'Frasier' returns: Kelsey Grammer's premiere date, updated theme song revealed
Frasier has re-entered the building.
Paramount+ revealed a first look at Kelsey Grammer's return to his beloved role as Frasier Crane in the reboot of NBC's "Frasier." The 10-episode season will premiere Oct. 12 with two episodes, followed by new episodes streaming each Thursday. Those first two episodes will also air on CBS Oct. 17 (9:15 EDT/PDT).
After appearing on "Cheers" as the pompous psychiatrist Crane, Grammer shifted to the spinoff sitcom, which ran for 11 seasons from 1993 to 2004 and remains TV's most Emmy-winning comedy, with 37, including four for Grammer.
The new version of the series, premiering three decades after the original, moves Frasier from Seattle, where he hosted a popular radio call-in show, to start a new life in Boston, not far from his "Cheers" bar perch.
The move brings Frasier away from his brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and his wife Daphne (Jane Leeves), who will not be regulars on the new series. But it will feature the couple's grown son and Frasier's nephew, David (Anders Keith), who was born on the final episode of the original series.
In addition, the new series stars Jack Cutmore-Scott as Frasier’s grown son Freddy, who was born during Season 8 of "Cheers" to Frasier and then-wife Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth).
Nicholas Lyndhurst stars as Frasier’s college buddy turned university professor Alan. Toks Olagundoye plays Olivia, Alan’s colleague and head of the university’s psychology department, and Jess Salgueiro stars as Freddy’s roommate Eve.
Frasier has stepped away from the famed call-in show for new professional pursuits. This change is reinforced during the Paramount+ date announcement video, featuring a new recording of "Frasier" theme song, "Tossed Salads & Scrambled Eggs," which Grammer wrote and sings.
The new video mentions, "No more callers" and "All new hangups" for Frasier. The video shows an etching of the Boston skyline, which replaces the Seattle skyline featured in the original series' title cards.
The first two episodes of the new series are directed by legendary director and TV creator James Burrows, who worked on both the original "Frasier" and "Cheers."
Grammer told USA TODAY in February that a slew of TV reboots, including ABC's "Roseanne" revival in 2018, convinced him it was time to return to "Frasier."
"That made me think, 'Well, maybe 'Frasier' does have another television (life),' " Grammer said. "There's always room for funny and 'Frasier' is funny."