Frasier’s back, bringing joyful pomposity

We expect streaming networks to deliver the odd and the obscure. Space men are good; dragons are better.
But Paramount+ also has one of the most familiar characters in TV history. Its “Frasier” sequel (shown here) starts its second season Thursday (Sept. 19).
Frasier Crane has already been in 481 TV episodes, dubbed into languages worldwide. “The guy who does the Spanish one is very good,” said Kelsey Grammer, who plays him.
And the reruns seem inescapable. “We go to England quite a bit,” Grammer told the Television Critics Association. There, “Frasier” has been a morning rerun “for 30 years, I guess. (My) kids are like, ‘Oh God, Dad’s on.’”
They’ve had time to get used to it: When Greer Grammer was born, her dad was already in his eighth year of playing Frasier on “Cheers.” Now she’s 32 and working on this “Frasier” sequel, playing Roz Doyle’s daughter.
That’s the show’s approach, tying the old and new. We see (or hear references to) Frasier’s old years in Boston … his later years as a radio host in Seattle … and his current time back in Boston, as a Harvard professor.
At the core is the flawed humanity of the central character. As “Cheers” director James Burrows wrote in “Directed by James Burrows” (Ballantine, 2022): “A typical story would have Frasier falling on his face, with his pomposity getting in the way of life, while always being sweet at heart.”
Most pompous characters are simply there to be laughed at or scorned, but this one is deeper, Burrows wrote. “He loved fully, wholly, deeply.”
And much of that reflects the actor who plays him. Grammer “lives on the borderline of comedy and pathos,” Burrows wrote.
The pathos has been well-known: In separate events, Grammer’s father and sister were murdered; two of his half-brothers died in a scuba accident. He’s married four times, divorced three times, and struggled with cocaine addiction, even spending a few days in jail.
But this is a man who laughs easily and projects joy, plus other emotions. During one press conference, he paused to take a call from his wife. During the recent one, he started to talk about his joy at reviving the show, then choked up. That “really does happen a lot,” producer Joe Cristalli said.
Cristalli is one of the writers (with Chris Harris) who pushed the notion of reviving a show that had been gone since 2004. “My oldest daughter now is 7,” he said, “and there are jokes in that pilot script that are older than her.”
Eventually, the show moved over to Paramount+, with a modest order of just 10 episodes a season. The concept evolved, merging worlds.
Shortly after the death of his dad Martin (a retired cop), Frasier moved back to Boston, his home-town during “Cheers” and the home of his son Freddy.
“He’s very cute,” Gilpin said of Freddy. “And he’s definitely Martin’s grandson.” That created an impasse: Freddy dropped out of Harvard (his dad’s turf) and became a firefighter.
Now Frasier tries to juggle two worlds – his wordy colleagues at Harvard and his son’s blue-collar friends. He re-meets people from his “Cheers” days and others (including Roz) from his Seattle days.
Jack Cutmore-Scott plays Freddy and Anders Keith – fresh from the Juilliard theater program, where Grammer studied – is David … who (like his dad Niles) isn’t entirely comfortable in the real world.
Harriet Sansom Harris is back as Frasier’s agent, now with Rachel Bloom (“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”) as her daughter. Also added this year is Patricia Heaton – of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “The Middle” and (with Grammer) “Back to You” – as Holly, a potential love interest.
It’s an expanding world, with Burrows, 83, as the director of the opening episodes for both seasons. “He still has that ‘Cheers’ magic,” Cristalli said.
So does Grammer. In the 20 years since the original “Frasier” ended, he’s done other comedies, Broadway musicals, even an intense drama series, “Boss.” Now, at 69, he’s back inside the loving pomposity of Frasier Crane.