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Everything You Need to Know About the ‘Frasier’ Reboot

Kelsey Grammer’s Seattle radio shrink returns as a Boston prof with problem relatives

Tim Appelo,

AARP

Published October 04, 2023

kelsey grammer reprises his role as frasier crane in the paramount plus series frasier

Pamela Littky/Paramount+

Kelsey Grammer, 68, is the only actor who won Emmys playing the same character on three different shows: Frasier Crane on Cheers, Wings and Frasier. And now, 30 years after the original Cheers spin-off Frasier began (1993–2004), he’s playing the sesquipedalian psychiatrist yet again on a sequel series, also called Frasier (premiering Oct. 12 on Paramount+ and Pluto TV, and Oct. 17 at 9:15 p.m. ET on CBS).

Here’s a quick lowdown on a show Grammer has been working on rebooting for the past seven years.

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Where has Frasier lived before, and where is he now?

kelsey grammer as frasier crane wearing headphones and smiling during his radio show in the nbc series frasier

Kelsey Grammer starred as Frasier Crane on the original "Frasier" TV series (1993-2004) on NBC.

Gale Adler/Paramount

Grammer’s character first appeared on Cheers as a date of bartender Diane (Shelley Long, 74) in Boston. He was supposed to be on just a few episodes, but his popularity made him a regular who outlasted Long, and his own show set in Seattle won 37 Emmys, more than any other TV comedy. On the new show, Frasier has quit his Seattle call-in radio therapist job and moved back to Boston to tie up the loose ends of his life.

Don’t miss this: Catch up on Frasier’s past in Cheers (on Paramount+ or Hulu), and the original Frasier (on Paramount+ or Hulu).

**Where did everybody’s life wind up in the 2004 finale of the original Frasier?**

In the hilarious and touching final episode, way better than the Cheers’ finale, Frasier’s dad, Martin (John Mahoney, who died in 2018 at 77), got married, and Frasier’s persnicketier-than-thou brother, Niles (David Hyde Pierce, now 64), and Daphne (Jane Leeves, 62) have a son, David Crane. And Frasier followed his love, Charlotte (Laura Linney, 59), to a new home in Chicago.

What happened in Chicago, and how did Frasier wind up in Boston?

The new show will explain it all. “It’s Frasier’s fourth act, really,” Grammer told the Today show. “When he left Seattle in the previous show, he went to Chicago. There’s a whole raft of time there that we’ll discover a little bit about."

So who’s the woman in Frasier’s Boston life?

kelsey grammer as frasier crane and bebe neuwirth as lilith sternin on the original frasier series

(Left to right) Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth on the original "Frasier" series.

Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

One of them is Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth, 64), Frasier’s ex-wife on both Cheers and the original Frasier. They reunite at the birthday party of their son, Freddy (Tenet’s Jack Cutmore-Scott), and she’s not altogether thrilled about Frasier’s return to Boston. “What begins as a fun party with friends and family inevitably becomes a Lilith-and-Frasier showdown for the ages!” says Paramount in an official statement. Also, Frasier’s former radio show producer, Roz (Peri Gilpin, 62), will make at least one appearance.

Sadly, you won’t see most of the beloved original characters

david hyde pierce peri gilpin john mahoney jane leeves and kelsey grammer in a group cast portrait for the nbc television series frasier

(Clockwise from top left) David Hyde Pierce as Niles Crane, Peri Gilpin as Roz Doyle, John Mahoney as Martin Crane, Jane Leeves as Daphne Moon and Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane.

David Rose/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

Grammer tried and failed to bring back all the living core cast members, but this is mostly a show about Frasier, with a bunch of new faces.

**New Frasier cast members might be a good thing — just like it was in 1993**

david hyde pierce and kelsey grammer press their coffee cups together in a promotional photo for the nbc series frasier

David Hyde Pierce (left) and Kelsey Grammer

Andrew Eccles/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

“I believe it can be done without me,” Pierce told Vulture in 2022, “finding new stories to tell, in the same way that Frasier did after Cheers. They didn’t bring along the Cheers gang to make a new show. They popped in from time to time and that was a blast, but there was something else that needed to be said, and it needed to be said in a different way.”

Meet the newcomers

the cast of the paramount plus series frasier

The cast of the "Frasier" reboot: (Top row from left to right) Nicholas Lyndhurst, director James Burrows and Anders Keith. (Bottom row from left to right) Jess Salgueiro, Kelsey Grammer, Jack Cutmore-Scott and Toks Olagundoye.

Chris Haston/Paramount+

Instead of uptight Niles, the intellectuals in Frasier’s life are boozy British Harvard prof Alan (Nicholas Lyndhurst, 62), Frasier’s old college chum, and Toks Olagundoye, 48, as Alan’s colleague Olivia, chair of the psychology department.

Niles and Daphne’s son, David (Anders Keith), Frasier’s nephew, is now an awkward 19-year-old with, says Paramount, “Niles’ intelligence, Daphne’s smile, and neither of their polish.” He is prominent in Frasier’s Boston life.

So is Frasier and Lilith’s son Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott). Will Freddy take after his gruff policeman grandpa Martin or his highfalutin, overeducated shrink dad? Maybe both, but we’re hoping he’s the kind of regular guy who can say “HA!” to cut pompous Frasier down to size.

Jess Salgueiro plays Freddy’s roommate, Eve, who’s a breath of fresh air — if anybody can help Frasier and Freddy reconcile, it’s Eve.

Frasier earned funny money

kelsey grammer holding a cup of coffee in the paramount plus series Frasier

Pamela Littky/Paramount+

It was always a mystery how a guy with a radio job could afford the finest food, clothes and wine, and that apartment with the Space Needle view and an entire room devoted to his “hat museum,” even though Frasier doesn’t seem to wear hats. But Joe Keenan, executive producer of the original Frasier, has said that the character was “rich beyond his dreams … Frasier made a lot of money in private practice in Boston, and he has investments.” Good thing, since Boston is just as unaffordable as Seattle.

There’s a new bar where everyone knows your name, and it’s not called Cheers

toks olagundoye kelsey grammer and nicholas lyndhurst drinking beers at a bar in a scene from frasier

(Left to right) Toks Olagundoye, Kelsey Grammer and Nicholas Lyndhurst in a scene from the new series.

Chris Haston/Paramount+

On the new Frasier, the local bar is called Mahoney’s, in tribute to John Mahoney. And fans of Frasier’s dad shouldn’t miss the premiere episode. James Burrows, 82, the legendary director of Cheers, Frasier, Taxi, Will & Grace, Friends and the first episodes of the 2023 Frasier, has said there’s a touching tribute to Mahoney’s character.

“It’s a wonderful scene at the end of the show,” he told EW. “It’s about two and a half, three minutes without any laughs.” But if past is prologue, Frasier will have plenty of laughs — as well as nostalgic sniffles.

Tim Appelo covers entertainment and is the film and TV critic for AARP. Previously, he was the entertainment editor at Amazon, video critic at Entertainment Weekly, and a critic and writer for The Hollywood Reporter, People, MTV, The Village Voice and LA Weekly.

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