Director James Burrows Talks The New 'Frasier' And John Mahoney's Impact
Co-creators and showrunners Joe Cristalli and Chris Harris also chimed in pre-strike
Sometimes you'll wanna go where there's some meaning in the name. Nearly 20 years after saying goodbye to Seattle, Frasier Crane is back in Boston as the series bearing his name returns, Frasier revived for ostensibly a 12th season. While the actors and writers are on strike, co-creators and showrunners for this run, Joe Cristalli and Chris Harris did get some statements in prior, but Cheers creator and Frasier director James Burrows got to do the major spillage for details before the October 12 premiere.
The Paramount+ revival sees Frasier fresher off the loss of his father Martin than the real world is from having lost Martin's actor John Mahoney, who died in 2018. Because of this, Frasier decides it's time to spend more time closer to his son, Freddy, now played by Jack Cutmore-Scott. He has remained in Boston, where he lived all of his onscreen life, now a 30-something firefighter who isn't as into reconciling as his dad is. "There's a lot of Martin in Freddy," Burrows, who directed over 30 episodes of the original Frasier and the first two revival episodes, explains. "Joe and Chris specifically wanted Frasier to deal with his son... because the relationship with Kelsey and Mahoney was wonderful. So they tried to tap into that, and I think they succeeded."
It's finally been confirmed that the university Olivia is chair of the psychology department and Frasier's old friend and colleague Alan Cornwall is professor at is Harvard, after months of heavy implications once the Boston setting was revealed. Played by Toks Olagundoye and Nicholas Lyndhurst respectively, she is trying to court Frasier to teach there. They are just two of the friends, family and colleagues that surround the father and son in the new series. That includes Freddy's roommate Eve, played by Jess Salgueiro, newly-revealed to be a new mom, a bartender and aspiring actress; and David Crane, played by Anders Keith, Niles and Daphne's son who accompanied uncle Frasier.
Having found even more success in the subsequent near-two decades of working (in what specific capacities are unclear), Frasier is comfortably rich, more of an accruement than Spencer Shay's stroke of luck. His new apartment is just as classy and stylish as his Seattle one and he's still got his affinity for expensive bourbon. A stop in another city will be briefly explained in one episode, but it's unclear if it's Chicago to discuss his time with Charlotte, or a second city like San Francisco, where he almost went instead in the series finale for a job opportunity.
"We want to present someone who is familiar to the audience, but also has had a life for 20 years in the time since we've seen him," explains Harris. "Talking with Kelsey about it, this is a man who is a little looser than he used to be, a little more comfortable. He's done well, he's had some success, and the pilot is about realizing that one part of his life where he might not have been as successful as he thought he was and what that means to him going forward." Not only does Martin's death become the impetus of the new season, but at the end of the pilot there's a very special scene for him. A risky, stone-serious, two-three minute scene. His actor's presence isn't completely gone either, as while Frasier does not return to his old stomping grounds at Cheers, his new regular bar is called Mahoney's. Burrows jokes that he pushed for the former, and a not-by-name reference does get in, but apparently had to be fought for.
"It's the one line in the pilot that I begged [Cristalli and Harris] not to lose," he remembers. "It's tender to my heart, but also, it's a way of acknowledging the birth of the character — and they were sweet enough to leave that line in." Burrows also embraced the return of a live studio audience, which he had been missing while doing a couple of pilots during the strictest times of the pandemic. Filming of the season’s ninth episode saw palpable audience excitement, a gracious and entertaining Grammer between shots and an efficient taping. His input regarding his character was considered so spot on it was as if he hadn’t missed a beat.
The Frasier revival premieres on Paramount+ on October 12 with two episodes that will get special airings on October 17 on CBS, while episodes continue rolling out on Thursdays.
Source: Entertainment Weekly