Frasier’s Reboot Has Been Seen By Critics, And They’re Not Holding Back On Kelsey Grammer’s Return

Don't go into this show thinking it's just the original picking up 20 years later. There are some fun nods to OG Frasier, but it mostly functions as a new offering that's easily accessible to newcomers. New Frasier isn't as funny as the original, but some solid jokes/gags were sprinkled into the episodes I saw. The new cast members effectively play opposite Kelsey Grammer, particularly Anders Keith, who excels at channeling David Hyde Pierce in mannerisms and physical comedy.

If only Frasier had learned more lessons from [revivals like Will & Grace and Murphy Brown], which like this reboot, tended to broaden the tone of their original iterations, even as they labored to recreate the circumstances that made the originals click. Revivals tend to be cursed propositions on that front. You can’t make them exact replicas of what came before, because time has passed and circumstances have changed, but if you change too much (and say, put Frasier in jeans) you alienate the diehards. It’s odd to see how much effort Grammer has put in to make this revival happen, only for it to come across as a cautious, defensive maneuver. All that effort just to bring back this?

The tone feels off, too. It’s nice that the new episodes were filmed in front of a live audience, but their laughter, which reads as artificial in 2023, makes the revival feel too much like a kitschy throwback. Frasier’s quest to prove, after a couple of decades as an overeducated talk-show host, that he’s got more substance than, say, Dr. Phil makes for a decent premise. But his guilt over passing his daddy issues onto the next generation is more of a bummer than a light comedy can support. The show needs more jokes and less earnest emoting, at the very least. Still, I’m not convinced that any amount of tweaking would be enough to justify its existence.

This new Frasier struggles to deal with the detailed and familiar history of a man who previously appeared in 20 seasons of television. It’s a muddle that doesn’t exist because Grammer and new executive producers Chris Harris and Joe Cristalli have something interesting to say about what Frasier is like in 2023. It exists because the title is familiar IP, and will get to reside on the same streaming service that features both Cheers and the original Frasier run.

Frasier’s DNA was almost always in its farce, a realm in which the revival just barely dips its toe in. There are beats of misunderstandings — and unsurprisingly, the first two episodes set to drop Thursday are the ones that most lean into those beats, to lure viewers in surely. But instead of letting these misunderstandings build to a cacophony of confusion for the characters and delight for the audience, the five episodes available for review tend to drop the issues after the second (or even first) time they come up.

[Callbacks to the original series] spark a moment of joy, but they also underscore that this Frasier is not that Frasier. The original series boasted one of television's all-time greatest ensembles, a group of extraordinary actors who shared an uncommon chemistry from the very first episode. The revival's cast suffers by comparison — as almost any sitcom cast would. The actors are all perfectly likable, but they're not quite able to operate at Grammer's comedic level. (Again, very few actors can.)