Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane in Frasier, 2000. (Alamy)
Then, Kelsey Grammer returned as Frasier.
Nearly 39 years after Dr. Frasier Winslow Crane made his first appearance on the sitcom Cheers (in Season 3’s opening episode, fyi), production has officially begun on the latest chapter in the life of TV’s favorite cultural vulture psychiatrist. .
It’s an unlikely resurrection for a character we last saw in 2004, en route to Chicago for a new life.
To know more: The most exciting TV coming in 2023
So, in preparation for Dr. Frasier Crane’s highly anticipated new show, here’s Yahoo’s must-have guide to one of sitcom land’s most beloved characters.
Frasier – the years of Cheers | 1984-1993
Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Frasier Crane, Ted Danson as Sam Malone in a 1984 episode of Cheers. (Getty Images)
Airing between 1982 and 1993, Cheers was one of the most popular TV shows of its time, winning 28 Primetime Emmy Awards from a record 117 nominations. Its final episode, meanwhile, was watched by 93 million viewers, or nearly 40% of the US population at the time.
When Cheers signed on, Frasier — played by Kelsey Grammer — was an integral part of that ensemble, yet he didn’t even join the show until its third season and wasn’t even intended to be a permanent cast member anyway.
Not only that, but Grammer wasn’t even the producers’ first choice. John Lithgow had previously turned down the role (“I’d gotten two Oscar nominations in a row,” the actor told The Guardian in 2020, “a television comedy series was so beneath my dignity”) before NBC turned down the role. addressed to this 29-year-old with only a handful of film credits under his belt.
Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Frasier Crane, George Wendt as Norm Peterson, Woody Harrelson as Woody Boyd in a 1993 episode of Cheers. (Getty Images)
“I thought to myself, ‘I can play this guy,'” Grammer told LBC’s Steve Allen in 2019. “You know, and it was kind of an instant thing before I really put it in front of somebody.”
Originally contracted for just six episodes for a storyline in which Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) hires a psychiatrist to deal with Sam Malone’s (Ted Danson) drinking problem, Grammer’s performance convinced the producers there was mileage in it. Frasier Crane.
Kelsey Grammer and Tim Daly in an episode of Cheers spin-off Wings. (Alamy)
Over the next nine years, the character would fall in love with Diane, be abandoned at the altar, meet Dr. Lilith Sternin, marry her, separate from her, reconcile with her, and have a son, Frederick . Grammar even showed up as Frasier in another sitcom, Wings, for which he was nominated for an Emmy.
The story continues
The spin-off: Frasier | 1993-2004
David Hyde Pierce as Dr. Niles Crane, Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Frasier Crane, John Mahoney as Martin Crane, Peri Gilpin as Roz Doyle in an episode of Fraiser. (Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank)
After Cheers ended in ’93, three of Cheers’ senior writers – David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee – pitched a continuation of the Fraser Crane story to NBC. Frasier would pick up the psychiatrist story a few months later from the final episode of Cheers, with Dr. Crane upping sticks from Boston to Seattle.
After leaving Lillith for good, the spin-off would find Frasier now working as a radio talk show host and living with his father, a retired cop, Marty (despite Frasier telling Sam in Cheers that his father was dead and had been a research scientist, who was awkwardly retconned to Frasier when Dr. Crane admits to a returning Sam that he had lied the first time around) and his dog Eddie.
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Also joining the cast are Frasier’s even more pompous and fussy brother Niles (a scene-stealing David Hyde Pierce), Marty’s caretaker Daphne (Jane Leeves), and Dr. Crane’s man-hungry producer at KACL, Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin). .
Peri Gilpin as Roz Doyle, David Hyde Pierce as Dr. Niles Crane, Jane Leeves as Daphne Moon, John Mahoney as Martin Crane, Moose as Eddie, Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Frasier Crane. (Getty Images)
A whole bunch of Cheers regulars would appear in Frasier over the years, but Frasier never felt in the shadow of its parent series. Over its 11-season run, the show earned a record 37 Emmys, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series five years in a row.
His impact was so colossal that even the dog who played Eddie got his own book.
The Return of Frasier | 2023
Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Frasier Crane in Frasier’s “Goodnight, Seattle”. (Getty Images)
When Frasier retired with the episode “Goodnight Seattle” on May 13, 2004, it seemed like a full stop. Kelsey Grammar had, by then, been playing the character for 20 years and that final episode finally hinted at a happy ending for a character whose love life had been rockier than Mount Rushmore as she headed to Chicago to be with her last squeeze, Charlotte (Laura Linney).
However, there had been rumblings of an all-new Frasier series over the years, and in February 2021, a revival was finally greenlit by Paramount+, with Kelsey Grammer calling it a “third act” for the character.
Sadly, none of the supporting cast from the 1993-2004 show will return (John Mahoney, who played Frasier’s father, died in 2018) and neither, apparently, will Laura Linney, suggesting that Frasier and Charlotte’s relationship is went the right way. of her other romances of hers at the end.
“Jane [Leeves] and David [Hyde Pierce] and Perì [Gilpin] we were sort of on the fence and couldn’t make it all happen,” Grammer recently revealed. “It turned out to be a great thing in the end. Frasier will return to Boston to settle some loose ends in his life.
The revival of Frasier was confirmed by Paramount with this promotional image. (Fundamental)
Instead of being based in Seattle – or even the Windy City – this new Frasier brings Dr. Crane back to Boston. Joining Kelsey Grammer are British actor Jack Cutmore-Scott as the now adult Frederick (or Freddy), Anders Keith as Niles and Daphne’s son David, and Only Fools and Horses veteran Nicholas Lyndhurst – yes, indeed – as Frasier’s old college friend, Professor Alan Cornwall.
Of course, that doesn’t mean those old Frasier favorites like Niles, Roz, Daphne, and Bulldog won’t be cameos. And given the new show’s move to Beantown, it’s entirely possible we’ll get some extras from Frasier’s old Cheers cronies (maybe even a return to the bar itself!).
Kelsey Grammer (R) praised Only Fools and Horses legend Nicholas Lyndhurst (L). (Getty)
“He’s our brave little soldier just going through life, finding new challenges and new love and new people and a new city and stuff like that,” Grammer told People last year. “I’m really, really excited about this, and we will definitely always honor the past. We have to honor the fact that John Mahoney is dead and that Martin is no longer with us. We will definitely deal with that.”
Little else is known about the revival at this point. The latest information is that Cheers and Frasier vet James Burrows is directing the first episode, and that its title is “The Good Father,” a welcome nod to fans at the debut of the original series, “The Good Son.” Oh, and we know the series is expected to release in mid-2023.
To know more: Kelsey Grammer pays tribute to the “gifted” Nicholas Lyndhurst
Though he’s been in many shows and movies since the original Frasier aired, Kelsey Grammer will forever be Dr. Frasier Crane and that’s something the actor seems to be totally fine with.
“It’s like putting on an old favorite jacket,” Grammer told Yahoo last December. “It was a complete characterization on my part, and I’ve walked a lot of the same streets with him, you know, for a long time. So he’s always in there somewhere, ready to pop out.”
The Frasier revival will stream on Paramount+ in 2023.
