The 10-episode first season of the 2023 Frasier reboot aired during the fall and winter of 2023. It was only streamed on Paramount Plus. While it is a continuation of the original series, the show features a mostly new cast. It stars Kelsey Grammer returning as Frasier, Jack Cutmore-Scott as Frasier's son Freddy, Toks Olagundoye, Jess Salguerio, Anders Keith, and Nicholas Lyndhurst. Bebe Neuwirth reprises her role as Lilith for a single episode, and one of the original series stars does appear toward the end of the season.
The season opens with Frasier returning to Boston, and we quickly learn that he spent the last twenty years living in Chicago with Charlotte while hosting a highly successful daytime television series. He returns to Boston after his father's funeral to reconnect with his estranged son Freddy, now played by Jack Cutmore-Scott, but he decides to stay permanently after accepting a position as a lecturer at Harvard. For the most part, the season functions as a story-of-the-week procedural rather than a heavily serialized comedy. To the extent that it maintains a running narrative arc, it relies entirely on the evolving relationship between Frasier and Freddy, a narrative focus that becomes even more critical because central characters like Niles and Daphne do not appear in the series.
The DVD set is a two-disc set, with five episodes on each disc. The episodes can be played with or without English captions. This is a pretty bare-bones release (what I call an MOD-plus set), with mostly just the episodes and one token bonus feature: a short gag reel.
While the new series incorporates familiar production elements like a similar opening title card and a revamped version of the closing theme song, it has a much different tone and feel than the original run. I was initially hesitant to support the series because I despise Grammer's personal politics, but as a long-time fan of both Cheers and the original Frasier, I think he does a great job stepping back into the character. The season has some genuinely funny moments, though overall the humor isn't as sharp or consistently funny as the original series. The writers do a commendable job blending the old with the new, making both subtle and overt callbacks to past events, and they balance the comedy with emotional elements surrounding Martin. The premiere handles this beautifully, featuring a short clip of John Mahoney, who passed away in 2018, and dedicating the episode to his memory. Ultimately, while the reboot (at least the first season) didn't capture the magic of the original series, it's still well worth watching for established fans of the franchise.
No comments:
Post a Comment