4/5
They're Calling Again.
10 Episodes. Starring: Kelsey Grammar, Jack Cutmore-Scott, Anders Keith, Jess Salgueiro, Toks Olagundoye & Nicholas Lyndhurst. Developed By: Chris Harris & Joe Cristalli.
Cheers to you. Goodbye, Seattle. We loved you. Back in Boston, Frasier Crane may have left Seattle like the Supersonics on a reverse 'Cheers'. But he's still listening, going from Seattle's Best Coffee to Beantown. So get ready to toss your salads and scrambled eggs, even if critics have left you not knowing what to do with all this Paramount + revival sequel, rebooting the golden era 90s sitcom that was just as popular as those 'Friends' that will always be there for you (Rest peacefully, Matthew Perry). When the rain starts to pour, even outside the Pacific Northwest, you may think this doesn't pass the bar like Sam Malone. But this psychiatrist still knows how to shrink back into his most iconic character. Kelsey Grammer wears his Frasier alter-ego like a tailored, bespoke suit. So much so, you'll still be forgiven for calling him by his character name, even if he has other iconic ones that could leave you grumbling like stepping on a rake repeatedly.
The Beast of the X-Men franchise has the sleepless outside of Seattle blues, but as soon as he moves into a new apartment and finds himself another watering hole that isn't as iconic as the one propped up by postal workers and people whose name everybody knows, but still a sweet spot, it all begins to blend seamlessly together. Making this reboot a clear continuation and its own successful sitcom in its individual right. All the way to the classic drawn-up intro ID, even though the skyline has clearly changed. Go ahead and call up. Baby, this has still got you pegged.
What is a boy to do? Tell me what you see, like those legendary lines on the title-cards. Over the Custom House and Prudential Tower and Zakim Bridge past 111 Huntingdon Avenue. Or the literal on the nose Rorschach test of Dr. Crane's new Massachusetts digs. Based on the acclaimed David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee show, created from Glen and Les Charles' 'Cheers' character, this new 'Frasier' that you could never replace in all his brooding bellows is redeveloped by Chris Harris and Joe Cristalli. With a polishing from Shiny Brass Lamp productions, Grammer helps clean up this shiny new example of an old favourite...this is far from his first rodeo. He's still got it, especially when he and his son can't work out which date is who's in a 'Frasier' as classic as the original situation comedies, like the time he refused to pay in a parking lot he just circled around, whilst trying and failing to find a space.
Speaking of his son, it might not be the original Freddie, but the firefighting Jack Cutmore-Scott adds new life to the family tree of daddy issues. Add Jess Salgueiro's scene-stealing neighbour and best friend, and across the hall like Chandler and Monica, you have a new favourite cast that replaced the old one. Sure, we're Niles away from a real Crane cameo like when David Hyde Pierce appeared on 'The Simpsons' as Kelsey's Sideshow Bob's brother (cue rake), but we can feel him on the other end of the phone. And we still have a couple of classic cameos we simply won't spoil, with more to come that we hope tend bar, culminating in a classic Christmas episode this festive season, directed to no dry eyes by Grammer himself.
There really is a young Niles in the amazing Anders Keith, who his and Daphne's son perfectly, showing the napkin doesn't fall too far from the table it just wiped. A perfect crossover as Frasier and Freddie play the new odd couple. Toks Olagundoye is the smartest mind in an educational big-three as Dr. Crane switches radio psychiatry, not to mention a terrific talk show we need to see on yet another spin-off, but if you miss that Frasier and Niles interplay, his old college roommate from England makes up for that in spades. Nicholas Lyndhurst is literally the best thing about this show. As the 'Only Fools and Horses' and 'Goodnight Sweetheart' star shows just how versatile he is, saving the day like when Rodney cosplayed Robin with The Del-Boy Knight. Can you even imagine, or picture it in a million years. But from his liquid lunches, brunches, breakfast and dinners, to the crowning name of his cat, this primetime Emmy ready talent teaches us all a thing or two. Even if he never actually shows up for class. And just you wait until he puts the gauntlet down.
If you can't find comfort in this, sofa-side manner, then I don't know what to tell you. In a terrific third act, Frasier gets up to all sorts of tricks that would leave most on the other side of the therapist's couch. From mistakenly using murder metaphors, to being punch-drunk in love with looking like Cliff at closing. Not to mention who he sneaks out his apartment, so his son doesn't see. This time the came to fix your sink tongue in cheek is literal. This still feels like Frasier, like when he left Boston the first time for stormier skies in Seattle. This one proves you can go home...and make it your own again. But the heart lies with the one we lost in tender tribute. Like the late, great John Mahoney (Rest peacefully) says from his iconic La-Z-Boy throne in an apartment back in Emerald City, reigning from the heavens, "It all works out". Good morning, Boston. We love you too. Cheers. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Further Filming: 'Frasier', 'Cheers', 'Friends'.
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