Frasier Brings Back a Decades-Old Joke in New Episodes

In the second episode of Frasier‘s revival, which just debuted on Paramount+, Kelsey Grammer’s famed psychiatrist learns that his son, Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott), had lied to his friends, leading them to believe that Frasier had died and he was an orphan. In the context of the episode, it’s an opportunity to show that Freddy is just as embarrassed by Frasier’s pomposity, as he believes Frasier is of his own underachieving. In a wider context, though, it’s the continuation of a gag that started in 1995.

In the second season of Frasier, Sam Malone (Ted Danson) arrives in Seattle, visiting from Boston, and wants to pick Frasier’s brain about some relationship troubles he has been having. Upon meeting Frasier’s father Martin (John Mahoney), Sam is surprised, saying that Frasier had told everyone at Cheers that his father had passed away.

Frasier explained that, at the time, he had been in a bad argument with Martin, which motivated him to lie out of spite. Nothing is said of it again. Of course, the truth behind the line is a better story, but one Frasier couldn’t very well explain.

On Cheers, Frasier’s mother Hester (Nancy Marchand) had appeared, but never his father. When it came time to spin Frasier out of Cheers, producers wanted to use Martin as a blue-collar counterbalance to Frasier’s upper crust personality. Eventually, though, somebody realized that in a throwaway line on Cheers, Frasier had revealed that he was an only child, and that his father had passed away. Suddenly, the idea of Martin (and Niles) didn’t jive with existing continuity. The show went ahead anyway, presumably assuming most audience members wouldn’t remember or think of it. When it became a recurring question from fans, Sam’s arrival gave them a great opportunity to explain it away.

Of course, on Frasier, he decided that there was no need to call Freddy out. Instead, he told Freddy’s coworkers that a recent paternity test revealed that whoever died, had not been Freddy’s biological father. Frasier, instead, is Freddy’s “real” dad, and will be around more often now because he wants to get to know his son. Later, Freddy and Frasier remark that it worked out nicely that nobody seemed to notice the two already shared a last name, and were living in the same building.

Frasier premiered on Paramount+ yesterday in the US and Canada, and today in international territories. There will be 10 total episodes in the season. Past episodes of both Frasier and Cheers are available on the platform already.

In addition to the streaming premiere, Frasier will have its first two episodes air back-to-back on the CBS network, on October 17th starting at 9:15pm ET/PT, so that viewers who don’t have a Paramount+ subscription can get a taste of the series, as incentive for signing up.