The Latest Episode Of The Frasier Revival Attempts To Make An Unlikeable Character Likable
In /Film's review for the "Frasier" revival, Josh Spiegel described it as neither disappointing nor remarkable. Which is pretty much the perfect description for the supporting characters. After Jane Leeves, who played Daphne Moon on the original series, and David Hyde Pierce, who played Niles, passed on the opportunity to come back, showrunners Chris Harris and Joe Cristali had to go back to the drawing board. Along with star Kelsey Grammer, who remains the only original cast member to return in a recurring capacity, Harris and Cristali drew up a new plan for their revival show.
Now airing on Paramount+, that show has done its absolute best to chart a new course for Frasier Crane while remaining faithful to the original show. There are even callbacks to "Cheers" where the character of Frasier first debuted. But try as it might, the new series just can't seem to overcome the lack of the original supporting cast.
On the show, Frasier is joined by an all-new cast that features Jack Cutmore-Scott as his son, Freddy, alongside British comedy legend Nicholas Lyndhurst as his old Oxford buddy and fellow Harvard professor, Alan. So far, Cristali and Harris have tried to give their respective characters some depth, focusing on Frasier and his son's differing tastes and the resulting distance between the two. One installment in particular attempts to demonstrate a more sensitive side of Alan after he pretends to trap himself and Dr. Crane in a wine cellar just to spend some time with his old friend and hash out their issues. Unfortunately, despite such efforts, the supporting characters mostly remain neither disappointing nor remarkable, and with episode eight, the writers tried to flesh out another of these secondary characters to similarly anticlimactic effect.
Episode eight doesn't quite make the grade
So far, one supporting character hasn't been the focus of any major storylines. Relative newcomer Anders Keith plays David Crane, the son of Niles and Daphne who also attends Harvard. Up until episode eight, David has just been just sort of ... there. Despite Keith's admirable efforts, David has remained somewhat unlikable mostly due to the fact he's just been there to deliver outdated sitcom one-liners and exist as a barely amusing doppelganger for his father. Now, however, the writers have tried to flesh out the character a bit.
In the episode, David is crestfallen to have been given a B grade on his latest paper by none other than his own uncle. The show then attempts to give David a humanizing storyline in which he buckles under the pressure of the Crane family's high expectations, begging for a redo of the paper and ultimately delivering an overwrought monologue about what it means to be a Crane and why he deserves an A.
Unfortunately, the story does little to make David, or the other characters for that matter, any more likable than they have been so far. There's an interesting subplot that explores Freddy's hidden intellectual talents that's actually a lot more interesting than David's dilemma or Frasier's attempts to woo the Provost of Harvard in order to gain professorship. But the writing and Cutmore-Scott's hammy performance just undermine what could have been a genuinely humanizing storyline that explored why Freddy felt the need to "obfuscate his wit," as Frasier puts it. Meanwhile David's storyline just kind of makes him slightly less likable for putting his uncle's life in jeopardy when he refuses to hand over his epi-pen after Frasier is stung by a bee.
David is somehow less likable
So far, critics have not been kind to the character of David. The Hollywood Reporter referred to him as, "So exaggeratedly awkward that he seems to have dropped in from a different show, or maybe from a different planet." Esquire, meanwhile, had this to say: "David (Anders Keith) would be a little dweeby and somewhat annoying, but what if I told you he was just annoying?" These quotes are characteristic of the general response to the "Frasier" revival, which has been far from overwhelmingly positive.
It's frustrating that "Frasier" 2023 is as lackluster as it is. The show started out with a sweet tribute to the late John Mahoney, who played Frasier's dad Martin on the original series. At the very least, that seemed to suggest the new reboot was aware of how important its predecessor was, and might manage to conjure a similar tone and writing style. But as it's gone on, the cracks have become increasingly clearer, and by the time episode eight arrives, you're left missing the original cast more than ever.
What is the "Frasier" revival supposed to do with characters that are just okay and, at times, straight-up off-putting? Well, making David even more unlikable with a storyline about his unhealthy dependence on grades and being the best of the best isn't going to help. By the end of the installment, he isn't any more dear to the viewer or integral to the show. I'd been holding out hope that things would look up, but with only a couple more episodes to go, "Frasier" 2023 is, much like David and his B grade, falling short of what it could have been.