Frasier's Back In Boston, And Already Poking Fun At Cheers
In 2024, it will be 40 years since the character of Frasier Crane first debuted on TV. Appearing in the season 3 premiere of "Cheers" back in 1984, the character went on to become the protagonist of his own show, which ran from 1993 to 2004 and doubled down on Kelsey Grammer's remarkable knack for playing the lovably pretentious psychiatrist. Now, the character is once again back as part of the "Frasier" revival series that just hit Paramount+, and he's very much returned to his roots.
Whereas the original "Frasier" saw the titular psychiatrist return to his native Seattle, the new series is set back in Boston — home of the Cheers bar where his character first appeared. In the years between the original "Frasier" and this new series, the good doctor has been living in Chicago, but returns to Boston after his marriage ends and he feels compelled to become more involved in his son Freddy's (Jack Cutmore-Scott) life. The result is a show that is, as /Film's Josh Spiegel wrote, neither disappointing nor remarkable.
Ahead of the show's debut, a lot of the talk centered around whether any of the original cast would be back. Unfortunately, other than the man himself, nobody from the first "Frasier" will return in any recurring capacity — though Peri Gilpin's Roz is set to appear as a guest. David Hyde Pierce, who played Frasier's brother Niles, chose not to come back, and John Mahoney who played Frasier's father, Martin, passed away in 2018. But if you happened to be a "Cheers" fan as well as a "Frasier" adherent, you might also be wondering whether, now that he's back in Boston, Frasier will be returning to his old bar. Well, anyone who's seen the first episode will already have noticed a nod to Frasier's origins.
A certain bar...
When he first appeared in "Cheers," Frasier was simply a plot device — a way to further the Sam (Ted Danson) and Diane (Shelley Long) relationship storyline. Prior to season 3's debut, Diane had been in a psychiatric hospital where she met Dr. Crane and became romantically involved with him. Initially, the doctor was supposed to stick around for a few episodes to make Sam jealous, before departing. But as "Cheers" writer Ken Levine explained in a blog post:
"In the parlance of comedy writing, Kelsey [Grammer] really scored. He proved to be so funny and interesting that [show co-creators] the Charles Brothers kept finding new reasons to bring him back."
After Frasier moved to Seattle for his spin-off, his ex-wife and fellow "Cheers" character Lilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth) would pop up from time to time. And nearly every one of his erstwhile drinking buddies showed up throughout "Frasier." Sam Malone (Ted Danson), Diane Chambers (Shelley Long), Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson), Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger), Norm Peterson (George Wendt), Carla Tortelli (Rhea Pearlman), Paul Krapence (Paul Wilson), Phil (Philip Perlman), and Walt (Raye Birk) all appeared in the show throughout its 11-season run.
So you'd imagine the "Frasier" revival would be similarly respectful of its origins — especially since, as the "Frasier" trailer promised, the character is now back in Boston. And you'd be right. While cameos are yet to be confirmed, in the premiere episode of the new show, Frasier visits a bar with his old college buddy/Harvard professor Alan Cornwall (Nicholas Lyndhurst) and the head of Harvard's psychology department, Olivia (Toks Olagundoye). While there, Frasier sneaks in a nod to his "Cheers" days when he jokes, "I never felt myself here, I spent too long at a certain bar..."
Acknowledging the birth of the character
Honoring the revival show's roots was clearly important to the production crew. James Burrows, who co-created "Cheers" and directed numerous episodes, was also a big presence on the original "Frasier," directing multiple episodes of the spin-off series during its 1993-2004 run. Burrows returned to direct the first two episodes of the revival and told Entertainment Weekly how important it was for him that Frasier's joke about spending too long at a "certain bar" was to him:
"It's the one line in the pilot that I begged [Cristalli and Harris] not to lose. It's tender to my heart, but also, it's a way of acknowledging the birth of the character — and they were sweet enough to leave that line in."
Of course, this all raises the question of whether the new "Frasier" will simply mention the obvious "Cheers" connection and move on, or whether there will be further "Cheers"-related surprises to come. Asked on the U.K.'s "This Morning" show if any characters from the beloved sitcom will show up on the new show, Grammar said, cryptically, "We might see some of them." Aside from Bebe Neuwirth's Lilith, however, no other cameos are yet confirmed. But considering the new show seems determined to honor its previous incarnations (the neighborhood bar in the show is named Mahoney's in honor of the late John Mahoney), it seems very likely we'll be seeing some more familiar faces before long.
New episodes of "Frasier" drop every Thursday on Paramount+.