Beech Tree News Network

By the time Cheers signed off, Frasier-played by Kelsey Grammer-was an integral part of that ensemble.  He didn’t even join the show until its third season and hadn’t even been intended as a permanent cast member.  Nearly 39 years after Dr Frasier Winslow Crane made his first appearance on the sitcom Cheers (in the opening episode of season three, by the way), we have been treated to the first season of the Frasier reboot on Paramount +.  

Something you might bot have known is that Gramer wasn’t the producers first choice for the Frasier role.  John Lithgow had already turned down the role.  Lithgow told The Guardian in 2020 that “I’d gotten two Oscar nominations in a row.  A TV comedy series was so beneath my dignity”.  He would land the title role in NBC’s 3rd Rock From The Sun in 1996, proving that comment to be a bit silly.  I digress.  We’re talking Kelsey Grammer here.

Originally contracted for just six episodes for a storyline where Diane Chambers(Shelley Long) hires a psychiatrist to deal with Sam Malone’s(Ted Danson) drinking problem, Grammer’s performance convinced producers that there was mileage in Frasier Crane.  Over the next nine years, the character would fall in love with Diane, get jilted at the altar, meet Dr. Lilith Sternin, marry her, split with her, reconcile with her and have a son named Frederick.  Incidentally, Fraser and Frederick are the main characters in the reboot. Grammer even turned up as Frasier in another of my favorite sitcoms, Wings, for which he was nominated for an Emmy.

The spinoff, Fraser, ran from 1993-2004.  After Cheers came to an end in 1993, three of Cheers’ most senior scribes-David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee-pitched a continuation of Fraser Crane’s story to NBC.  Fraser would pick up a few months after Cheers ended-this time in Seattle.  Having left Lilith for good, the spin-off found Dr. Crane working as a radio talk show host and living with his retired police officer dad, Marty and Marty’s dog (who Fraser hated), Eddie.  A bunch of Cheers regulars would cameo on Frasier through the years.  Over its 11 seasons, the show scooped a then-record 37 Emmys, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series for five consecutive years.  Its impact was so colossal, even the dog that played Eddie got his own book.

May 13, 2004, was the Frasier series finale and it looked like the end, as Kelsey had played the Fraser Crane character for 20 years.  In the finale, Frasier headed to Chicago to be with his latest squeeze, Charlotte (played by Laura Linney).  That’s 20 years for the character Dr. Fraser Crane.  There’s at least one more year added with the Paramount + reboot.  There is a character who will be wrapping their 18th and final season, albeit not played by the same actor: Sheldon Cooper.  Do you think that still counts? It’s still a network running with the same character for almost 2 decades.  I say Sheldon is a very close 2nd to Dr. Crane-and just as quirky.  Check out my podcast, Blendertainment, at the links below.

https://open.spotify.com/show/61yTPt9wXdz37DZTbPUs16?si=w5jHghPVRmaTaP5Z...

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blendertainment/id1541097172