Frasier

Paramount

***

I didn’t hate it.

So it is not the kind of full-throated endorsement you might find on a billboard. But given the general reaction to even the idea of bringing back Frasier, some might consider “I didn’t hate it” or “It’s not terrible”, another observation from the notebook, to be a result.

Rebooting a series beloved by so many was always going to be a gamble for Paramount, and for the show’s star, Kelsey Grammer.

While not number one in Rotten Tomatoes’ 200 best comedy shows of all time (that honour goes to Seinfeld), Frasier was the quintessential classy comedy.

Packed with zingers, sharp, clever, and genuinely moving when it had a mind to be, it was destined to be a joy forever via box sets and Channel 4 repeats. Then someone had the idea of springing the old boy from television’s retirement home.

Just him, though. There is no Marty (RIP John Mahoney), no Niles and Daphne (David Hyde Pierce and Jane Leeves, still working), and no Eddie (left the building in 2006, sob).

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Frasier 2023 has new characters, including Frasier’s now grown-up son, Freddy, and Daphne and Niles’ boy, David. The setting has been switched from Seattle to Boston, which is either a respectful nod to the past or another insult, depending on how welcoming you wanted to be.

Was anyone welcoming? Other than some executives hoping to make a buck, who was clamouring to bring the good psychiatrist back?

Enough shilly-shallying as Frasier would say. How good or bad is it?

The opening scene takes place at Boston airport where Alan Cornwall, an old professor pal of Frasier’s, is waiting to greet him “How was your father’s funeral?” asks Cornwall. Way to break it to us gently. Much of the episode is taken up with exposition as characters introduce each other.

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Cornwall is played by Nicholas Lyndhurst, Only Fools and Horses’ Rodney as was. British, snooty, and sarcastic, Cornwall is a blend of Niles and Daphne. Also filling in for Niles is David (Anders Keith) who is an accident-prone fusspot.

Next we drop in on Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott), Harvard dropout turned firefighter. Father and son do not get on. They are opposites failing to attract, chalk and cheese. Remind you of anyone?

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I won’t say more for fear of spoilers. I sneaked ahead to the third episode, just to make sure of my conclusions. Or could it be I was enjoying it?

The opening episode is lacklustre, and not all the characters work. There’s a college head of department (Toks Olagundoye) who might be a kind of Roz. She’s promising. Nicholas Lyndhurst’s character is flat and needs work.

Overall the new Frasier offers more in the way of smiles than laugh out loud moments. Of course it is not as good as the original. Yet every now and then Grammer gets his Frasier groove back and is impossible to resist.

Like I said, didn’t hate it.

Paramount, episodes 1 and 2 available Friday