Frasier (2023)

If fans are looking for something new, they won’t find it here, but there is something so charming about dusting off and polishing up a past relic that makes it as refreshing as you remembered it.

This is not one of those revivals whose very existence will force you to consider your own passing life and impending mortality. And Grammer is so completely Frasier — a deceptively unsentimental character in a basically sentimental show — that the new edition, for all its innovations, wraps itself comfortably around him.

It may be a rented Boston brownstone rather than a swish Seattle penthouse, but Frasier is back in the building.

Unlike the wretched reboot of Sex and the City, Frasier’s team has managed to update the comedy’s situation, incorporate Frasier’s greater age and its different challenges and diversify its casting without apparent strain. It feels like an organic progression rather than something flung together by a frightened committee.

The old faces are missed, and the tone is resolutely old-fashioned. But Frasier proves a versatile sitcom hero once more, heading back to his original city for new escapades with plenty of warmth and invention. Craniacs should be sated.

The show totally works. The comedic beats, witty repartee, and comedy of errors-pratfalls and misunderstandings are all still there.

“Frasier” 2.0 rekindles the joy brought on by cunningly constructed lines delivered with perfect timing and attitude.

In comparison to other revival series to recently roll out, there’s an authentic feel to Frasier’s return that keeps it from feeling too much like a faded photocopy of the original.

Through the first five episodes, the new “Frasier” proves adept at the classic sitcom form and it’s certainly funnier than many of the CBS comedies viewers have seen in recent years.

To be fair, the revival does begin to find its stride in later episodes, especially when it leans into the proudly pretentious tone of the original. (We even get a conversation spoken entirely in Latin!) But beyond the superficial similarities — the pithy title cards between scenes, Grammer crooning “Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs” over the end credits — this just isn’t Frasier.

The new Frasier sometimes feels a little dated. The comedy and pacing is very ’90s sitcom, the laugh track even more so. But here’s the thing about nostalgia: It’s addictive AF.

The new show has its moments — there’s a lovely tribute to Martin and to Mahoney at the end of the premiere episode — but it lacks the consistency, rapier wit and heart of the original, and doesn’t offer enough originality to merit us booking further sessions with Dr. Frasier Crane.

Sweet, sad, nice, and a tad dull.