TV Review: Frasier (Season 12ish)
The Next Chapter Begins
INTRODUCTION
This is a quick (bonus) review of the just released last year TV show, Frasier (2023). To better keep up to date with my thoughts on movies as well, follow me on Letterboxd.
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THE PLOT
Via Google: Hoping for a better relationship with his son, Frederick, now a Boston firefighter, Frasier takes a professorship at Harvard University and moves into Freddy's apartment building. With the help of his family and his new colleagues, Frasier is about to embark on his "third act
QUICK REVIEW
If you ask me what my all-time favorite TV show is I'll give you either one answer or another depending on the day. Its either Downton Abbey or Frasier. The latter helmed by Kelsey Grammer who has embodied Doctor Frasier Crane going all the way back to the eighties super-hit sitcom, Cheers (Which ranks very high among my personal favorite TV shows as well). So much so that I must admit when I see him in any other role I feel taken aback he’s not the beloved psychiatrist. But for better or worse, Grammer will always be known as the character.
So it probably wasn’t to many’s surprise that after twenty years he was ready to play Frasier again. But what new things can you do with a character that has been a part of two series that lasted 11 seasons? Well why not have the tables turned on him from being the good son giving his father a place to stay to being the overly-attached dad so desperate to reconnect with his son, Freddy, that he decides to move in together with him. Add in a single mother across the hall with a special connection to Freddy, Frasier’s nephew, David, attending his classes, and university colleagues that get him into trouble.
So as a massive fan of the series I decided to wait for all 10 seasons to come out, and finally got around to catching up with this a few weeks ago. And while I’m late to the party, as a Frasier fan and a very casual TV viewer, I have to say I really enjoyed this small 10 episode 12ish season - but with some caveats.
Grammer continues to embody the iconic TV character, not losing a step in the last two decades. Jack Cutmore-Scott gives the character of Freddy some new life after decades of being a sideline to Frasier’s life. Nicholas Lyndhurst absolutely stole the show as Frasier’s best friend and university colleague Alan, who is written brilliantly as what if Frasier and Niles were actually trouble makers - something I was happy to see as I feared he’d just be a Niles replica clone.
Plenty of things that there is to love about the original series are here. The comedy continues to be witty and well-written. The scenarios continue to be absurd. The cameos from characters from Frasier’s past continue on. There’s just so much in this that stuck close to the source material.
But at the same time the show definitely suffers as being just a niche thing for fans like me. Not to mention it takes half the season to start realizing it needs to flesh out the side-characters more. You can also feel the production value is smaller than the original series, which leads to Harvard being presented almost like its a community college setting. The laugh track that has become too stale for modern sitcoms is also here and well, it’s a dated presentation. The whole show is definitely a lesser-than version that will do more die-hard fans than win over new ones.
But as someone who loves the character of Frasier Crane and has re-watched the original Frasier countless times, it nailed doing what it needed to do in getting me invested in watching a new chapter for an old friend of mine. The series progressively got better as the season chugged along, and by the end I was ready for the next season. If I were on the outside looking in, I’d give this a B-tier grade, but as a massive fan who got enough of what he wanted from this, I’ll give it a soft A-. I really am glad I caught up with this and that this exists in the Frasier canon.
INITIAL GRADING
