Kelsey Grammer Insists That the New ‘Frasier’ Is as Good as the Original

Kelsey Grammer seems to be a pretty busy guy. In addition to hosting historical docudramas for Fox News’ streaming service and brewing beer in the name of Jesus, he’s also starring in the new World War II drama Murder Company, a movie that probably would do way better were it to change the title to Frasier Crane Joins the Army.

To promote the film, Grammer recently spoke with Yahoo! Canada, revealing that his performance was partly inspired by his grandfather, who was a colonel during World War II. But since chatting with Grammer and not asking about Frasier Crane would be a little like making a trip to Las Vegas and not drunkenly pissing your money away, naturally the subject of the Frasier reboot was brought up.

When asked about the upcoming second season of the Paramount+ series, which is currently in production, Grammer responded, “We’re having a great time and the scripts, honestly they rival anything we ever did on the old show. So I’m very excited.” 

Wait, what? 

Look, it’s not at all that surprising that Grammer is actively trying to hype the new season of the show that he stars on, produces and generally makes boatloads of money from. Still, this is a pretty wild claim for him to make. After all, he didn’t promote Money Plane by suggesting that it rivaled the filmmaking artistry of The Godfather.

The original Frasier is generally considered to be one of the most well-written sitcoms in the history of television, with some critics comparing it to the works of literary greats like Neil Simon, Noël Coward and P.G. Wodehouse. It won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series five times. It’s a great show with an arguably subpar theme song.

The new Frasier is, well, less good. That’s not even a harsh criticism, necessarily, considering the quality of the original show. It’s hard to imagine that even the staunchest supporters of the reboot would ever argue that it was on par with the original. 

Maybe Grammer was specifically referring to the crappier episodes of Frasier. Like, perhaps he meant to say that the new scripts rival that one show where Frasier donates his time to help construct affordable housing, then terrorizes a low-income family.  

Or the episode where we’re forced to watch the characters’ goofy nightmares that wouldn’t seem out of place in an episode of Goosebumps.

That being said, Grammer’s statement was, admittedly, in reference to the scripts for the upcoming season, which is bringing back a number of characters from the original series. For all we know, the second season of Frasier 2.0 episodes could be an awe-inspiring work of genius that reshapes the medium of television as we know it.

Then again, it could involve Frasier irrationally bickering with even more dogs.

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