The first red flag for me was three minutes into the premiere when Frasier sees a poster that says "Boston's calling. Are you listening?" It's cute, not funny. But instead of letting it be the small, quiet, maybe even poignant moment that it could be for this character (Cheers and Frasier often handled those small silent moments quite nicely I thought), they put audience laughter over both the poster and Frasier's reaction to it. Really disappointing and a total miscalculation that doesn't bode well for a reboot that I'll probably keep watching anyway 🙃
I had hoped the dog episode of Chemistry was going to just be the opening sequence (which would have been kinda cute?) and then it was an entire episode and ... yeah, not my cup of tea either.
Yeah, they definitely went in on cancelling shows centering on some combination of female, BIPOC, and/or queer characters over the last few months. It's unsurprising but unfortunate that those stories always seem to be the first victims whenever the market contracts. (See also GLOW getting unrenewed during that first pandemic year.)
I knew the likelihood of the Frasier revival being good was nil but I was still sort of hopeful? I imagine this will push Frasier-lovers to another rewatch of the original series so Paramount+ isn't losing out either way.
What makes it more confusing is that the revival has a few writers from the original for continuity issues and also why director James Burrows didn’t say anything.
[I’m wondering what say the Charles Brothers had in any of this as they were very protective of the Cheers characters and consulted whenever they returned.]
The real benefit of the Marvel news will be if ALL Disney+ shows stop doing the X-hours-long-movie-as-TV-series concept and simply make good TV series. I've given up on watching anything they produce in that style. Give me good storytelling or I'll just stay unsubscribed in-between the rare good stuff.
She-Hulk had some other issues, but its Case of the Week structure was so refreshing. Ditto WandaVision with doing a different pastiche each week for much of the season. Loki s1 was more purely serialized, but there were a number of really distinct episodes, like Loki and Sylvie trapped on the dying moon, or all the Lokis battling the smoke monster.
I'm trying to think of the best Marvel series and I guess it was Daredevil S1, but even that was a bit of a slog. Their commitment to the "Marvel Universe" and inability to tell interesting stories make these series really tedious. I'm sure glad I learned about Nick Furies's love life in Secret Invasion.
Yeah, I was thinking about how Loki S1 worked in spite of its style. Hawkeye also managed to sort of straddle that line. Wandavision may have been something of a mirage because its central conceit forced it to embrace episodic storytelling, at least for the first two thirds of the series. She-Hulk was the best at this of any of them; I can recall most of the episode's plots from memory because they actually stand out from each other, rather than simply be a series of 30-minute long set-ups for the next cliffhanger ending (the Netflix style).
The book of Lessons in Chemistry has a chapter from the dog's POV too, and I found it fairly ridiculous there as well. I overall liked the book a lot though, and will definitely check out the show.
I am in the minority but I thought the book was another “women in jep” story better written than Danielle Steele. Brilliant women, bad things happen to her, she overcomes and wins in the end. This era is a bit more interesting and I will probably check it out too.
"Reports that Daredevil wouldn’t even appear in costume until the fourth episode recalls the iconic Surf Dracula tweet."
Although if they're adopting Born Again (which is the single most iconic Daredevil storyline ever), his not appearing in costume until costume four actually FITS: that's how the graphic novel proceeds. The whole plot is that Kingpin finds out DD's secret identity and pursues him there.
It would be great if those who cover the industry could hold Marvel accountable for this supposed new shift in direction. Talk to the showrunners they hire and see if their behavior actually changes. Because Marvel has had this showrunner revelation before, not public like this, but they've done this song and dance privately in the industry and nothing has changed. And, indeed, what folks are hearing from them now sounds more like surface-level marketing than a paradigm shift. I think some skepticism is warranted here.
You have to assume that he spent years as a respectable New Republic military officer of some sort, or at least being relatively domestic with Leia and Ben. He goes back to smuggling after his son turns evil and his marriage falls apart.
Alan do you write on tv movies? I just watched The Caine Mutiny. I enjoyed it but Keifer Sutherland is no Bogart. Made me appreciate Lance Reddick more. May try Tommy Lee Jones in Burial
Not anymore. As the line between theatrical, streaming, and cable films has completely blurred, the RS entertainment team decided that any and all movies should be the purview of the film reviewers, regardless of platform. Which is fine with me, since there's way too much series television for me to keep up with.
Excuse me, Alan, I've read your article about the 20 cancelled shows and I wanted to point out a couple of mistakes in it in regard to the availability of Paramount Plus Originals.
The same goes for 'Inside Amy Schumer': all S5 episodes can be purchased on Amazon, as well as on Apple TV. Moreover, all Schumer episodes are still streaming (with two small exceptions) on the Paramount Plus Amazon channel, despite having been pulled from P+ proper. I've made a post about this the other day: https://textualvariations.substack.com/p/amyschumer-amazon.
These are fair points, Mikhail. Though for many people, if something isn't on a subscription service, it's as dead to them as if it was only available on DVD.
The fact that anything is on an Amazon version of any streamer vs the streamer itself is the equivalent of it only rerunning on some obscure cable channel I would never visit in the 00's because there were simply too many obscure cable channels then. I didn't even realize any of these Amazon portals have their own exclusive content. That's just ridiculous.
Oh for sure. I myself have compared Streaming Platforms to basic networks. They'll keep your stuff around while it's profitable but reserve the right to send it to another format or platform for reruns when it's not. At the same time though, it is still a form of exposure and availability.
Given it’s a good chance some Cheers castmembers will appear in some capacity for future seasons with Frasier returning to Boston, I’m curious what did you think of their visits (Sam, Diane, Woody, Norm/Cliff/Carla) on the original spinoff? [Lilith belongs in her own category.]
I like the Woody episode. It's been a long time since I saw the Norm/Cliff/Carla one. The Sam one bums me out, because it completely undoes the character arc he went through at the very end of Cheers. It's sort of like the Scrubs MD episodes with JD acting like he's back in season 1 of Scrubs.
The Sam episode is definitely annoying even though it clears up the Martin continuity in a funny way. I enjoy Diane the most as it gives closure to that relationship.
The Norm/Cliff/Carla is kinda annoying to me as they have to make up a lame excuse why the Frasier characters can’t visit the Cheers bar. Cliff would never have his retirement party elsewhere.
In Ep. 2 when Frasier had no idea about the importance of the Red Sox and later said "touchdown Big Papi!" (something like that) I paused the TV and ranted to my wife (who nodded and said "hit play") because, as Alan wrote, he spent years in a Boston bar owned by a Red Sox pitcher which had a waitress who loved the Red Sox and played Red Sox games on the little TV and he absorbed nothing? ARGH!
A comedy writer I know read my review and said that the Big Papi and Celtics jokes are exactly backwards from the funnier version: Frasier is annoyed with how much sports knowledge he's retained from a decade at Cheers, and how he's forgotten certain sonnets but can recall how many RBIs Carlton Fisk had in 1978. Both jokes are about how little Frasier cares about sports, but one of them actually speaks to who Frasier is and what we've seen him do. Even 90s Frasier occasionally showed him bonding with Martin over that stuff, much to the confusion of Niles.
The first red flag for me was three minutes into the premiere when Frasier sees a poster that says "Boston's calling. Are you listening?" It's cute, not funny. But instead of letting it be the small, quiet, maybe even poignant moment that it could be for this character (Cheers and Frasier often handled those small silent moments quite nicely I thought), they put audience laughter over both the poster and Frasier's reaction to it. Really disappointing and a total miscalculation that doesn't bode well for a reboot that I'll probably keep watching anyway 🙃
Even before that, the whooping when he first appeared on screen seemed off
I had hoped the dog episode of Chemistry was going to just be the opening sequence (which would have been kinda cute?) and then it was an entire episode and ... yeah, not my cup of tea either.
There sure aren't many non-white non-straight men in that list of cancelled shows. What are the odds?
Yeah, they definitely went in on cancelling shows centering on some combination of female, BIPOC, and/or queer characters over the last few months. It's unsurprising but unfortunate that those stories always seem to be the first victims whenever the market contracts. (See also GLOW getting unrenewed during that first pandemic year.)
I knew the likelihood of the Frasier revival being good was nil but I was still sort of hopeful? I imagine this will push Frasier-lovers to another rewatch of the original series so Paramount+ isn't losing out either way.
What makes it more confusing is that the revival has a few writers from the original for continuity issues and also why director James Burrows didn’t say anything.
https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/frasier-kelsey-grammer-reboot-james-burrows-paramount-plus-1235751310/amp/
[I’m wondering what say the Charles Brothers had in any of this as they were very protective of the Cheers characters and consulted whenever they returned.]
The real benefit of the Marvel news will be if ALL Disney+ shows stop doing the X-hours-long-movie-as-TV-series concept and simply make good TV series. I've given up on watching anything they produce in that style. Give me good storytelling or I'll just stay unsubscribed in-between the rare good stuff.
She-Hulk had some other issues, but its Case of the Week structure was so refreshing. Ditto WandaVision with doing a different pastiche each week for much of the season. Loki s1 was more purely serialized, but there were a number of really distinct episodes, like Loki and Sylvie trapped on the dying moon, or all the Lokis battling the smoke monster.
I'm trying to think of the best Marvel series and I guess it was Daredevil S1, but even that was a bit of a slog. Their commitment to the "Marvel Universe" and inability to tell interesting stories make these series really tedious. I'm sure glad I learned about Nick Furies's love life in Secret Invasion.
Although it had a slow start, Agents of Shield is extremely underrated.
Yeah, I was thinking about how Loki S1 worked in spite of its style. Hawkeye also managed to sort of straddle that line. Wandavision may have been something of a mirage because its central conceit forced it to embrace episodic storytelling, at least for the first two thirds of the series. She-Hulk was the best at this of any of them; I can recall most of the episode's plots from memory because they actually stand out from each other, rather than simply be a series of 30-minute long set-ups for the next cliffhanger ending (the Netflix style).
And the best Hawkeye episode by far is what you could call "The One With The Car Chase."
The book of Lessons in Chemistry has a chapter from the dog's POV too, and I found it fairly ridiculous there as well. I overall liked the book a lot though, and will definitely check out the show.
I am in the minority but I thought the book was another “women in jep” story better written than Danielle Steele. Brilliant women, bad things happen to her, she overcomes and wins in the end. This era is a bit more interesting and I will probably check it out too.
"Reports that Daredevil wouldn’t even appear in costume until the fourth episode recalls the iconic Surf Dracula tweet."
Although if they're adopting Born Again (which is the single most iconic Daredevil storyline ever), his not appearing in costume until costume four actually FITS: that's how the graphic novel proceeds. The whole plot is that Kingpin finds out DD's secret identity and pursues him there.
So I actually worry that this is a BAD sign.
I am firmly anti-revivial/reboot/requel/spinoff.
It would be great if those who cover the industry could hold Marvel accountable for this supposed new shift in direction. Talk to the showrunners they hire and see if their behavior actually changes. Because Marvel has had this showrunner revelation before, not public like this, but they've done this song and dance privately in the industry and nothing has changed. And, indeed, what folks are hearing from them now sounds more like surface-level marketing than a paradigm shift. I think some skepticism is warranted here.
Talking about the passage of time makes me think of how depressing it was to have Han Solo still be a space smuggler taking laser fire in his 70s.
You have to assume that he spent years as a respectable New Republic military officer of some sort, or at least being relatively domestic with Leia and Ben. He goes back to smuggling after his son turns evil and his marriage falls apart.
Alan do you write on tv movies? I just watched The Caine Mutiny. I enjoyed it but Keifer Sutherland is no Bogart. Made me appreciate Lance Reddick more. May try Tommy Lee Jones in Burial
Not anymore. As the line between theatrical, streaming, and cable films has completely blurred, the RS entertainment team decided that any and all movies should be the purview of the film reviewers, regardless of platform. Which is fine with me, since there's way too much series television for me to keep up with.
Clearly the only solace is that we can go watch the exploits of a certain Wally Brando!
Excuse me, Alan, I've read your article about the 20 cancelled shows and I wanted to point out a couple of mistakes in it in regard to the availability of Paramount Plus Originals.
The additional two seasons of 'The Game' are actually available for purchase on Amazon Digital Video: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B09L3RSQKS/
The same goes for 'Inside Amy Schumer': all S5 episodes can be purchased on Amazon, as well as on Apple TV. Moreover, all Schumer episodes are still streaming (with two small exceptions) on the Paramount Plus Amazon channel, despite having been pulled from P+ proper. I've made a post about this the other day: https://textualvariations.substack.com/p/amyschumer-amazon.
These are fair points, Mikhail. Though for many people, if something isn't on a subscription service, it's as dead to them as if it was only available on DVD.
The fact that anything is on an Amazon version of any streamer vs the streamer itself is the equivalent of it only rerunning on some obscure cable channel I would never visit in the 00's because there were simply too many obscure cable channels then. I didn't even realize any of these Amazon portals have their own exclusive content. That's just ridiculous.
Oh for sure. I myself have compared Streaming Platforms to basic networks. They'll keep your stuff around while it's profitable but reserve the right to send it to another format or platform for reruns when it's not. At the same time though, it is still a form of exposure and availability.
Given it’s a good chance some Cheers castmembers will appear in some capacity for future seasons with Frasier returning to Boston, I’m curious what did you think of their visits (Sam, Diane, Woody, Norm/Cliff/Carla) on the original spinoff? [Lilith belongs in her own category.]
I like the Woody episode. It's been a long time since I saw the Norm/Cliff/Carla one. The Sam one bums me out, because it completely undoes the character arc he went through at the very end of Cheers. It's sort of like the Scrubs MD episodes with JD acting like he's back in season 1 of Scrubs.
The Sam episode is definitely annoying even though it clears up the Martin continuity in a funny way. I enjoy Diane the most as it gives closure to that relationship.
The Norm/Cliff/Carla is kinda annoying to me as they have to make up a lame excuse why the Frasier characters can’t visit the Cheers bar. Cliff would never have his retirement party elsewhere.
In Ep. 2 when Frasier had no idea about the importance of the Red Sox and later said "touchdown Big Papi!" (something like that) I paused the TV and ranted to my wife (who nodded and said "hit play") because, as Alan wrote, he spent years in a Boston bar owned by a Red Sox pitcher which had a waitress who loved the Red Sox and played Red Sox games on the little TV and he absorbed nothing? ARGH!
A comedy writer I know read my review and said that the Big Papi and Celtics jokes are exactly backwards from the funnier version: Frasier is annoyed with how much sports knowledge he's retained from a decade at Cheers, and how he's forgotten certain sonnets but can recall how many RBIs Carlton Fisk had in 1978. Both jokes are about how little Frasier cares about sports, but one of them actually speaks to who Frasier is and what we've seen him do. Even 90s Frasier occasionally showed him bonding with Martin over that stuff, much to the confusion of Niles.
I'd like to see that version of Frasier.