"Frasier" is one of my all-time favourite shows. It has impacted my life to the point that some have even compared my personality to that of Frasier Crane himself, which is....well, not really a compliment, but whatever, you get the point, I love the show.
With this in mind, let me be perfectly clear about this --- the potential new incarnation of a "Frasier" TV series is not a good idea.
Now, it seems like the basic idea of this show steers clear of the most obvious pitfalls of a Frasier reboot. For one, it wouldn't really be a reboot. Dr. Crane would again find himself in a new city, surrounded by an entirely new supporting cast. This is a wise move, as it automatically distances the character from "Frasier" (much in the way that the first spinoff distanced itself from "Cheers" by sending Frasier from Boston to Seattle) and diminishes audience expectations/fears that we'll see Niles, Daphne, Roz, and company all pop up on a regular basis. Sadly, not John Mahoney, RIP.
So, a new Frasier show would be different than other recent relaunched sitcoms (i.e. Roseanne, Will & Grace) in that it wouldn't just be in the old cast in new stories, but rather one new characters in new stories, launched in a new direction in his life. Just throwing it out there, but the kid who played Freddy Crane (Trevor Einhorn) is still an actor, with such credits as Mad Men and The Magicians to his name. The most obvious scenario would be to have Frasier move in with Freddy in, say, Kansas City or some random midwest American city* and we get a revamp of the Martin/Frasier dynamic with Frasier now in the role of father constantly sparring with his son.
* Frasier's done Boston and Seattle, time to hit the Central Time Zone
But don't let my admittedly brilliant plot idea fool you, this show shouldn't happen. I've recently begun to apply the metric of "does this really need to happen?" metric to any sort of sequel, reboot, spinoff, prequel, etc. The answer, four times out of five, is just a flat-out no. I guess you could broadly argue that entertainment by its very nature doesn't NEED to happen no matter how good, though then you're just a philistine.
I ask you, does the world need to see 63-year-old Kelsey Grammer playing Frasier Crane making jokes about millennials? Would any Frasier series be worth its salt if it didn't have the brilliant writers from the original series and/or Cheers working on the scripts? Do we need to see the inevitable Niles/Daphne/Roz/probably Bulldog, Kenny, Gil, and the KACL gang cameos? I say no. Leave the memories alone. Sometimes it's time to just let the blues keep calling without picking up the salad prongs.
With this in mind, let me be perfectly clear about this --- the potential new incarnation of a "Frasier" TV series is not a good idea.
Now, it seems like the basic idea of this show steers clear of the most obvious pitfalls of a Frasier reboot. For one, it wouldn't really be a reboot. Dr. Crane would again find himself in a new city, surrounded by an entirely new supporting cast. This is a wise move, as it automatically distances the character from "Frasier" (much in the way that the first spinoff distanced itself from "Cheers" by sending Frasier from Boston to Seattle) and diminishes audience expectations/fears that we'll see Niles, Daphne, Roz, and company all pop up on a regular basis. Sadly, not John Mahoney, RIP.
So, a new Frasier show would be different than other recent relaunched sitcoms (i.e. Roseanne, Will & Grace) in that it wouldn't just be in the old cast in new stories, but rather one new characters in new stories, launched in a new direction in his life. Just throwing it out there, but the kid who played Freddy Crane (Trevor Einhorn) is still an actor, with such credits as Mad Men and The Magicians to his name. The most obvious scenario would be to have Frasier move in with Freddy in, say, Kansas City or some random midwest American city* and we get a revamp of the Martin/Frasier dynamic with Frasier now in the role of father constantly sparring with his son.
* Frasier's done Boston and Seattle, time to hit the Central Time Zone
But don't let my admittedly brilliant plot idea fool you, this show shouldn't happen. I've recently begun to apply the metric of "does this really need to happen?" metric to any sort of sequel, reboot, spinoff, prequel, etc. The answer, four times out of five, is just a flat-out no. I guess you could broadly argue that entertainment by its very nature doesn't NEED to happen no matter how good, though then you're just a philistine.
I ask you, does the world need to see 63-year-old Kelsey Grammer playing Frasier Crane making jokes about millennials? Would any Frasier series be worth its salt if it didn't have the brilliant writers from the original series and/or Cheers working on the scripts? Do we need to see the inevitable Niles/Daphne/Roz/probably Bulldog, Kenny, Gil, and the KACL gang cameos? I say no. Leave the memories alone. Sometimes it's time to just let the blues keep calling without picking up the salad prongs.
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