Paramount+’s Frasier Will Restore Your Faith in Revivals

Well it seems once again I have scrambled eggs all over my face.

I am an OG Cheers fan. I can remember so vividly watching the first season finale of Cheers when Sam (Ted Danson) and Diane (Shelley Long) finally kissed, and wondering how I would live until the show returned in September.  When Beverly Hills, 90210 aired opposite Cheers for two whole seasons it was like the Sophie’s Choice of television viewing. Which would I watch live and which would I set my VHS to record so I could watch later? Cheers always won out. I was actually there when the cast famously (infamously?) appeared live (and very inebriated) outside of the real Bull & Finch pub in Boston after the show’s series finale. 

When Frasier was announced as a spinoff to my beloved Cheers, I had my doubts. The persnickety psychiatrist played by Kelsey Grammer wasn’t my favorite character on the series (that would be Kirstie Alley’s always slightly-unhinged Rebecca Howe), and I just couldn’t see how Frasier could carry a whole series. Especially when he was the only character spinning off and he was being relocated to a whole new city.

I don’t think I’ve ever been more wrong. The genius of Frasier, of course, is that they gave him a brother (David Hyde Pierce’s Niles) who was more Frasier than Frasier himself, and a retired cop father (the late John Mahoney’s Martin) who loved his sons even if he didn’t quite know what to make of them. 

Almost 19 years after Frasier had its series finale in May of 2004, Grammer is reprising his trademark character and I, having learned nothing apparently, was extraordinarily skeptical. I’m delighted to report that, once again, I was very, very wrong. (Fool me twice, shame on me!) This new Frasier has the tone, spirit, and, most importantly, the humor of the two classic comedies that preceded it. It’s no surprise that long-time Cheers and Frasier director James Burrows directed the first two episodes of this revival. 

When viewers last left Frasier, he was heading off to Chicago with his girlfriend Charlotte (Laura Linney). In this revival, Frasier, having broken up with Charlotte and ended a successful TV show, returns to Boston to be a guest lecturer at Harvard University where his old friend Alan (Nicholas Lyndhurst) is a tenured professor and his nephew David (Anders Keith) is a student (David was born during the 2004 series finale of Frasier). Much to his chagrin, Frasier’s son Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott) has forgone a Harvard education in favor of being a Boston firefighter (Frederick was born in a November 1989 episode of Cheers, making him 34, so the math works here as well). Rounding out the cast are Toks Olagundoye as Olivia, the head of Harvard’s psychology department, and Jess Salgueiro as Freddy’s roommate Eve.

The through-lines and similarities to the original series are pretty direct. David is Niles. Freddy is Martin. Together Alan and Olivia are Roz, and Eve is Daphne. Alan and Olivia also have a lot of the familiar Roz and Niles banter. “I’m sure we can move Alan. Maybe into an unused cadaver drawer at the medical school,” Olivia says. “They’ll put me in the drawer right next to your love life,” Alan replies. 

But here’s the thing: the show totally works. The comedic beats, witty repartee, and comedy of errors-pratfalls and misunderstandings are all still there. The first episode plays homage to the late Mahoney (the episode is dedicated to him, Frasier script supervisor Gabrielle James, and Lyndhurst’s son Archie Lyndhurst) as both Frasier and Freddy wrestle with Martin’s death. And Mahoney will live on in the series—the bar they all frequent is fittingly called Mahoney’s. 

At the heart of the show, of course, is Grammer’s Frasier; a character he has played since September 27, 1984 when Frasier was introduced in Cheers’ third season premiere. In the nearly 40 years since that moment, Grammer has perfected not only Frasier’s comic delivery but also that unique mix of pretentiousness and vulnerability. Frasier can be so hilariously condescending with both his word choice (he prefers cassoulet to chili) and with his barbs (“Hope you’re hungry, because this irony is delicious”). But underneath it all is a man who wants to be a good father and a good friend. “Sorry I let you down. Promise, I’ll do better,” he says to Freddy.

The supporting cast is terrific, particularly Cutmore-Scott, who is a great foil for Grammer. The show’s best scenes are the two of them navigating Frasier and Freddy’s fragile relationship. And Keith is exactly who you would expect Niles’ son to be. The whole cast just works and hums along in comedic perfection. The jokes come fast and quick. And like Cheers and the original Frasier before it, the show just assumes we will be able to keep up. “I’m still talking Oedipus” is just one example of a hilarious throwaway line. 

In the first five episodes available for review, there’s no sign of Peri Gilpin, who played Frasier’s radio producer Roz, or Bebe Neuwirth as Frasier’s ice queen ex-wife Lilith. But they are the only two from the Frasier/Cheers world currently announced as appearing on this revival. 

At times,  the creaks can show with dated humor. Funny: Olivia’s competition with her sister. Not as funny: Olivia’s desperation for a man. Funny: Alan’s disdain for Americans (“You Americans and your ghastly attachments to your children”). Not as funny: Alan’s alcohol problem which is currently being played just for laughs. But these are small quibbles, and I expect as the show comes into its own, these easy laughs will be replaced by more sophisticated ones. 

Having lived in the Boston area for decades, I appreciate the show’s attention to detail.  Someone on the writing staff knows the area to have both Dorchester and Mattapan mentioned (and pronounced correctly!) in one scene. And while I don’t totally believe that Frasier wouldn’t know the correct way to pronounce the Boston Celtics, I still appreciated the “touchdown for Big Papi” joke. 

The first season of the revival totals 10 episodes and sure, they can put it on a streaming platform, but a rose by any other name is still a four-camera broadcast network comedy. In fact, the first two episodes of the series will air on CBS on October 17th. But I have to wonder why, when SAG-AFTRA is still on strike, CBS wouldn’t just air all the episodes. This feels like a network sitcom. I say put it on CBS and stream it the next day on Paramount+, which would allow the series to capture multiple demographics.  

More than anything, I’m so relieved that once again I was wrong. Go ahead Frasier… I’ll be watching. 

Frasier premieres with two episodes October 12th on Paramount+ with new episodes airing Thursdays. 

Amy Amatangelo, the TV Gal®, is a Boston-based freelance writer and a member of the Television Critics Association. She wasn’t allowed to watch much TV as a child and now her parents have to live with this as her career. You can follow her on Twitter (@AmyTVGal).

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