Must say the 7/10 this reboot is scoring on IMDB is both predictable and equally surprising. Yes, welcome to the new Frasier, a show I have held off watching for a while given I'm a huge fan of the original.
I mainly held off because a Fraser without Niles, Daphne and Marty really isn't Frasier, and while Kelsey Grammer's enduring title character remains unchanged and lovable, nothing else about the reboot, save for his son Freddie, comes close.
So, as you've guessed, Fraser has left Seattle behind for a new life in Boston as a professor at Harvard, and in doing so has moved next door to his son, to be closer to him.
We'll get straight to the bad.
The dialogue, the jokes, and the characters. Sadly that's most of the show.
Jack Cutmore-Scott is the only one, aside Grammer, who actually manages to hold things up - his Freddie is a nice homage to Marty, a character very much taking after Frasier's late old man, and he does a very good job of being his own, while also keeping the spirit of John Mahoney alive.
But that's where it ends. Nicholas Lyndhurst's Alan is abysmal - badly cast, he's the wrong guy for this role. Completely. The character is ALRIGHT but he's not the right person to play him. Needs recast for that role to even remotely have a chance. Too dry, forced, and contrived. It's not his role.
Jess Salguiero's Eve - is she supposed to be a 'Daphne'? She's generic and could have been played by anyone. She's not even necessary and will likely be written out after a few episodes. She's redundant along with the baby, let's face it.
Then there's real pain. Anders Keith's David is diabolical - nothing to do with the casting, he does his best, but the material is agony. Fraser is a show about misunderstandings but this character seems to be a single human parody of that idea. It's just not funny, and he's utterly annoying. Poor Keith is left stranded by the bad writing.
And that's the whole thing in a nutshell.
Trying to find the good isn't really that feasible. It's not abysmal, it really isn't, but it's not a patch on the masterful old show.
This probably sounds like a hatefest, and it really is lovely to see an old friend of the 90s back - something comforting about seeing Frasier again.
But this isn't the show we love. It's a bad fanfic version of it.
They have given it a good shot, but there's just too much chafe, too much of this seems a parody indeed of the old show.
Maybe it will get better, but unless some bad characters are removed and roles recast, we don't give it a lot of hope.
Generous 6/10.
I mainly held off because a Fraser without Niles, Daphne and Marty really isn't Frasier, and while Kelsey Grammer's enduring title character remains unchanged and lovable, nothing else about the reboot, save for his son Freddie, comes close.
So, as you've guessed, Fraser has left Seattle behind for a new life in Boston as a professor at Harvard, and in doing so has moved next door to his son, to be closer to him.
We'll get straight to the bad.
The dialogue, the jokes, and the characters. Sadly that's most of the show.
Jack Cutmore-Scott is the only one, aside Grammer, who actually manages to hold things up - his Freddie is a nice homage to Marty, a character very much taking after Frasier's late old man, and he does a very good job of being his own, while also keeping the spirit of John Mahoney alive.
But that's where it ends. Nicholas Lyndhurst's Alan is abysmal - badly cast, he's the wrong guy for this role. Completely. The character is ALRIGHT but he's not the right person to play him. Needs recast for that role to even remotely have a chance. Too dry, forced, and contrived. It's not his role.
Jess Salguiero's Eve - is she supposed to be a 'Daphne'? She's generic and could have been played by anyone. She's not even necessary and will likely be written out after a few episodes. She's redundant along with the baby, let's face it.
Then there's real pain. Anders Keith's David is diabolical - nothing to do with the casting, he does his best, but the material is agony. Fraser is a show about misunderstandings but this character seems to be a single human parody of that idea. It's just not funny, and he's utterly annoying. Poor Keith is left stranded by the bad writing.
And that's the whole thing in a nutshell.
Trying to find the good isn't really that feasible. It's not abysmal, it really isn't, but it's not a patch on the masterful old show.
This probably sounds like a hatefest, and it really is lovely to see an old friend of the 90s back - something comforting about seeing Frasier again.
But this isn't the show we love. It's a bad fanfic version of it.
They have given it a good shot, but there's just too much chafe, too much of this seems a parody indeed of the old show.
Maybe it will get better, but unless some bad characters are removed and roles recast, we don't give it a lot of hope.
Generous 6/10.