Two decades after his hit NBC sitcom “Frasier” ended, Kelsey Grammer doesn’t appear to have missed a beat in Paramount+’s sequel series of the same name.

Much has changed in the life of celebrity psychiatrist Frasier Crane, and the supporting cast, at least in the first five episodes shown to critics, is totally new. But our pompous advice-giver with the disastrous personal life is as intelligent and sharp-tongued as ever. If anything, this older, maybe incrementally wiser Frasier accesses his emotions better and deeper than he did in the earlier series and on “Cheers,” where Grammer first created the character.

That’s reassuring, as is the fact that this reboot of one of the smartest broadcast comedies ever written almost approximates the original’s deft combination of intellectual discourse, burlesque gags and slapstick visuals. New series’ creators Chris Harris and Joe Cristalli respectively come from “How I Met Your Mother” and “Life in Pieces” — both decent shows, if hardly the platinum level of “Cheers” and the original “Frasier.”

幸运的是,这项努力多个Emmy-winning, octogenarian TV legend James Burrows directed the pilot and second episode (like he did back in the day; Grammer helmed some later chapters). If the pilot feels a bit off-key while establishing all the new characters and situations, Burrows knows just how to nimbly barrel past weak lines to stronger bits. That, too, feels reassuring; besides, what’s “Frasier” without a little awkwardness?

The new show opens with Frasier deplaning at Boston’s Logan Airport. He’s on his way to Europe for some serious academic research after 14 years headlining a TV show in Chicago that devolved from empathetic therapy to hatchet-throwing and analyzing celebrity pigs. Fresh from burying his policeman father Martin in Seattle, Frasier’s greeted by his former Oxford roommate Alan Cornwall (English actor Nicholas Lyndhurst), now the laziest tenured professor at Harvard — except when there’s single malt scotch to be downed. Lyndhurst and Grammer’s passive-aggressive exchanges are consistently the show’s best.

There is also freshman David Crane (newcomer Anders Keith), Niles and Daphne’s son who was born in the final episodes of the original series’ 11 seasons. He’s got his dad’s effete cluelessness and as much game with the ladies as Frasier’s brother had with his invisible first wife, Maris. Though shaky at first, Keith grows into the pure comic relief role.

Frasier intends to spend his layover getting to know Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott), the son he had with his sarcastic ex-wife, Lilith. The lad dropped out of Harvard to become a Boston firefighter. That fuels a lot of filial verbal fencing.

“Let’s find someone who has low self-esteem and is also on fire and see which one of us they run to first,” Cutmore-Scott nimbly thrusts, proving himself a smooth operator of the show’s tongue-twisting dialog.

“Ah, there’s that mother of yours again,” Grammer ripostes.

If Cutmore-Scott is playing a generation-skipped Martin Crane position, his roommate Eve (Jess Salgueiro, “The Boys”) is the Daphne surrogate. Definitely the sweetest character in the mix, Eve is an aspiring actress who works at a bar.

Yes, we’re back in Boston, so there are lots of scenes in bars. (None at Cheers yet, but who knows?)

这也是一个职场喜剧,所以对于一个变化ety of reasons — not least of which is his own vanity — Frasier gets seduced into joining Harvard’s psych faculty. Department head Olivia Finch (Toks Olagundoye) could be considered the reboot’s Roz substitute, but she is a much more distinct comic creation. Super careerist, competitive with her Yale provost sister and long undated, Olivia sneers at Alan and believes in Frasier’s star power, if not so much his desire to return to serious academia.

These relationships mostly yield comedy gold and the occasional emotional wallop.

Filmed in front of a live studio audience, “Frasier” 2.0 rekindles the joy brought on by cunningly constructed lines delivered with perfect timing and attitude. This broadcast sitcom approach has withered since its late 20th century glory days, but such artificial artfulness can still satisfy in the streaming era.

To make a comfort food reference, the new “Frasier” is as satisfying as tossed salads and scrambled eggs.

Bob Strauss is a freelance writer.