The film and television industries have resigned themselves to becoming recycling factories. Reboots and revivals have become the norm among the brand new content that premieres each year. Still, fans rightly scoffed when Paramount+ announced the revival of “Frasier,” a reboot of the Emmy-winning show that ran on NBC for 11 seasons from 1993 to 2004.
Kelsey Grammer had played the stuffy psychiatrist Frasier Crane for 20 years, first on the sitcom “Cheers” and then on the series named after his character. Returning to such an iconic role after two decades seemed like a massive misstep, especially since the original Frasier cast – particularly David Hyde Pierce as Niles – would not be reprising their roles. But Grammer is joined on the new show by original series producers Bob Daily, Jay Kogen and Christopher Lloyd, casting director Jeff Greenberg and director Jimmy Burrows. And it turns out that watching Frasier’s third chapter is a charming and delightful experience.
When fans last saw Frasier, he was hopping on a plane to follow his girlfriend Charlotte (Laura Linney) to Chicago. During his time in the Windy City, Frasier was able to catapult the success of his Seattle-based radio show into a “Dr. Phil”-like TV show, “Dr. Crane”. But now the show and his relationship with Charlotte are over.
Following the death of his beloved father, Martin (John Mahoney), Frasier leaves Chicago and returns to Boston to reconnect with his son, Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott). While the literal distance has strained the father-son relationship, Freddy’s decision to drop out of Harvard to become a firefighter has created great tension between the two. When the cashmere-loving shrink shows up unannounced at Freddy’s apartment door, Frasier realises that repairing things with his only child will take more than a quick visit.
In addition to Freddy, who is as enthusiastic about his air hockey table as Frasier is about collecting first editions of books, the aloof psychiatrist is welcomed back to the East Coast by his nephew David (Anders Keith), the son of Niles and Daphne (Jane Leeves), a Harvard student who shares some of his father’s eccentricities without the snobbery.
There’s also Professor Alan Cornwall (Nicholas Lyndhurst), an old friend of Frasier’s from Oxford, whose enthusiasm is reserved for aged bottles of whisky and his beloved cat. Alan is the British version of Frasier, minus the polite pretences and sharp wardrobe, and the banter between the men is wonderful. Rounding out the cast are Olivia (Toks Olagundoye), the head of Harvard’s psychology department, and Eve (Jess Salgueiro), a friend of Freddy’s who also happens to be a bartender at the local pub.
Cutmore-Scott is lovely as a hard-working fireman with bro-like tendencies who desperately wants his father’s approval. His dynamic with Eve is clearly set up for a long-term will-they-won’t-they romantic entanglement in the vein of Sam and Diane on “Cheers”, which helped pioneer that trope. David, seemingly forgotten by his parents, is desperate to find a real place in the lives of his cousin and uncle. Throwing himself into various elements of physical comedy, David is as hopeless and awkward as he is endearing. Many of the laugh-out-loud moments in this revival come from Lyndhurst’s Alan, whose eccentricities provide some heart-warming laughs.
As well as changing the setting of the show, the change in space allows this new dynamic to flourish. The centring of the workplace in academia allows Frasier to succeed (or fail) among his peers. In episode 5, “The Founder’s Society”, Frasier, Olivia and Alan compete to join one of Harvard’s most exclusive secret societies. Although the trio agree to attend the mixer to mingle, a competition ensues between the friends, involving a gauntlet, the use of the Latin language and other tricks. Even though Olivia is right up there with Frasier and Alan in terms of academic interest, she adds some flair to the trio. The age difference and her personal amusements, including an off-screen rivalry with her sister Monica and catching the eye of the firemen, allow the show to have a unique mix of wit that doesn’t just focus on older white men.
Paramount+’s “Frasier” works because it remains true to the original programme. Despite the cast changes, Frasier, now in his 60s, has the same qualities as the man viewers first met in his 30s and last saw in his 50s. Overly concerned with money and appearances, Frasier’s differences with Freddy parallel those he had with Mahoney’s Martin. From the theme song to the black and white title cards and even the live audience, the elements that made “Frasier” a quintessential work remain unchanged here. This version of Frasier also retains its ability to remain socially and politically neutral, which is a nice reprieve for hyper-aware fans.
Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel of a legendary character, Frasier 2.0 draws on everything that made the 90s sitcom such a staple – not just of t television as a whole. If fans are looking for something new, they won’t find it here, but there’s something charming about taking a relic from the past, dusting it off and polishing it up, and making it as refreshing as you remember it. And yes, Frasier wears jeans and Allbirds on the show, because people can evolve, even if they don’t change completely.
