2023 Television Show Reviews – Found and Frasier

Due to both the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the American actors’ union SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) strikes, the slew of new television shows that usually appear in the fall did not happen this year. Although I am excited that the two unions were able to reach agreements by November 2023 with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that are very favorable for both writers and actors, I still missed watching new episodes of my favorite television programs and several new streaming series.

And then I discovered two television programs airing recently that I now love! NBC’s Found and a reboot of the Frasier sitcom on Paramount+. I rate these shows a double F – Found is Fascinating and Frasier is Fun! After a little research into the television production schedule, I discovered that filming completed before the strikes started. With the exception of the last episode of Frasier “Reindeer Games” that finished filming the day after the WGA strike started and therefore the writers were not on set on that last day.

Found premiered on Tuesday, October 3, 2023 at 9:00 pm CST. The one-hour drama lists the following description on IMDb:

“Each year over 600,000 people are reported missing in the U.S., but not all cases receive the proper attention. Gabi Mosely and her crisis management team make sure there is always someone looking out for the forgotten missing people.” In other words, Gabi and her team at M&A look for missing persons that may be overlooked, including foster children, a homeless man and an undocumented college student.

Found offers the type of anticipation and suspense I like in other procedural dramas such as Chicago Fire and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Two of the actors in Found are Shanola Hampton who appeared in Shameless and Mark-Paul Gosselaar who starred as Zack Morris in the teen hit Saved by the Bell.

I don’t want to reveal any spoilers, but just recommend that if you are looking for a show that draws you in every episode, Found is for you!

 

Next up is the new Frasier. I had not planned on watching it at first, but I got bored, watched the first episode for free and loved it! I liked it so much that I subscribed to Paramount+ so I could watch the other nine episodes in the first season. My late husband and I were big fans of Cheers and Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Frasier Crane and then when he played the same role in Frasier (1993-2004). I think I was nostalgic at first to watch the new Frasier, but after one episode I was happy to see that Kelsey Grammer never missed a beat in playing the snobby academic.

The description on IDMb states “Frasier is off to a different city with new challenges to face, new relationships to forge, and an old dream or two to finally fulfill. Frasier has re-entered the building.”

In this new version, Frasier moves to Boston to reconnect with his son, Frederick, who now goes by Freddy, dropped out of Harvard and is a firefighter. In the first episode, it is noted that Martin, Frasier’s father, who was a retired police officer, has passed away. It is interesting to note that although Frasier and his brother, Niles, are both highly educated therapists, their father was considered blue collar and now his son is more like his grandfather than his own father.

I can’t tell you how much I love this new Frasier, especially the final episode, which is set at Christmas. I think I’ve watched it more than a dozen times! I like the interaction between the characters, the writing and the clues that point back to the original series, such as the name of the bar they now all frequent is named Mahoney’s, after John Mahoney who played Martin, Frasier’s father.

If you want funny, watch Frasier. If you want scary and unexpected, watch Found. Or be like me and watch both!