The 'Frasier' Reboot Does Right by Martin Crane

I wish I could dismiss the Frasier reboot based on the politics of Kelsey Grammer alone, but I have always been impressed with Grammer’s acting skills, whether it be the original Frasier, as Beast in the X-Men movies, as a beast of a mayor in Boss and, again, in the 2023 reboot.

The return of Frasier on Paramount+ had an awkard beginning as it set up its premise and introduced several new characters, but as we warmed to those characters and the new premise began to settle in, that old Frasier magic came alive again. Frasier has always been best as a farce, and there have been a few genuinely hysterical sequences in its return on a set built, seemingly, to accommodate rotating visits and slammed doors.

The new Frasier essentially reverses the dynamic of the original. Where Frasier returned home to take care of his blue-collar dad in Seattle in the original, the new Frasier sees him move into the same Boston apartment as his blue-collar son, Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott), who takes more after his grandfather than his father (although he was largely raised by Lilith; Bebe Neuwirth makes a terrific return). Freddy left Harvard to become a firefighter, while Frasier returns home to Boston to teach at Harvard. Freddy and Fraiser thus have to co-exist in the same apartment across the hall from Eve (Jess Salgueiro), the single mom of an infant, whose boyfriend — who was also Freddy’s best friend — died while working as a firefighter. There are also a few supporting characters, namely two of Frasier’s Harvard colleagues, plus the son of Niles Crane, David (Anders Keith), who is an apple that did not fall far from the tree.

It takes a few episodes for the engine to start humming, mostly because these new characters are not Niles, Daphne, Roz, and especially Martin. The fact that they are also stand-ins for those same character types makes it even more difficult not to contrast this show with the original. But once the characters develop their own personalities, they grow on us, especially Freddy, who capably continues the spirit of Martin Crane.

Part of what makes it easy to eventually buy into Freddy and Frasier’s relationship is that Martin Crane is never too far from their thoughts. The series does not forget about Martin and move on; he’s essentially a major, off-screen character, and father and son — despite their many differences — are able to bond over their shared affection for the grandfather. The only thing the writing does better than the farce is put the ghost of John Mahoney’s character into every scene as a proud observer.

The first season finale aired this week, and it was classic Frasier: To cope with missing his late father, Frasier tries to throw together a last-minute Christmas party that goes completely awry when kid musicians show up instead of the adult musicians he thought he booked, and a live goose arrives instead of a cooked one. Meanwhile, across the hall, Eve — who is missing her late boyfriend — is watching a weepy Lifetime movie, and as various partygoers end up in Eve’s apartment, they all get sucked into the movie until no one is left at Frasier’s party. Freddy saves the day, however, by reuniting Frasier with his old friend, Roz (Peri Gilpin), who returns to spend the holiday with Frasier.

It’s a funny episode, but it’s also wistful, and the comedy hangs heavy because of Grammer’s sad eyes and perfect comedy timing. There have been a few along the way, but this episode, in particular, feels like the perfect eulogy/tribute to Martin Crane. It’s hard not to feel his presence, snickering to himself and his Jack Russell from his raggedy, duct-taped La-Z-Boy as all of Frasier’s best-laid plans go to hell. He would have loved to watch the comedy of errors, but he also would’ve been there to help Frasier nurse his emotional wounds at the end of the day. It’s a sweet episode, but mostly, it just made me miss John Mahoney. The ghost of Martin’s past is reason enough to revisit Frasier and give it a few episodes to let it settle in.