Frasier returns with the same flaws and a few slight tweaks

Paramount+’s Frasier reboot debuted a good while after the TV nostalgia boom of the late 2010s (which included follow-ups to Full House, Will & Grace, Roseanne, and Murphy Brown). But like its predecessors in this sitcom-revival game, Frasier had to defend its reason for being in the first place. For Will & Grace, at the very least, a revival was able to undo that show’s disappointing series finale. Much of the same can be said for Roseanne and its bizarre original final season. In the case of Fuller House, there was obviously something attractive on a retro level about the empty-calorie storytelling. And despite the Murphy Brown reboot’s ultimate failure, bringing back the series in the era of the 24-hour news cycle made sense. 

Frasier already had to answer the “why?” in its initial run as a spinoff of Cheers. So the revival figured out a new angle, by flipping the script on the original dynamic. This time, Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) is the elder statesman, with his estranged son Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott)—who takes after his late, blue-collar grandfather Martin (John Mahoney)—as the one reluctant to cohabitate. It’s a dynamic that makes sense for a continuation series, with an old-but-new backdrop in the form of Boston. As the original Frasier was Frasier Crane’s second act in life (coming back to his hometown of Seattle and reuniting with a father who doesn’t understand him), this revival is billed as his third act (returning to his original home away from home and reuniting with a son who he doesn’t understand).

The issue, however, is that while that basic premise is ripe for a return to sitcom greatness, the execution in the first season ended up leaving much to be desired. That feeling, unfortunately, remains the case in its second season—or at least over the five episodes of it that were screened for critics. 

Developed by Chris Harris and Joe Cristalli (Acapulco), this return to the world of psychiatrist Frasier Crane is a far broader one. While the farce element of the series still exists, it’s far from expertly-executed in its current iteration—to the point where it seems the only thing keeping the show from moving away from farce altogether is that it wouldn’t technically be Frasier then. The original Frasier was not only like a comedic play in television form. It was a sitcom that also visually looked sophisticated, often in a way that Frasier and Niles Crane (David Hyde Pierce) only believed themselves to be. Paramount+’s Frasier looks and feels like a multi-camera sitcom and not in a way that evokes nostalgia. Even with TV directing legend James Burrows’ guidance behind the camera, there’s nothing exceptional about how this looks. Instead, Frasier wouldn’t feel out of a place on any contemporary CBS—or, to be uncharitable, Nickelodeon—sitcom. 

It’s always fascinating to watch a series’ second season and see what the writers decided needed tweaking. But here, it’s actually fascinating just how little was tweaked. There are a couple of things this season pulls back on. But if you were into the revival last season, expect to still be into it. If you wanted more or something else, that’s not going to come from this. With the exception of those moments where Grammer’s allowed to go off and remind everyone why he’s been able to make this character work for so long, the series’ pacing remains slow, falling more into broad sitcom territory instead of an escalating rhythm—a rhythm Grammer excels at while the rest of the cast, barring Nicholas Lyndhurst, has yet to prove they can keep up with.

One thing this season pulls back on is the Harvard of it all. Despite the university still being around in terms of sets and part of Olivia (Toks Olagundoye) and Alan’s (Lyndhurst) characters, Frasier’s role teaching is essentially nowhere to be found, nor is his desire to be accepted into that world. To be fair, the supporting characters in said world were nothing compared to the originals’ KACL crew. At the same time, there was clearly no real attempt to color in that world either. Instead, the series clearly had to make a decision about which workplace would need a focus and chose Freddy’s colleagues at the fire station, who are delightful if one-note in their blue-collar depictions. 

The season also pulls back on Frasier’s nephew, David (Anders Keith)—who’s written like a Xerox of a poor man’s Niles—by not focusing on the character at all. Keith is still tasked with doing physical-comedy schtick that will only elicit more negative comparisons to Pierce, but now he’s even less of a factor, often existing as an unfocused feature of a C-story instead of feeling on equal footing with the rest of the ensemble. (It also doesn’t help that his best bit this season comes from relaying a few messages from Niles to Frasier, lines that capture that character’s voice so well it only highlights how much David pales in comparison.) While this season at least realizes that his best interactions are actually with a non relative, Eve (Jess Salgueiro), the show’s inability (or refusal) to mine any engaging family dynamics is an indictment of the character’s very presence. It’s disappointing that the third member of the Crane family feels more like an annoying neighbor than a true part of the cast.

The first season hit its stride midway through with “Blind Date,” in which Frasier and Freddy attempt to figure out who their ideal date (played by the terrific June Diane Raphael) has actually arrived for. It was the first episode to truly channel the spirit and rhythm of classic Frasier. The next episode featured the return of Bebe Neuwirth’s Lilith, bringing a much-needed dose of the original series’ winning formula. The season would then end with a truly classic Frasier farce, a disastrous Frasier Crane party (Christmas edition), with Freddy working to be in two places at once (which was far less hacky than it sounds). This second season also starts to hit its stride at the halfway point, as that marks the return of Frasier’s agent, Bebe Glazer (Harriet Sansom Harris), who remains as over-the-top and unscrupulous as ever. Here, the guest appearances actually seem to force the show to focus more on voice and tone, keeping it from defaulting into overly broad territory. 

But all in all, the aforementioned house style and pacing hinder what could otherwise work comedically, which is why the series “hitting its stride” doesn’t hold as much weight as it should. This season sees a Cyrano riff—something to naturally expect from Frasier—undercut by situational character obliviousness, unfortunate blocking (directed by Grammer himself), and a more-insulting-than-usual requirement for the audience to believe that characters cannot hear someone two feet away from them. Even at its best, the Frasier revival doesn’t hit the heights one would expect or hope for. When it’s good, it’s mostly just really fine. When it’s bad, it feels disappointing to even call it Frasier. 

Frasier season two premieres September 19 on Paramount+