It’s not easy to make a spin-off. At this point in the pop culture timeline, we’ve been taught to expect them to be terrible, and for good reason. It’s an expectation learned from lessons like That ‘80s Show (a spin-off of That ‘70s Show), Fuller House (the noughties revival of Full House), and, of course, Joey, derived from the wildly successful Friends.
Frasier, which is being rebooted (as a continuation, rather than a remake) on Paramount+ from this week, is a rare exception to this, a show that – like any good spin-off when it works – moved completely out of its parent’s shadow, and is now discussed without a mention of it.
