The Frasier Revival Seems To Have Forgotten All About An Infamous Original Episode
So far, the "Frasier" revival has shown a pretty consistent awareness of its origins, harkening back to highlights from the original series and paying tribute to the late John Mahoney, who previously played Frasier's dad, Martin. In fact, links to the beloved sitcom that ran from 1993-2004 can be found in pretty much every episode of the reboot. There have even been callbacks to "Cheers," the show on which Kelsey Grammer's Frasier Crane first debuted.
In the very first episode, the titular doctor pokes fun at "Cheers" with a joke about spending too much time in "a certain bar." Then, in the fifth episode, the writers used a "Cheers" joke to provide new insight into Frasier when he admitted that he never felt like he truly fit in anywhere — including the famous bar in question. When you combine all this with the fact the revival show brought back "Cheers" co-creator and director of multiple "Frasier" episodes, James Burrows to help shepherd the doctor's latest exploits, you've got a reboot that tries very hard to retain as much of the previous iterations as it can in the face of having none of the original supporting cast.
Which is why it's quite surprising that in the sixth episode, "Frasier" 2023 seems to reset its protagonist's dating history — either that or our beloved Frasier is starting to suffer some serious cognitive degeneration in his twilight years.
Rewriting Frasier history
With the sixth episode of the new series, June Diane Raphael, of "Grace and Frankie" fame, plays Frasier/Freddy's blind date, also named June. While we all await the arrival of some familiar guest stars in upcoming episodes of the "Frasier" reboot, Raphael's appearance made for a nice change of pace.
In the episode, Eve (Jess Salgueiro) sets up Freddy on a blind date because he always finds reasons to dislike the women she finds before they even meet. Frasier seems astounded by the very concept of a blind date, saying, "Gosh, I love that. The only thing you know for sure is this... this could be your soulmate! Yes Eve, I'd like the same treatment. No information!" But this is one instance where the revival series seems to have either forgotten, or deliberately departed from the character's history.
In the season nine episode "Three Blind Dates," Niles (David Hyde Pierce), Roz (Peri Gilpin), and Martin (John Mahoney) set Frasier up on three separate blind dates. Niles attempts to introduce his brother to one of his former patients, a bookstore owner named Lisa (Bellamy Young) who initially proves elusive when Niles attempts the introduction while trying to remain out of sight. For Roz's part, she introduces Frasier to her artist friend, Susanna (Allison Janney) but the pair soon prove incompatible and their date descends into petty name-calling. Lastly, Martin (John Mahoney) sets his son up with a girl from his bar named Kris (Bridgette Wilson), who spends her date with Frasier playing pool with some locals, sending Dr. Crane to the dry cleaners to get change for the game. It's only then that he finally meets Lisa, who also happens to be in the same place. It's classic "Frasier" stuff that apparently went overlooked by the revival show.
'There was a time...'
Later in episode six of the new series, June arrives at Frasier's apartment but neither he nor Freddy seem to know who she's there for. They both compete for her affections before Frasier's actual date, Siobhan (Jacqueline Obradors) arrives, presenting a dilemma for Frasier, who finds her just as attractive. This prompts Freddy to suggest, in a tongue-in-cheek fashion, a ridiculous scheme. "I'll pretend to be your personal chef," he says, "and set up one dinner out on the balcony and one in here and you can run back and forth having two dates at once" — a suggestion Frasier appears to entertain for a brief second, admitting that "there was a time when [he] would have maybe..." before dismissing the idea altogether.
In an episode that has already seemed to gloss over a big part of Frasier's dating history, it's odd to see this wry allusion to the often farcical shenanigans of the original series, wherein Frasier would absolutely say yes to the kind of "solution" Freddy offered. But then, it's just plain weird that the "Frasier" 2023 writers would have their protagonist act as if he'd never even heard of the concept of a blind date in the first place — especially since Kelsey Grammer had significant input into the new series and seems to have a real fondness and respect for the character of Frasier.
It's been a while
One way to explain Frasier's apparent unfamiliarity with blind dates could be that he's simply forgotten what it's like to even date in the first place. In the new series, we learn that during his time spent in Chicago between the original show and the new, neither disappointing nor remarkable version, Frasier was married (and apparently became "Dr. Phil") before getting divorced prior to his move to Boston. In that sense, not only it has been a long time since his last blind date, which based on "Three Blind Dates" took place a full 21 years ago, but he's also been through a lot since he last dated. Perhaps it just slipped his mind?
That might be a good way to explain it (this is very important, after all), except that Frasier had previously been on a blind date in the season four episode "Love Bites Dog." In this 1996 installment, Roz sets Frasier up on a blind date with her friend Sharon (Jen Campbell), before Bulldog (Dan Butler) manages to steal her away. All of which is to say that Frasier is absolutely no stranger to blind dates, and in a show that seems quite keenly aware of the character's history, this installment was somewhat of a surprise.