‘Frasier’ reviews: Kelsey Grammer ‘perfect’ in ‘charming’ new series

David Buchanan
·4 min read
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It has been nearly 20 years since Dr. Crane “left the building,” bidding farewell on the NBC series “Frasier” that took home 37 Emmy Awards including five for Comedy Series. But now Kelsey Grammer has stepped into the role of his most enduring alter ego once more in a revival of the show on Paramount+. The first two episodes of the new series — which introduces a new ensemble cast surrounding Grammer as Frasier moves back to Boston, MA — debut on Oct. 12 on the streamer.

By most accounts, critics have embraced Frasier’s idiosyncrasies all over again. As of this writing, the series has a 61 score on Metacritic, indicating “generally favorable” reviews. It has a similar 63% freshness score on Rotten Tomatoes, with their critical consensus reading, “With Kelsey Grammer safely back in the role he was born to play, ‘Frasier’ scores as comfort viewing even if it can’t quite compare to the classic original series.”

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Most reviewers feel this latest chapter in the saga of Dr. Crane is a “charming and delightful experience” that features “lovely comic callbacks to the original episodes.” Grammer “remains a game, quick-witted comedian” and “perfect as ever” in the title role that netted him four Emmys. Critics also singled out his new on-screen intellectual sparring mate played by Nicholas Lyndhurst — and the show’s analog to David Hyde Pierce’s Niles Crane —who they describe as Grammer’s “perfect foil” who delivers “heartwarming chuckles” as the “banter between the men is marvelous.” The revival does have its detractors, though, with some noting that it features “predictable beats,” that “most of the jokes are loud and obvious, broad and forced,” and that it seems “a little too content to coast on nostalgia.”

Perhaps the new “Frasier” borrows its tone from its predecessor from two decades ago, but the show will look much different than it did when it signed off with the two-part episode “Goodnight, Seattle” in 2004. For starters, Frasier relocates once more to Boston, where he joins Harvard’s Department of Psychology and tries to reestablish a relationship with his son, Freddy, now played by Jack Cutmore-Scott. Anders Keith plays another member of the Crane clan as Niles and Daphne’s (Jane Leeves) son, David, who is enrolled at Harvard; Toks Olagundoye plays Frasier’s superior in the department. Jess Salgueiro rounds out the regular cast.

SEE Happy 30th anniversary! 30 greatest ‘Frasier’ episodes, ranked worst to best [PHOTOS]

See excerpts from some of the critics’ reviews below, and join in the discussion of “Frasier” and more with your fellow TV fans and industry insiders in our forums.

Lucy Mangan (Guardian): “Grammer plays his man as perfectly and with as light a touch as ever, moving seamlessly into emotional scenes from comic ones and out again, but the rest of the cast (without Grammer’s decades in the Frasier business to draw on) aren’t quite there yet […] And then, suddenly, by the fourth episode, the chemistry, the ineffable magic, the ease, the unbottleable perfect combination of them all is there” (4-out-of-5 stars).

Aramide Tinubu (Variety): “Paramount+’s ‘Frasier’ works because it remains loyal to the original program. Despite the cast changes, Frasier, now in his 60s, has the same qualities of the man viewers first met in his 30s and last saw in his 50s. […] 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.”

Robert Lloyd (Los Angeles Times) “Grammer is so completely Frasier — a deceptively unsentimental character in a basically sentimental show — that the new edition, for all its innovations, wraps itself comfortably around him.”

James Poniewozik (New York Times) “Frasier Crane becomes the latest classic character to set sail for a mediocre, anticlimactic return […] The result is something that feels less like Season 12 of ‘Frasier’ or Season 1 of a new series than a sort of museum of itself.”

Ben Travers (Indiewire): “To say the new ‘Frasier’ is jinxed or cursed would be a step too far. Through five episodes, it’s perfectly fine. Frasier’s exploits befit a man of his stature, and Grammer slips into his character’s charming pomposity as smoothly as he does those finely tailored suits. Far from a catastrophe, the revival is still a disappointment” (Grade: C).

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