There was something that came out recently about Patrick Stewart's demands to do the show. One of them wasn't to have the whole cast back. He wanted the Logan version of Picard or some shit. What an idiot. Show was so fucked by the third season his input was out the window and the fans were pleased. They also filmed mainly in sound stages to be able to afford everyone.
I assume DHP would probably have come back if the money was right. It's also in the back pocket for the future if the show isn't quite working.
I watched the first episode, it was ok. I was convinced at one point the son was going to be gay. Nile's son is forced and didn't work. The whole dynamic of the son being cucked by his dead friend and raising his child is an odd choice. Where will that go? Seems like there's only one choice. He and her get together. Yet that'll be dragged out and we'll have a weird dynamic of essentially a couple raising a kid, who have separate dating lives until they don't. Odd choice.
Totally agree with you on Picard. Again I'm not the biggest Picard S3 fan it has its flaws but I think they did as good of a job as they could have. I'd rate it a 7/10. They basically retconned it back to "All Good Things" and I think that's just a fine way to sendoff the TNG cast.
As for Fraiser the third episode is a marked improvement. I wouldn't say it's as witty as Fraiser was in its prime episodes, more so a generic wacky sitcom. But it is funny, again I was smirking at them showing the in universe "Fraiser" tv talk show. It makes sense that Fraiser is now a straight up parody of Dr. Phil and I think for the character of Fraiser wanting to be known for more than that is a good character motivation arc.
I agree with you concerning Freddy and Eve, they've made it quite clear that they're not supposed to be a couple. Freddy has only been living with her because he feels bad that his Firefighter friend died leaving Eve a widow. I suspect the long term plan is that Eve is actually going to hook up with David Crane (Niles's son) and I think that can be an amusing little romance repeating Niles romance with Daphne. As for Freddy they can just have him improving his relationship with Fraiser and they can add a new woman to give him an arc.
I have to concede I'm just as competent as a modern day hackish writer because if I were the showrunner my thing would be to just plagarize Cheers & Fraiser. So for Freddy's possible love interest I think they should just add a girl who echoes Lilith & Dianne. Like a bargirl who turns out to admire Fraiser's intellectualism to Freddy's annoyance & encourages him to not try to runaway from the Crane snobby archetype.
I'm just going to continue to support the show. Paramount+ is the only streaming service I subscribe to because it is so convenient to have the Star Trek library on my phone. When I'm doing my errands I listen to TNG or DS9 in the background which I've found works amazingly well as an audioplay. And like how many Millennials keep watching Friends I watch Fraiser at night because it is a comfy sitcom and puts me in a good mood for bedtime.
I also just love Kelsey Grammar for being one of the few conservative actors who hasn't been blackballed. It makes me giggle that CBS has to keep him a sitcom lead which I fully believe annoys the most irksome people in Hollywood. For the same reason I love to support Mike Judge, a man who I firmly believe is a right leaning libertarian.
