Frasier was one of the biggest sitcoms of the 90s, with its success so enormous that the series and the cast won a whopping 37 Emmy Awards.
But nearly 20 years on from it wrapping up in 2004, the show is following in the footsteps And Just Like That… and Bel-Air and getting the reboot treatment.
Kelsey Grammer is back as the titular Frasier Crane, with the new series focusing on the psychiatrist’s attempt to reconnect with his son Freddy (played by Jack Cutmore-Scott), who dropped out of Harvard and became a firefighter and thinks his father isn’t supportive.
With Frasier set to return to screens on Thursday (12 October) on streaming service Paramount+, critics have had their first look at the show, and while some have been excited to take a trip down memory lane, others think it wasn’t all that worthwhile.
Here’s what they all had to say...
“It’s a clear attempt to flip the dynamics of the original Frasier premise, with Freddy as the son who can’t relate to his old man. But it doesn’t work for several reasons. The first is that Jack Cutmore-Scott is incredibly bland in the role, and in no way seems like the character we last saw 20 years ago.”
“(As a secondary quibble, considering that the original series played in a 1990s-era ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ sandbox with coy hints that Niles and Frasier had some very gay qualities, it’s frustrating that this revival doesn’t take the opportunity to be, well, more gay. A pity!)”
“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 manoeuvre. All that effort just to bring back this?”
“And it turns out that watching Frasier’s third chapter is a charming and delightful experience.”
“Paramount+’s Frasier works because it remains loyal to the original programme. 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.”
“But the new episodes are all too reminiscent of the recent one-and-done Murphy Brown and Mad About You revivals, lacking any purpose beyond pure nostalgia. Except this one is not even nostalgic, because it’s not the Frasier we remember. It’s something else entirely, and not as good. To put it bluntly, this version of Frasier is the kind of sitcom that the original Frasier was the antidote to.”
“The biggest disappointment of this Frasier is how little it resembles the Frasier we know and love. It’s as different from Frasier as Frasier was from Cheers… and this time, not for the better.”
“The revival is still a disappointment (unless recent experience has taught you to lower the bar all the way to floor) because it so clearly lacks, for starters, the original’s zany energy. Frasier, at its peak, has a remarkably quick wit, deploying a flurry of jokes and quips that undercut the Crane brothers’ pretentious tendencies via their escalating embarrassments. But far more noticeable in its absence is the camaraderie that Frasier inherited in Cheers and came to love in Frasier.”
Entertainment Weekly (C+)
“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 likeable, but they’re not quite able to operate at Grammer’s comedic level. (Again, very few actors can.)
“Unfortunately for the new Frasier, however, being “good enough” only brings back memories of the one that was great.”
“And that is so much of this Frasier revival, a faded facsimile.
“Unfortunately, the Frasier reboot leans more into broad comedy than in that stage play interpretation, from the sets to the acting to the hackneyed plots. To be clear, “broad” isn’t necessarily a bad word when it comes to Frasier; the show’s entire identity came from its ability to excel at farce in a way no other sitcom has ever come close to. But this revival isn’t doing that.”
“A little thinner on top, a little meatier around the middle, and sometimes a bit slower in its sitcom delivery, Frasier 3.0 emerges eternally itself in an ever-changing world and media landscape.
“Frasier the revival strength is being exactly what you would expect if Frasier had never ended in the first place in 2004 after 11 seasons.”
Frasier is available on Paramount+ from Thursday in the UK.