'Frasier' is back and he's in jeans. Don't worry, 'they are ridiculously expensive, personally tailored,' the show's executive producer says.

WARNING: Potential Frasier spoilers ahead.

Dr. Frasier Crane, the radio psychiatrist immortalized by Kelsey Grammer in the classic sitcom Cheers and its equally iconic spinoff, Frasier, is back — in denim and sneakers.

With a blend of espresso-laced humor and Seattle skylines, Frasier made millions of viewers laugh for 11 seasons, airing on NBC from 1993 to 2004. Now, the urbanite intellectual is gearing up for a return in the highly anticipated revival premiering Oct. 12 on Paramount+.

But make no mistake, says executive producer Chris Harris: “He’s still Frasier Crane.”

“Nearly 20 years have passed since we last saw Frasier, so of course lots has changed,” Harris, who serves as writer and EP alongside Joe Cristalli, tells Yahoo Entertainment. “He’s starting out a little looser, a little more confident than we’ve seen him in the past. But deep down, or really, just under the surface, he’s the same Frasier he’s always been: fascinated by the finer things in life, desperate for validation and acclaim, looking for love, and unable to resist a good sherry.”

What has changed this time around?

A lot, frankly. Frasier now lives in Boston as a Harvard lecturer, ditching his tailored suits and shiny shoes for more casualwear: a button-up and blazer with very expensive jeans and sneakers (more on that later).

Now a multimillionaire, Dr. Crane is “at a point in his life when he’s eager to ‘give back’ a little more,” explains Harris. That includes devoting more time to his son, Freddy, and teaching the next generation of psychology experts at Harvard.

“Frasier has always wanted to be a good father, and in light of his own father’s recent passing, this becomes an even more important goal to him,” Harris notes of Frasier’s dad, Martin Crane, played by the late John Mahoney, who died in February 2018.

“Despite all these changes, we hope people will still feel a warm familiarity with the show — the elevated tone, the farcical situations, the ending theme song, various characters from the past showing up throughout the season,” the producer adds. “Once we started putting together the first few episodes, we all felt a bit of magic at play — seeing the title Frasier leading into the first scene, reading the title card transitions, hearing ‘Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs’ over the ending.”

“It felt like seeing an old friend after a long time apart,” Harris continues. “We hope folks at home feel the same way when they watch.”

Now, about those viral jeans and sneakers

The show’s costume designer, Lori Eskowitz-Carter, whose impressive résumé includes Will & Grace, Hot in Cleveland and The New Adventures of Old Christine, among many others, says Frasier’s “laidback” style was a well-intentioned choice supported and advocated by Grammer, the writers as well as the producers.

Regardless, it didn’t sit well with some hardcore fans who went viral after criticizing his casualwear on Twitter — menswear fashion journalist and blogger Derek Guy proclaimed “they massacred my boy” by dressing him in jeans while Vulture writer Rebecca Alter called the choice “disgusting.”

Others brought receipts, pointing out that Frasier, in fact, did wear jeans and sneakers throughout the show’s original run. One user shared a picture of Frasier wearing jeans in an episode of the third season as proof.

The irony is, per the Frasier team, that Grammer’s wardrobe in the poster is anything but mediocre.

"They are ridiculously expensive, personally tailored jeans. No matter what he’s wearing on the outside, he’s still Frasier Crane," says Harris.

“He's in very expensive jeans that were made in Italy for him and he's in APL sneakers, which are high-end and fancy,” Eskowitz-Carter notes. “He's wearing Brioni blazers, Tom Ford and Brunello Cucinelli on top. So, it's not like he’s wearing Skechers or All Birds.”

Frasier’s new look will make more sense when fans see the show, she says.

“He's wealthier than he was in the first run,” she explains. “We talked about how the wealthier you are, the more understated you dress — like the characters in Succession, nobody’s running around in Gucci tracksuits with labels in everyone’s faces. We also talked about him being comfortable because he’s a lecturer now, and he’s up and down the stairs in his classroom.”

The fact that Frasier’s new look was advocated greatly by Grammer is a testament to its authenticity, says Eskowitz-Carter.

“Nobody knows this character better than Kelsey. Kelsey is Frasier,” she stresses. “We mutually agreed this look would be a great look for him. He was happy, the producers were thrilled and I was happy because he's in incredible shape. I mean, the man wears clothes really well so it wasn't hard to make him look good.”

Harris found humor in the social media kerfuffle. “It's funny," he says. "I remember the opposite brouhaha when David Letterman went from jeans and a jacket to suits: ‘He’s gone corporate!’ ‘He’s sold out!’ ‘He’s completely different!’ Well, no. He changed and evolved just a little bit to fit his circumstances. And that’s what Frasier’s done.”

To that end, not all press is bad press: “CBS is thrilled. Everybody's talking about it,” says Eskowitz-Carter.

‘None of us are exactly who we were 20 years ago’

Although some of those aforementioned vocal fans are resistant to change, Harris says it’s an inevitable part of life that is beautifully reflected in Frasier’s new chapter.

“None of us are exactly who we were 20 years ago, much as my hairline wishes we were,” he quips. “It would be false and unfair to the character to bring Frasier back exactly as if he’d been frozen in Carbonite for the past two decades. The same way he evolved a little between Cheers and Frasier, he’s continued to evolve — not a lot, he’s still Frasier Crane — but some.”

Furthermore, television is a time capsule. What was once in style at the time of an episode’s air date typically has a short lifespan. But reruns are forever.

“Everybody's style evolves, including our favorite television characters, because everyone follows the times,” Eskowitz-Carter says, recalling a similar experience she had while styling every episode of Will and Grace. “In 1998, when we shot the first season, Eric [McCormack]’s suits had enormous shoulder pads and were long and oversized. And by the time we wrapped, he was in Thom Browne.”

Storytelling on the streaming sitcom

One of the greatest things about producing a sitcom on streaming services, says Harris, is the amount of freedom one has to capture every scene, every joke exactly the right way.

“On streaming, the episode can dictate the running time, instead of vice versa,” he explains. “Networks today have very constrictive run times, so editing a ‘half-hour’ episode almost always involves cutting things we love, or, less often, leaving in things we don’t love, in order to get to that exact time.”

Because the Frasier reboot works under the streaming model, the new stories are allowed to “breathe more,” he says. “Our run times are closer to those of sitcoms from 30 or more years ago, and it’s wonderful.”

There are also perks of filming in front of a live audience, especially when a Broadway veteran is at the helm.

“Kelsey is such a master on the stage that he can get three waves of laughter from the audience from just a single, long look — and now we can leave that all in,” says Harris. “Serious moments also have time to play out in a realer, quieter way so they land with the viewer more.”

"It’s been a delight and an honor to get to continue the story of one of TV’s most beloved and enduring characters," he adds. “Having a few extra minutes to tell our story is a godsend.”

Frasier premieres Thursday, Oct. 12 on Paramount+.