Frasier Review: A Return That's Neither Disappointing Nor Remarkable

"Y'all know how this goes" is how the revived version of "Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs" now begins. Kelsey Grammer, his voice a little lower with age, then kicks into a new version of the jazzy closing theme song to "Frasier," and it feels like a sign of the entire show as much as anything else. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with the 11-season NBC spinoff that aired from 1993 to 2004, or of Dr. Frasier Crane as a character, will have a general sense of how the reboot goes. Airing on Paramount+, the new "Frasier" mostly avoids bringing back too many returning characters, but in doing so, it highlights two sides of the reboot coin. When you reboot an iconic show, you not only have the chance to keep telling a beloved story, but you inadvertently have the chance to emphasize to viewers what really worked about the original. Kelsey Grammer has now played Frasier Crane in four separate decades, and it is no surprise that returning to the character proves to be enjoyable. But "Frasier" the show was much more than Frasier the man, and the new characters only serve as distant echoes of the ensemble from the original series.

The NBC version of "Frasier" ended with the beloved and comically unlucky-in-love radio psychiatrist choosing to leave Seattle and pursue his latest paramour (Laura Linney) in Chicago. The Paramount+ version of "Frasier" starts with the shrink returning to his old stomping grounds of Boston, once again single. Over the course of the first few episodes (critics have gotten access to five of ten), we learn that Frasier made a big name for himself on TV while in Chicago, and his relationship once again fell apart. Just as the NBC series began with the younger man living with his much different father, Frasier has now reversed roles. His son Frederick (now played by Jack Cutmore-Scott), now going by Freddy, is a firefighter in Boston who's keenly intelligent but has a much different attitude than his old man, more in line with his grandfather Martin. As John Mahoney tragically passed away, Martin's death looms large over the premiere, as Frasier tries to reconnect with Freddy and understand why he missed his grandfather's funeral. At the same time, Frasier reconnects with an old Oxford chum (Nicholas Lyndhurst), whose work in a psychology department leads Frasier to put back on his teaching hat as well.

If there is anything to be said as truly shocking about the first five episodes of the new "Frasier," it's that there are no other returning cast members who crop up. (Trevor Einhorn once played Freddy, and while Frasier's ex-wife Lilith is mentioned a couple times, she doesn't appear. That said, both Bebe Neuwirth and Peri Gilpin, as Frasier's old producer Roz, are slated to appear this season.) Most of the show, though, feels very reminiscent in one way or another of either plot tropes from the earlier "Frasier" or by new characters adopting old characters' attitudes. There are obvious parallels — the relationship between Frasier and Freddy mirrors that of Frasier and Martin, and though neither Niles nor Daphne appear, their son David (Anders Keith) is a regular and is very much his father's fastidious child. But even side characters like Lyndhurst's professor and Toks Olagundoye as a college administrator recall the byplay between Niles and Roz. 

That Grammer slips back into his role with ease should not be ignored. There are a lot of reasons why Kelsey Grammer was able to appear as Frasier Crane for so many seasons, and while deft writing is high on the list, so too is his ineffable and inimitable performance. Even as an elder statesman, Frasier cuts a similarly pompous air now as he did decades ago. Grammer has appeared on many other would-be multi-camera successes in the intervening 20 years, and it's clear that there's just no way for him to escape that he is, and always will be, Frasier Crane. It's a role that fits him like the glove. The other performers do their able best — none of them are slacking, though Keith has a difficult task in attempting to recall the prissy style of David Hyde Pierce as Niles without quite copying him. 

But that, of course, highlights the real issue. When you go back and rewatch the first few episodes of NBC's "Frasier," it's honestly kind of remarkable how quickly the show found its footing. There was no need to stick around for half a season or a full season to get a sense that the writers were figuring out the actors or characters. Every part of the ensemble locked into place perfectly, which is no less rare now than it was in the 1990s. This "Frasier" is not exactly bad — it is exactly what you might expect it would be, just ... without any of the incredible performers who also made the show more than just its title character. None of the new actors can be faulted for not being Pierce or Gilpin or Mahoney or Jane Leeves, but the absence of Niles, Roz, Martin, and Daphne is enough to remind you that shows like "Frasier" (or "Cheers," which inspired Frasier as a character) come along so rarely that it's hard to capture that lightning in a bottle twice.

The best that can be said about the "Frasier" reboot is that it could've been worse. Chris Harris and Joe Cristalli, the writers overseeing this new version, didn't write for the original series but clearly have a good enough sense to grasp the style that made it so beloved. But the plain truth is that a new "Frasier" that only refers to characters like Niles, Daphne, and Martin feels like a shell of what it once was. Harris and Cristalli do a solid enough job of incorporating Mahoney's death into the creative side with Frasier having lost Martin, but without the friends and family we saw associate with the radio host in Seattle, there's something just slightly off about this reboot. It means well. And it knows the motions of what a show like "Frasier" should be. But it's not quite right.

/Film Rating: 5 out of 10