speech in which he mentions real life author Kerouac, then it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that he believed those two roadsters were real.

Yes, Route 66 is mentioned in the quote.  However, it's also a real location, a touchstone of Americana and the lure of the open road.  So we're giving that a pass.  (But remember, kids: we only pass on the left.)

So accepting that Tod and Buzz were real people to Frasier, there are two ways this could go.  

1)  A TV SHOW WAS MADE ABOUT THE TWO WANDERERS

In Toobworld, Andy Warhol's cultural observation should have been "Everybody will have a TV show made about them."  In Buzz and Tod's case, the idea of two guys driving all around the country in search of America and themselves might have been alluring to a TV producer who saw their story as a vision of the unrest that our society was about to enter. And so Frasier would have known about the two drifters by watching the TV show based on their adventures and which starred two actors who looked amazingly like them: Martin Milner and George Maharis.

2) FRASIER ACTUALLY KNEW TOD STILES AND BUZZ MURDOCK

There are moments in life during prime-time that we as the audience of the Trueniverse are not privy to.  

Examples: 

• When Khan Noonian Singh first met Pavel Chekov
• Buddy Sorrell's career in the early days of television, including as host of 'Buddy's Band'
• Mary Richards' wedding to Congressman Steven Cronin and the birth of their daughter Rose

So as a televisiologist,  I have no problem with the idea of Frasier Crane knowing Tod Stiles and Buzz Murdock.  But I think we should adhere to the Toobworld timeline.

Buzz and Tod tooled about the country from 1960 until January of 1963.  But then they went their separate ways and Linc Case joined Tod by the end of March of that year.  There were several weeks in between early December of 1962 and early January of the next year in which Buzz had gone off on his own.  They were reunited for one last adventure on the road before Buzz left forever

Frasier spoke of both men, so he had to know them both, unless Tod told him about good ol' Buzz.  If Frasier actually knew Tod and Buzz, it was probably during that time period.  And it could be because of their encounter with each other that Buzz began to question the direction of his life.

Frasier Crane always did have that effect on people.

One might think there was a problem with this idea - the age discrepancy between Frasier and Tod & Buzz.  Frasier was only eight years old by 1963.  This tallies with Kelsey Grammar's age, which is what I prefer.  In the 1997 episode "Odd Man Out", Frasier realizes:

"I'm forty-three, and I'm alone."
["Odd Man Out"]

But that still isn't a hindrance.  I know at least Tod dealt with kids during his travels - a thirteen year old boy and his sister living on their own.  So why couldn't young Master Crane decide to chuck it all and run away from home when he was just a lad, and in so doing he crossed paths with Tod and Buzz who just happened to be driving through Seattle?

After that, it just gets too deep into Fanficcer territory so I'll leave it at that.

BCnU!