The Frasier Reboot Honored A Late Cast Member - But Many Fans Missed It
Even with a new setting and a new ensemble cast, the rebooted "Frasier" on Paramount+ is largely indebted to the past. It's evident when Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) alludes to a certain bar in Boston, or when Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) and Roz (Peri Gilpin) make cameo appearances.
The absent character whose presence is most largely felt is Martin Crane, previously played by the late great John Mahoney. In the opening moments of the new series, Frasier mentions having attended his recently departed father's funeral, and his memory looms large from there on out.
"He was such a big part of it and he was such a motivational part of the first show," Grammer told The Hollywood Reporter. "There is the old [saying]: 'The father will become the son, the son become the father.' I am now the father, and my son is the son." According to Grammer, the name of the first episode is an homage to Mahoney. "With the original show, the very first pilot was called 'The Good Son,' and the first pilot for this season was called 'The Good Father,' That's the reason."
The tributes to Mahoney, who died in 2018 from throat cancer, don't stop there. Local watering holes play a large part in the "Frasier" universe, whether it's the titular Cheers in Boston or Café Nervosa in Seattle. In the reboot, the bar that the gang frequents is called Mahoney's.
Frasier eulogizes John Mahoney
The premise of the new "Frasier" turns the original series on its head. In 1993, the well-educated, snobby Frasier returned to his hometown of Seattle to care for his blue-collar dad. In the reboot, Frasier moves back to Boston to live with his blue-collar son, a firefighter named Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott). Even though the series leans on laughs and farcical scenarios, the two main characters mainly bond through their shared love for Martin.
For Grammer, the new series functions as a sort of eulogy to Mahoney. "The whole idea always was that we had to deal with the fact that he was gone," the actor said in an appearance on "The Talk." "So the right thing is Frasier has just gone to his funeral and is now an orphan, like we all are at some point in our lives, and he has to come to terms with the fact that his dad's gone." Grammer continued as he held back tears, "The idea was that he always saw an image of his father and thought, I have to do this. So that's why he's decided he's going to stay in Boston."
Mahoney's memory is most vividly felt in the season finale when Frasier throws a botched Christmas party to deal with his grief. Everything goes wrong, and the guests all end up across the hall at Eve's (Jess Salgueiro). It takes a visit from Roz — organized by Freddy, who sensed that his dad was still in a lot of pain — to knock some sense into Frasier and make him see that a recent widow was deserving of the Christmas cheer.