When last we saw Kelsey Grammer’s Dr. Frasier Crane in 2004, his flight was landing in Chicago, as Frasier had decided to eschew a job in San Francisco in order to be with his girlfriend, Charlotte (Laura Linney). It was a sweet twist, a lovely grace note, as we bid adieu to one of the most enduring sitcom characters of all time, whom we first met on “Cheers” all those years ago.
Ah, but in this age of the Classic TV Revival, of “Fuller House” and “That ’90s Show,” of updates or reboots or new takes on “Veronica Mars” and “The Fresh Prince” and “The Wonder Years” and “Hawaii Five-O” and “Gossip Girl” et al., it comes as no surprise we’re seeing the return of “Frasier,” a direct sequel to the beloved series that received 107 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, with 37 wins, in its 11-year run on NBC.
Alas, while it’s a treat to see Grammer effortlessly slide into the pompous and erudite but basically warmhearted Frasier, the absence of Frasier’s father Martin (the late John Mahoney) as well as Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and Daphne (Jane Leeves), is too much to overcome. Grammer’s new co-stars are likable enough, but they’re playing one-dimensional characters in an uninspired sitcom with predictable scenarios and standard-issue one-liners.
“Frasier” 2.0 picks up as Frasier returns to Boston on his way to Paris to do research on his latest book. As he says to his old college buddy turned Harvard professor Alan (Nicholas Lyndhurst), “After 20 years in Chicago, it was time for George Bailey to get that old bag out of the closet and see the world.” Accompanying Frasier on the trip: Niles’ and Daphne’s son David (Anders Keith), who has been accepted at Harvard and seems to have been raised in a bubble, given he’s a bumbling idiot with zero social skills.
We’ll refrain from divulging the particulars that lead to Frasier deciding to stay in Boston, other than to say his primary reason is to get closer to his grown son Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott), who dropped out of Harvard and became a firefighter, much to the chagrin of his father. (Gee, it’s almost as if the “I just don’t understand you” dynamic between Frasier and his cop father is being repeated with Frasier and his firefighter son).
There’s a pub, but it’s not Cheers. (Frasier expresses wonderment that the “New York Knickerbockers” have a heated rivalry with the Boston Celtics, which he pronounces with a hard “C.” Guess he really wasn’t really paying attention when he spent so much time in a Boston sports bar back in the day.) We see clips of Frasier’s syndicated talk show, which started off as a relatively serious advice program but devolved into a tacky circus with a cheesy theme song, a hapless sidekick and Frasier dressed as a ref as he moderates a shouting match.
In addition to Freddy and Alan, series regulars include Toks Olagundoye as Olivia, the inexplicably zany head of Harvard’s psychology department, and Jess Salguerio as Eve, a friend of Freddy’s. The actors are just fine, but they’re not Mahoney, Pierce, Leeves et al., through no fault of their own.
The new show has its moments — there’s a lovely tribute to Martin and to Mahoney at the end of the premiere episode — but it lacks the consistency, rapier wit and heart of the original, and doesn’t offer enough originality to merit us booking further sessions with Dr. Frasier Crane.
