As per usual, this reboot lost the soul of the show. I could still laugh at it, but the show runners have no idea what made it successful.
Not enough heartfelt moments. Cheap laughs are what killed the vibe for me. Frasier has some episodes that pull at my heart strings emotionally. You gotta have good drama to have good comedy, in my opinion.
Frasier is dressed so weird. He looks like he’s trying to dress down? That’s not his style. He’d be dressed to the nine as usual. In Harvard, that shouldn’t be too unusual.
Jokes were paid off too quickly. Frasier would often give a joke quite a while before it was paid off.
Characters were simply unrealistic. Niles was goofy at times, but he had self-respect and all the arrogance of Frasier. But Niles’ son acts ten years younger than he actually is. I just didn’t believe most characters.
Set design was not great. Frasier’s home having the Rorschach wallpaper? That feels like a joke. It doesn’t seem authentic. Again, Frasier is not a “modern” man. If anything, his home should look much more like a cigar lounge than a '“contemporary” home with shrink elements. I was also disappointed by how often the set was statically shot. They did not utilize many angles. I liked the bar well enough.
Overall, I thought the show had merit on its own. But it was a poor sequel for Frasier. It was funny at times. Some moments the show did come through. The final episode was actually pretty damn close to the original thing. I loved some of the bits with the trees, the goose, Roz, and how his son surprised him. I just felt like they missed the mark on too many other episodes.
I also wish more studios would stop lighting everything so heavily. A bit of nuance in your shots isn’t such a bad thing. Every shot looks like plastic to me. It’s sort of a modern film approach. Maybe I’m a rusty bucket, but it feels uninspired to me.
Just finished watching the first season last night. It wasn’t as good as the original but that’s also a high bar to clear. It had its moments, and I’d say it’s above average compared to your average new sitcom in a first season. There were a lot of points where I thought they were going for some dumb classic sitcom trope/cliche but they’d surprise me and go a little deeper. I’d like to see them get a second season to see if they can really find their footing and go somewhere with this. They would really need to step it up in season 2 to justify additional seasons, though.
Made it half way and felt like someone had just thrown Frasier into Big Bang Theory, and hired some kids fresh out of acting school.
The original was very cheesy but right for the time and well executed, but this reboot was just awkward and uncomfortable. Felt like KG was just helping out a family member with some college coursework and somehow it got aired.
