Apologies to the lovely city of Boston, but Kelsey Grammer’s Dr. Frasier Crane was one of the many things that was better in Seattle. It isn’t either his or your fault. In fact, you both are just about perfect. As for the rebooted Frasier, the whole heap of challenges it must overcome to earn an iota of the love still held for its predecessor proves to be too much. It isn’t that there aren’t some occasionally fun bits, but it’s more of an okay-at-best sitcom rather than something that will have the cultural impact the original series still does. This is obviously a high bar to clear, but this new incarnation only barely tries to make the leap.

Perhaps this is inevitable in the world of streaming, as remakes and reboots will try to coast on the nostalgia of their existing audiences in the continual sanding down of everything for IP-driven resurrections. For some, this new season of Frasier may work simply because they get to see their old friend Dr. Frasier again even though there is little else to the experience. It is the type of comfort watch that feels less reimagined as it is reheated, serviceable enough while you’re watching only to slip from the mind as soon as each episode concludes.

What Is the ‘Frasier’ Reboot About?
Image via Paramount+

At the conclusion of the original run, Dr. Crane was making some big moves. Specifically, he was already leaving Seattle for Chicago to follow his girlfriend Charlotte. This didn’t turn out to be the best start for a relationship, and it ultimately fell apart. Thus, we pick up here with the man flying solo decades later, making a trip through Boston on his way to do research in Europe. He’s found success running what looks like the worst daytime talk show imaginable but has grown estranged from his son Freddy (played by Jack Cutmore-Scott as opposed to Trevor Einhorn), who currently works as a firefighter after leaving college in spite of his dad’s disapproval (a plot element that leads to one of the season’s best jokes when the tables are turned). After trying to pop in for a surprise visit, Frasier finds that his son wants nothing to do with him. Coincidentally, he’s then offered a teaching job by Olivia (Toks Olagundoye) at Harvard, where he will work with her and his old-friend-who-is-actually-a-new-friend Alan (Nicholas Lyndhurst), all while trying to rebuild his relationship with Freddy. All of this is a fine enough start to get things rolling, but it soon becomes clear that the particular way Frasier’s reboot explores the premise is driven less by well-constructed and memorable jokes and more by cyclical contrivances.

Throughout the first five episodes shared for review, much of the reboot’s humor starts to feel almost entirely dependent on misunderstandings. Some of this is the bread and butter of situational comedy, where the jokes come from us knowing more than the characters and watching them clumsily get up to speed, but it happens here with such a frequency that it feels a bit lazy. Frasier thinks he knows what is going on in his son’s life? He doesn’t know the half of it, and, even when he believes he’s made a discovery, he couldn’t be more wrong. Later, out at the bar, it turns out Freddy’s firefighter buddies have been given a story about his past that is stretching the truth a bit. Guess we better stretch this scene out for as long as possible, too. Further into the season, Frasier is trying to infiltrate an elite academic society and begins schmoozing up to the person who’ll get him in only to find things aren’t quite what they seem.

Such situations can be amusing enough at first, with one gag involving a quick push of a certain item through the apartment proving to be rather funny in its reliance on physical comedy, but these jokes offer diminishing returns the longer the show falls back on them. This is especially true with some of the bits that the new characters get. One particular moment surrounding dating roleplaying is tired nearly as soon as it starts. Some of this comes down to how little the cast is left to work with, but it also feels like they never make the most of other scenarios where they’re afforded more.

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Kelsey Grammer Is Still Great as Dr. Crane in ‘Frasier’s Reboot
Image via Paramount+

The primary reason the Frasier reboot isn’t completely dragged down is that Grammer is still just as great as ever in the role. Though it has been several decades, he hits every comedic note he gets, with not a single beat of timing lost. Considering Grammer is the only person coming back in a major way, a lot of the show rests on his shoulders, and he carries it with ease. From the moment he enters his first scene, it feels like he has never left and has been ready to slip right back into the character. Even though the writing doesn’t offer anything particularly interesting for him thus far, Grammer has never been more able to make the most of the material that he is given. His droll delivery is perfect, as is his obliviousness to some of what’s going on with the world around him. In a better overall season, Grammer’s performance could’ve been enough to bring it all together into something solid. Unfortunately, everything around him is flimsier by comparison.

Nowhere is this more effectively summed up than in a conversation Frasier has with Alan. The two are arguing when the latter asks his friend, “What’s wrong with good enough? What’s wrong with ‘this’ll do’?” Though the exchange revolves around the troubles the two are experiencing later in life, it could almost be attempting to defend the reboot itself. There are probably parts of Frasier that are just good enough for what it is, but where other rebooted series are able to find something bittersweet in their return, this one just leans into the sweet without much substance.

Writing comedy is hard, and the emotional beats Frasier’s new season goes for feel like a way of papering over the moments where it just isn’t as funny as it needs to be. It isn’t merely phoning it in, but there is still much that’s missing. The jokes start to become increasingly and glaringly repetitive, relying on the confusion of the characters rather than a more clever sense of charm. Frasier’s return could easily find its footing as time goes on, but there is much that has proven to be rocky in the early stages of this return. Whatever happens from this point on, at least we’ll always have Seattle.

Rating: C+

The Big Picture

The rebooted Frasier struggles to live up to the cultural impact of the original series and feels more like an average sitcom rather than something fresh and all its own. The humor in the new season heavily relies on misunderstandings, leading to jokes that become repetitive and lack originality. Despite the show’s shortcomings, Kelsey Grammer delivers a great performance as Dr. Crane and carries the show on his shoulders, capturing the necessary comedic delivery to make his scenes work.

The first two episodes of Frasier begin streaming October 12 on Paramount+.