The 10-episode second season of the Frasier reboot/sequel/revival series streamed on Paramount Plus during the fall and winter of 2024. All of the main cast members returned for the second season. Peri Gilpin, who made a cameo appearance at the end of season 1, returned as Roz in an expanded recurring role. Patricia Heaton also joined the cast in a recurring role as a love interest for Frasier. Other recognizable cast members included Amy Sedaris and Yvette Nicole Brown. Greer Grammer also joined in a recurring role, playing the adult version of Roz's daughter, Alice. A few more cast members from the original series also reprised their roles, including Dan Butler, Edward Hibbert, and Harriet Sansom Harris.
The show continued to primarily be a story-of-the-week procedural set back in Boston where Frasier returned after leaving Chicago. The show occasionally referenced prior episodes, but for the most part, you can easily follow the plotline of any given episode without having seen the prior episodes. The best episode of the season is what would end up being the penultimate episode of the series, in which Frasier returns to Seattle to make a guest appearance at the radio station, during which he encounters a man whose life went haywire after taking Frasier's advice.
The DVD is a two-disc set. It is mostly a made-on-demand set, but it does have a gag reel and a few minutes of deleted scenes as extras. And the episodes can be played with English captions. Unlike the original series, this one is not availble on blu-ray.
The season was fine, but like the first season, this one still could not capture the feel of the original series. That's largely because John Mahoney had passed away, and neither David Hyde Pierce nor Jane Leevs appeared on the show. Whether one or both of them could have been convinced to appear had the series continued will never be known (the series was canceled after this season wrapped and, as of this writing, has not been picked up elsewhere), but David Hyde Pierce has gone on record as saying he did not think there would be anything for Niles to do on the show. Whether that was true or it was more about distancing himself from Grammer's politics (as he is a huge RWNJ), we will probably never know. That said, there were some funny moments during the season, the best one being a joke about Bulldog coming out (and acknowledging Dan Butler's sexuality) when Frasier assumes it was Gil. Because the show was canceled after the season aired, it did not get a proper conclusion/finale. Thankfully, the season did not end on a cliffhanger, so nothing major is left unresolved. Ultimately, the season is worth watching if you liked Season One and possibly if you loved the original series. I do think the show would have been better if Frasier had visited Cheers at least once, but the chances of getting any of the surviving cast members (aside from maybe Bebe Neuwirth) to return were probably slim. If, however, you are expecting it to be as good as the original series, you will probably be disappointed.
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