Frasier 2023

[Kaos]

Frasier is one of TV's greatest characters. Started on Cheers where his intended one-off appearance transitioned into a lengthy run. That transitioned into his own series, one of the few spinoffs to ever surpass the source.  His long run on NBC between Cheers and Frasier gave us some of the best comedic episodes of all time. The interactions between Frasier and the remaining cast on both shows are classic and timeless.  Yes, Frasier the show fell off the beam a little bit at the end when Niles and Daphne finally got together, but it was still one of the best television comedies ever.  To the very end it remained consistently enjoyable. The character Frasier was an integral part of two of the most iconic TV comedies in history and spanned something like 20 years.

Now, many years later? How many?  I had to look. 19 years. Now 19 years later, Frasier is back. Back in Boston. But without the supporting characters.  There's no Sam, Diane, Norm, Cliff, Carla, Woody, and Rebecca to bounce off. There's no Martin, Daphne, Niles, Roz, Bulldog, Gil, Bebe, or even Eddie to counter.  There's a new group that includes Niles/Daphne's son, Frasier's son Freddie, an old college pal, a sharkish woman from Harvard, and Freddie's female roommate. Unfortunately not a single one of them has the presence or the comedic chops of any of his past co-stars.   

Without a supporting cast that is his equal, an (obviously aged) Frasier has to carry the entire show by himself and it just doesn't work.  That's what made Cheers and Frasier so good. Sure, Frasier was a major character and then the main character, but it was the ensemble that drove the shows, not just fussy Fras.  That's lost here.

This likely short-lived series (because I'll be surprised if it's renewed) serves as a completely unnecessary and ponderous coda for a character who left on top and in one of the best ways imaginable. The original Frasier series had a perfect ending. Very few shows can stick that landing. Cheers and Frasier both managed it well.  Tacking this on now seems..... well.... wrong. 

I don't want to revisit Cheers, either.

[Kaos]

Three episodes.  It's missing the boat completely. 

Zero chemistry between Frasier and the awful Freddie. It's forced and stilted. Unfortunately the series needs a strong Freddie or it has no chance. This guy (as well as the kid playing Niles/Daphne's son) is cheesy WB sitcom garbage.

The black woman from Harvard is also atrocious and grating. I loathe every second she's fawning on screen.

To be honest, the entire cast, save "Frasier's old friend we've never heard of before" is Full House level or worse. They're horrible, completely horrible.  The setups are fraudulent, the sets are weak.  The original series came into fully-realized form from the first episode. It was all believable. None of this is.

The original series was comedy first (at least for the first five or six years) as conflicts were resolved. This one is all about solving problems with one-liners tossed in that are routinely terrible and groan-inducing.

Throw an overly zealous screaming/applauding laugh track on top of it?  It's done.  Toast. Needs to be completely revamped.
 

[GH2001]

I don't think its terrible. It just isn't the OG - which was a brilliant show.

It's still better than most sitcoms on network tv now. It reminds me of when Tim Allen did Last Man Standing. It was cheesy and "ok", not terrible - but it wasn't Home Improvement.

[chinook]

I don't think its terrible. It just isn't the OG - which was a brilliant show.

It's still better than most sitcoms on network tv now. It reminds me of when Tim Allen did Last Man Standing. It was cheesy and "ok", not terrible - but it wasn't Home Improvement.

didn't that show get culture canceled?

[GH2001]

didn't that show get culture canceled?

Think it moved networks when that happened and then died not long after.

[Kaos]

Think it moved networks when that happened and then died not long after.

The original Mandy was worth watching. So was the wife. 

[Kaos]

Season 2 is out now. 

I really, really, really wish I liked this show. 

I waded through the entire first season and it was at its best when it called back to the past.  To Roz. To Lilith. It was at its worst when it spent time on the awful Harvard "administrator" or Freddy's female bartender roommate. 

Nothing's changed there. The first episode of Season Two tried so very hard to recreate the madcap insanity of a Frasier party gone wrong (staple of the original series).  As I was watching the dinner ham fall in the cake, get stuck in the garbage disposal, and crash to the floor I couldn't help but be disappointed by the comparison.  That same scenario in the hands of Niles, Daphne, and Martin would have been hilarous. With "Niles' son" and the bartender female guiding the action?  It just fell flat.

I'll watch it. Not because I think its very good, but just for nostalgia. That's really the tentpole of the series, not the new cardboard characters.