S02.E04: The Dedication

[Yeah No]

10/3/24 - Frasier learns that Freddy has been seeing a therapist; he tracks her down to find out what's wrong.

Edited October 6 by Yeah No

[Yeah No]

Cue crickets.....

[SoMuchTV]

Watching it now. Wasn’t keeping track of what day new episodes come out. 

New Frasier is no Original Frasier, but now I’m feeling like I have to stick up for it a bit!

@Yeah No , just a suggestion but maybe you could edit your initial post here to include the release date. I know when there’s a series I’m interested in, sometimes I’ll hover over the latest episode thread to see if it’s been a week yet. 

[SoMuchTV]

Okay, I'll chime in with my very specific nitpick/peeve (both IRL and about this episode).  What's the deal with people filling up a cardboard box when the flaps are folded in?  If you want to seal it up, then all the stuff is in the way of the flaps.

Other than that, seemed like a decent "New Frasier" episode. 

[Blakeston]

The sequence of putting the file back in the cabinet was amusing enough, but I can't help missing the sublime physical comedy of David Hyde-Pierce.

The big comedic scenes have been stuff like Frasier hiding behind a plant at a restaurant, and Alan trying to use an axe to break open a filing cabinet without being heard by someone a few feet away. It's gotten a few laughs out of me, but it feels a lot more like Three's Company than the Frasier I know and love.

[Panopticon]

I didn't care for this episode.

Why did it matter if Eve wanted to keep everything in one smallish box, including a little tiny rock? It's not like she turned the whole apartment into a shrine.

The filing cabinet sequence was decent, but it was overshadowed for me by the way Frasier was completely unswayed by ethical concerns. He only relented and returned the file because he feared estrangement from Freddy.

My least favorite so far this season.

 

[Annber03]

I liked this one. I liked seeing Eve and Freddie connecting as they did. Also, he looked really nice in that uniform.

Frasier stealing the file surprised me on the one hand, but on the other hand, he has been known to go against his ethics at times, and I can easily see his desperation to find out what's up with Freddie overriding those ethical concerns. I am glad he didn't wind up reading it, though, and l did like the whole sequence of Alan trying to put the file back while Frasier distracted the therapist. 

And speaking of the therapist, hi, Amy Sedaris! Fun to see her on here. 

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, Blakeston said:

The sequence of putting the file back in the cabinet was amusing enough, but I can't help missing the sublime physical comedy of David Hyde-Pierce.

I definitely think DHP would have done a better job with it.  I have to say that I took issue with the fact that the therapist put the file away when she saw Frasier wanted to look at it but didn't lock the cabinet even though she left him alone in her office and wasn't locking the door.  But when he came to return it, she had locked the cabinet.

I think it would have been funnier if Frasier and Alan had to go through the elaborate scheme to pull the file out of the cabinet in the first place, then realized they'd have to do the whole thing over again to replace it...only to discover she hadn't locked the drawer the second time.

But then I guess we wouldn't have had Alan able to take the ethical position that he shouldn't steal the file.

[Yeah No]

7 hours ago, Blakeston said:

The sequence of putting the file back in the cabinet was amusing enough, but I can't help missing the sublime physical comedy of David Hyde-Pierce.

5 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I definitely think DHP would have done a better job with it. 

Ever since I got the impression that Alan's role was originally written for David Hyde Pierce I can't unsee it and it spoils it for me for that reason.

This wasn't as bad an episode as they have been, but still not where it should be and I'm not even expecting it to be as good as the original.

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Ever since I got the impression that Alan's role was originally written for David Hyde Pierce I can't unsee it and it spoils it for me for that reason.

This wasn't as bad an episode as they have been, but still not where it should be and I'm not even expecting it to be as good as the original.

Yes, it seems they thought Frasier's friend Alan plus Frasier's nephew David would equal one David Hyde Pierce, but they neglected to factor in how essential was DHP's amazing gift for physical comedy.
Maybe young Anders Keith listed "physical comedy" on his résumé and included a video clip, and someone thought that was enough??
Can physical comedy genius be learned? 

[Sarah 103]

19 hours ago, Blakeston said:

The sequence of putting the file back in the cabinet was amusing enough, but I can't help missing the sublime physical comedy of David Hyde-Pierce.

All I could think of was the episode in the original where Frasier is trying to sneak multiple people out of the apartment (the ones Niles had in the Montana) when he had planned this outrageously elaborate proposal to Daphne, only to cancel it absolute last minute because Daphne was sick. 

9 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Can physical comedy genius be learned? 

My limited understanding is no. You can learn how to fall, but what David Hyde Pierce can do (and also Allison Janney as well as many others) is a gift. 

What I keep thinking of is at this point in the original series we were almost at "Midwinter's Night Dream" (one of my favorite episodes) in which Frasier is absent for most of the second act and the supporting characters, especially Niles and Daphne, carry the show. I can't imagine a second act of this series that's completely focused on the supporting characters and also working well/becoming a favorite. 

I'm not sure if the biggest problem with this series is the actors or the material the writers are giving them to work with. An actor can only do so much with the material they have to work with. 

I keep hoping the show will get better. 

[Yeah No]

22 minutes ago, Sarah 103 said:

I'm not sure if the biggest problem with this series is the actors or the material the writers are giving them to work with. An actor can only do so much with the material they have to work with. 

I keep hoping the show will get better. 

Agreed 100% but also there's how well the actors were cast in their roles. I keep seeing this on other shows where the cast are very fine actors but just either slightly or horribly miscast in their roles. That's why I keep thinking of David Hyde Pierce in Alan's role on the show and know that would be so much funnier even with the stuff the writers are giving them. But yeah, even the writing isn't as good here as on OG Frasier so there is that issue as well.

[Blakeston]

There's definitely a problem with the material the actors are being given (particularly for David's character), but most of these actors are also just lacking charisma.

The writing for Olivia isn't great by any means, but I've never questioned the casting of Toks Olagundoye. She has natural charisma, and she makes me like Olivia even when the character isn't doing likeable things. But the actors who play Freddy and David are just lacking something.

[Camera One]

This episode was on par with the mediocre episodes of last season. Getting the file back into the filing cabinet was very mildly amusing, but the rest was forgettable.  

The acting is alright, but you can't elevate characters with no personality or depth.  We've watched these characters for 7 hours now, which is the length of 2 movies, and there is still nothing interesting about them.

[Avabelle]

This episode highlighted how Freddie, Eve and David are like any generic character from any CBS show. You could slot them into any show as there’s nothing unique about them.

I think it’s partly on the writers. Anderson Keith in particular overacts everything but I think the bigger issue is the writing. The writers have no idea who these characters are. David and Freddie in particular are just lazy versions of Niles and Marty but because the actors have been given nothing deeper to work with they play the characters too broadly. 
 

Also in OG Frasier all the characters were relatively smart. Everyone here just seems slapstick stupid to fit the plot of the week.