The Frasier reboot feels decidedly completely different from the unique present, not simply because Kelsey Grammer is older and it’s arduous to take a look at him the identical means post-Cash Aircraft, but in addition due to the change in setting. Frasier 2.0, after all, takes place in Boston — or no less than some type of alternate universe Boston by which Cheers doesn’t exist for some cause.
However this week, Frasier made the daring transfer of sending Dr. Crane again to his hometown of Seattle. That is what followers have been ready for, proper? The episode definitely leaned into the nostalgia of its premise, shoehorning a second title sequence into the start of the present to mirror Frasier’s return to the Emerald Metropolis.
However what did this journey truly do for the present? Not an entire lot. Frasier couldn’t reunite with Niles and Daphne, owing to the truth that David Hyde Pierce and Jane Leeves selected to not take part within the reboot. As a substitute, we be taught early on within the episode that the couple has moved to Sedona, Arizona, the place Niles owns his personal winery. Okay, certain.
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The one residing characters left for Frasier to reunite with are his former KACL co-workers. Nicely, two of his former KACL co-workers: Bulldog and Gil. Ignoring the truth that Bulldog and Freddy by some means don’t recall ever assembly one another, we be taught that the sports activities present host has not too long ago come out of the closet. He’s nonetheless a poisonous bro, however “simply into dudes now.” Looks like a fairly radical improvement for a personality who was a major a part of the unique collection. However “Thank You, Dr. Crane” is barely interested by treating these characters as nothing greater than nostalgia triggers with acquainted catchphrases and operating jokes. The majority of the episode is absolutely about Frasier studying that he gave dangerous recommendation to a previous caller.
The episode’s unsubtle theme is that nothing ever stays the identical. KACL is virtually falling aside in 2024, and Frasier’s beloved Café Nervosa has been “up to date” with cheesy decorations and leather-based couches. After all, this can be partly because of the truth that all of the props from the unique Nervosa set have been auctioned off simply final 12 months.
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The storyline appears conspicuously engineered to permit for Roz to turn into a recurring character on the brand new present. Grammer admitted as a lot in an interview again in September, stating that the episode was written as a result of “we needed to make (Roz) a part of the present … and so we needed to get her out of Seattle.” So Roz finally realizes that it’s time to “transfer on” as a result of “KACL isn’t what it was.”
The issue is that the present needs to have it each methods — pleasing followers with acquainted faces and locales, whereas additionally underscoring that Seattle sucks now and Boston’s completely the place it’s at!
Additionally, is the suggestion that making an attempt to revisit the previous is a futile endeavor actually an argument that the Frasier reboot of all exhibits needs to ask?
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