At this point it’s kind of a hope that Peri Gilpin’s prediction that a Frasier reunion could be in the works is just a rumor and not well-founded. As Makenzie Zatychies of Screenrant states the show was a commercial success and did have a massive fan base, but without John Maloney, who played Martin Crane, it kind of feels as though it might go the way of the Roseanne show, without needing to cut anyone to make it that different. Martin was actually one of the more enjoyable parts of the show and despite the fact that he was kind of the oddball in a group where being educated and otherwise edgy was the trend, he was actually easier to relate to than anyone on the show. Perhaps one of the biggest gripes that anyone has about Frasier is that the character didn’t really change much from his time on Cheers, which is what some people liked but others were hoping would be a bit different with his own show. It could have been that the move to his hometown of Seattle would have done something to kind of jog a part of him that people hadn’t seen before, instead of keeping him as the heavily-educated and very pretentious individual that was always trying to appeal to the crowd.
Peri’s character, Roz, was actually another bright spot on the show since much like Marty she wasn’t as much of an intellectual even though she was intelligent and she had a great deal of edge to her that was fun to witness since it kept her a step apart from the others. Marty was basically the dad that didn’t understand his sons and was a constant annoyance but was also the kind of guy you’d like to sit down and have a beer with while hearing stories about the good old days. It definitely beat Frasier and Niles and their insistence upon the right wine and mood that was needed for any conversation. More than even Frasier, Niles was a bit of a pain in the backside largely because like his brother he was seriously educated and definitely an intellectual, but he was also extremely neurotic in many ways that his brother was not. Saim Cheeda of Screenrant has a few other things about Niles you might want to read. Where Frasier was tolerable at times and could even act a bit like the stereotypical man now and again, Niles was what a lot of people would have called a ‘nancy boy’ back in the day, among many other things. He was more or less the man that could shred you with his intellect but came up short in just about every other way.
It’s not surprising at all that the show was given so much attention or that people were actually excited to see it come on, and it’s not a surprise that a reunion might get people excited once again. But the question now is whether it would be a one and done kind of season or if it might continue onward and try to make another go of it. The downside of this of course is that when it ended, Frasier was at the top of its game as a show and the characters and their distinctive arcs were given enough closure that fans should have been happy. But then again, when are fans ever entirely happy? If there’s a chance to see one of their favorite shows come back a lot of fans will say ‘absolutely’ and do anything and everything they can to bring it back. But in this case it does feel as though it should be left alone since without Marty, and due to the fact that everyone has aged so much, it’s very apparent that the show would have to change in a big way and new cast members would need to be added in order to make something unique once again. Not seeing Marty there would be kind of a painful reminder of Maloney’s passing in 2018, and one could only assume that his absence would be touched upon more than once during the season. For a comedic/dramatic show that’s about standard really since it pays to remember those that have passed on when they were such an integral part of the show. But it also feels as though Frasier said and did everything that was needed during its run, and that going back to it once again would be asking for fans to give it a look and then move on.
A single reunion show might not be a bad idea. It might need to happen online and from the privacy of their own homes unless the cast proved willing to wait a while to see when production might start, but one single episode to show where everyone’s at and what’s going on in their lives might just work.
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