By: Jesse Striewski
I grew up loving the dry, quick-witted humor of Kelsey Grammer as Frasier going back to when he first appeared as him on Cheers years before the original spinoff that lasted from 1993-2004. So when Paramount Plus announced they’d be rebooting the show, I was interested to see just where they would take the character in 2023.
The answer to that now of course being back to Boston where Fraiser Crane had originated, where he quickly moves in with his adult son Frederick (Jack Cutmore-Scott) in his upscale apartment while taking a professorship at Harvard. The same type of mishaps that followed Crane in the original show no doubt seem to follow him here, leading to more than just the occasional laugh.
Gone now though are many of the key characters from the first series that contributed to so much to what made the show so great to begin with, including Niles Crane (David Hyde Pierce), Daphne Moon (Jane Leeves), and of course, the late John Mahoney as Marty Crane (whose loss is handled gracefully here). There are however a couple of worthy guests who do show up, most notably Bebe Neuwirth as Frasier’s ex wife, Lilith, and Peri Gilpen as his friend and former co-worker from his days as a radio talk show host in Seattle, Roz Doyle.
All things considered, it’s great to have Frasier Crane back again in a world that truly needs him at the moment (and foolishly wants to cancel the actor who plays him simply because…you guessed it, he hasn’t subscribed to the same forced, brainwashed indoctrination that the rest of the Hollywood elites have!). Lighten up, and laugh a little already.
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
