The Frasier Revival Harkens Back To A Hilarious Original Series Highlight
Before he became co-showrunner on the "Frasier" revival series, Joe Cristali ran a fan Twitter account called "Frasier For Hire." As the writer told The Hollywood Reporter, "My joke was I want to get hired on 'Frasier.' I would type up 'Frasier' jokes and puns. And I did it for three years and nobody really cared. It wasn't a very big following — I had like 2,000 followers." By Cristali's own admission, he's "seen every episode a million times" and is an unapologetic fan of the show which ran from 1993 to 2004. So, when he and Chris Harris were given the job of bringing Frasier Crane back to TV screens in 2023, almost 20 years after the original sitcom ended, Cristali's dream of being a "Frasier" writer basically came true.
The result of hiring this "Frasier" superfan has thus far been a show that is acutely aware of its origins, often to its benefit. The revival series opened with a heartwarming tribute to John Mahoney, the actor who portrayed Frasier's father Martin on the original series and who passed away in 2018. Back in 1993, Frasier moved to Seattle to help take care of his dad, thus setting up the requisite situation out of which the comedy arose. In the new show, that setup was mirrored by Frasier moving to Boston to reconnect with his son, Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott), who seemingly inherited much more of his grandfather's blue collar everyman persona than his father's famous snootiness.
It was a promising opening to the series, which has continued to mirror the original in increasingly more specific ways as it has progressed, aping storylines that aired all the way back in the mid-'90s. For example, the latest episode features basically the same plot as classic season 2 episode, "The Club."
'The same things that we did before...'
According to co-showrunner Chris Harris, during production on the new series, star Kelsey Grammer was "adamant" about "making sure that this wasn't just going to be, 'Let's do the same things that we did before in the same place with the same people.'" Thus far, the show has mostly managed to adhere to Grammer's wishes, especially since Niles actor David Hyde Pierce declined to return. There have been several sly references to classic episodes, and we'll soon be seeing some familiar characters return in cameo form. But otherwise, there's an all-new cast surrounding Frasier, who so far has been embarking on what Harris and Joe Cristali called the "third act" of his life.
But episode 5 is basically a rehash of a season 2 episode of the original "Frasier," in which the titular doctor and his brother, Niles, attend a party at the prestigious Empire Club of Seattle, where they stand a chance of being invited to join. The brothers decide to work together in order to charm the existing members and scheme their way into membership. But after learning that there's only one spot available, they quickly turn on each other, trying everything possible to disparage the other and sabotage their chances of joining the club. Unfortunately for Niles, his brother is ultimately accepted, causing a further rift between the pair and prompting Frasier to try to give up his membership to Niles. In the final act, it's revealed that the club made a mistake and meant to offer membership to Niles, but due to his unfortunate outburst where he decries the "elitist" Empire Club snobs, neither he nor Frasier are able to join. It's a great episode that plays not only on the brothers' egoism, but also their competitive relationship.
Playing the hits
Episode 5 of the new series is essentially the same story as "The Club," only with different characters. Frasier, Alan (British comedy legend Nicholas Lyndhurst), and Olivia (Toks Olagundoye) are invited to a party held by Harvard's exclusive Founders Society. When three spots in the club narrow down to two, Frasier becomes positively competitive, harkening back to his behavior in "The Club." A rift forms between Frasier and Alan on one side, and Olivia on the other, ultimately ending with Frasier and Alan locked in the wine cellar hashing out their relationship like an older version of the brothers from the original show. In the episode's final moments, Frasier is even accepted to the Founders Society over Alan, once again echoing the beats of "The Club," albeit in a slightly different order.
The episode is at least a little more grounded than the farcical events of the third episode of the revival, which sends up Frasier's newfound fame as a "Dr. Phil"-esque figure. But it also feels like the new series is straying into the territory Kelsey Grammer was so keen to avoid. Granted, these aren't precisely the "same people" as those from "The Club," but it very much feels like "the same things that we did before in the same place." And without the dynamic between Frasier and Niles, it's frankly just not quite as good.
The episode was written by Farhan Arshad, so perhaps it's unfair to chalk this up to Joe Cristali's super fandom congealing into a desire to just retread classic episodes. But let's hope that as it goes on, the new version of "Frasier" steers away from what this week felt like a series written by fans re-living the glory years.
New episodes of Frasier premiere every Thursday on Paramount+.