Trivial Pursuits

This spent so much time setting up pieces and never knocked it down comedically. The cooking at the firehouse, leaving the kid in charge, on a low simmer... how could a fire not start there? That's so obvious... can't believe you left that comedy on the table. What was the use of any of that set up? None of it was comedy. The funniest thing was the firefighters thinking the kid was an orphan. Where is the situation? It's a sitcom... that is literally short for situation comedy. You have a premise (son tries to prove to dad his firefighter job is important), but a premise is NOT a situation. If there is no situation there is no fuel for comedy. Watch some Cheers for gods sake. Watch some Dick Van Dyke. I Love Lucy. Comedy first, deep meaning second.

Frasier (2023) had a nearly impossible task. It had to continue the legacies of its parent and grandparent series with a mostly new cast and situation. The first few episodes of this reboot/revival had clear potential, but it was easy to tell that it hadn't found its footing. I could tell that ingredients were there, with Kelsey Grammer as good as ever the rest of the cast ranging from passable (Anders Keith) to great (Jess Salguero) as well a recreation of Frasier's signature misunderstanding-based humor by the writers, so I gave the show another chance. The show seemed to fall into place with this episode, with a genuine chemistry emerging in the cast and a plot that echoes the white collar/blue collar culture clash of the original Frasier without feeling like a rip-off. Anders Keith as David Crane was finally put to good use and was used as something other than an impression of David Hyde Pierce as Niles. But the breakout characters were Freddy Crane's firefighter coworkers, and especially Moose, portrayed by Jimmy Dunn. I liked his implied hidden depths. To those Frasier (1993) fans who were put off by the first episode feeling uncomfortable, I recommend giving the series another chance, starting with this episode. If the remaining episodes can maintain this level of quality, Frasier 2023 has potential to be a worthy successor to Frasier (1993) and Cheers, if not quite a match.

I've watched the original Frasier many times and was highly skeptical of a reboot. After being pleasantly surprised with the first three episodes I felt this 4th episode had the slowest start, borderline uninspired with the trivial pursuit. But I didn't realize it was just a portion of building the characters. I found the ending and the entire episode very moving and profound in the same ways that the original Frasier has always been. In that way it felt like such a great continuation of the Fraiser character, but in a new setting with new dynamics. Each week I am anticipating the next episode! Great work so far on this reboot.

A story that very much allowed each character to shine. Using the classic Frasier misunderstanding scenarios with the firefighters and David. Eve being a small part of a couple of scenarios and Olivia and Alan being an excellent duo. At the centre of all of it is a story about Freddy's career and it's an emotional one with some rather lovely scenes.

I had assumed the episode would be fully focused on the quiz itself but i'm so happy it wasn't but was used as a part of a bigger story. Also loved the callbacks to the old show with the mentions of characters and the dog. It's not perfect but it's an episode I found rather promising for this series.