Kelsey Grammer Spills on 'Frasier' Reboot With 'most of cast' Returning

“Most” of the cast are coming back? Then who isn’t?

David Hyde Pierce is the only one who works regularly so he might pass. And Bebe might be over it.

Color me tossed COOKIES and scrambled eggs! Finger down throat motion.

I hope Dr. Mary visits!

R2 They will most certainly make an appearance, they know what role made them and seem like they are grateful for it.

Let's see Frasier has lived on both coasts, so is the new city going to in the Midwest or South?

Frasier in Tokyo!

They're all so fucking old now.

He has a movie coming out that looks like Oscar bait (Paris Jackson has a small role in it).

Seriously, r8…Oscar bait? Or do you mean direct to TUBI, PLUTO & OnDemand?

R8, On second thought, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume your post was sarcasm. Please god, let it be sarcasm.

I think it will be along the lines of Grace and Frankie or The Golden Girls or Hot In Cleveland.

Seniors dealing with life and relationships.

I guess Niles and Daphne moved to a new city and Frasier and Ros set up a new therapy business there after his divorce from Laura Linney.

I can see Frasier becoming the dad figure, with Fredrick assuming his role. Seems the most natural way to resurrect the show and have it come full circle. They can also appeal to a younger audience. I just hope Daphne doesn’t return. I did not like her character or the non existent chemistry with Niles.

I stopped watching Frazier after Niles and Daphne’s wedding day. When did Frazier leave for Chicago and why? I must have missed a lot.

He briefly fell in love with the kooky (and surprisingly awful) Laura Linney who was red flag city - matchmaker, scammer, broke, obsessed with ex-boyfriend - and the series ended with him taking a chance on love and following her to Chicago.

I would be happy with the series going ahead with Frasier, Niles, Ros and Lilith with Niles coming to terms with coming out late in life and Daphne, Bulldog, Bebe etc making cameos.

This will be awful.

Most of the cast? Why couldn’t they get the whole cast to return? No one wants to watch it without the hole cast.

Oh, dear, R16. The Whole cast cannot reunite, as John Mahoney, Martin Crane, died.

I want Dr Mary and Dr Nora to return as a NB lesbian couple.

Niles coming out late in life is a great idea.

Will Roz's daughter Alice make an appearance? I always loved Roz.

[quote] We're still sort of ironing out what the story is

Well it's nice he's thought ahead before inviting all the cast back.

This is going to be a bigger bomb than the Murphy Brown reboot.

Didn't that gay twink who was supposed to be one of the next big breakout stars in Hollywood from the reboot write a number of the episodes r22?

The original writers David Lee and Joe Keenan are gay and brilliant and would not shy away from forcing a late in life Niles out of the closet. Brilliant idea....I hope they run with it. I can't imagine Pierce would be averse to it.

[quote]“Most” of the cast are coming back? Then who isn’t?

John Mahoney, the one who died, perhaps, won't be making any live appearances.

Will Wendie Malick appear?

Let’s write it ourselves, DataLounge.

Frasier, Niles and Daphne have COVID. After Frasier and Daphne recover, in a heartbreaking Season 1 finale, Niles is in the ICU and before he loses any more time he decides to have a Very Important Conversation with Daphne in the morning. Cut to Frasier receiving a phone call in the early hours. He rushes to hospital in the morning. Niles is being discharged but Daphne has been rushed into emergency surgery to remove a blockage in her lung. She had collapsed at the hospital door when coming to visit him. She dies. Every costar from Bebe Neuworth to Brian Cox Zooms into her wake.

Niles, bereft, asks to move in with Frasier while he grieves, who naturally agrees. As Frasier, Niles, David and Frederick raise a sherry to Daphne and tell Martin to look after her, Niles announces to the gathered family that he has an announcement. He want to live free and honestly. And they are the first he wants to know that he is attracted to men. David and Frederick look at each other and laugh. Of course, they knew. Cut to Frasier, open-mouthed and agog with FRASIER WILL RETURN FOR SEASON 2 appearing on the screen.

Niles' coming out should be set in the ski lodge so that he can tell the ski instructor, "You were right. I [italic] am [/italic] gay, Guy. But my wife is not a lesbiana."

“They're going to be in a new place.”

BECAUSE I chewed up all the scenery in the last place.

[quote]The Whole cast cannot reunite, as John Mahoney, Martin Crane, died.

And don't forget Eddie (RIP Moose).

By the end of Frasier's run the characters had produced so many children that the sensible thing would be a show about all of them, with Frasier and Niles now presenting their different take on the Martin role. It could make for good comedy because millennials hate - or are merrily ignorant of - everything they most value. But of course that show will never happen because I'd back Kelsey Grammer's ego even against La Markle's.

I, for one, am all atwitter for Peri Gilpin's amazing return to the small screen!

[quote] By the end of Frasier's run the characters had produced so many children that the sensible thing would be a show about all of them, with Frasier and Niles now presenting their different take on the Martin role. It could make for good comedy because millennials hate - or are merrily ignorant of - everything they most value. But of course that show will never happen because I'd back Kelsey Grammer's ego even against La Markle's.

I don’t give a shit about Frederick and David or Meghan Markle (WTF?), I’m interested in Frasier and Niles.

Peri Gilpin's father was a Philadelphia TV announcer of some renown back in the day. His name was Jim O'Brien and I really didn't care for his schtick as he was a "character." Lots of dumb jokes and mugging and inserting himself in everything, but the Philly people majorly loved him.

Anyhow, he liked to skydive and one day he jumped out of plane and that was the last thing he ever did. The chute failed to open and he took a giant pratfall to eternity. The local news team that he was part of were bereft and cried and gnashed their teeth at his loss. They needed to be condoled!

A year later some other non-fan of his got to building a sand sculpture down the Jersey shore. There were just two legs rising up from the sand wearing boots and in front of it was a sign reading: "Jim O'Brien!"

Jim was a part of the news team that included the Father of jerkoff video maker David Boreanaz.

They would never have Niles come out as gay. That would negate the a huge chunk of the original series. Even though it was quite obvious he was not a straight man.

The final episode should show Peri Gilpin's Roz waking up from a long sleep, having dreamt about a life in which she had landed the job of producer on Frasier Crane's radio show. Roz then switches on the radio to listen to the show and we get to hear the banter between Frasier and his producer, who is played by Lisa Kudrow, the woman whom Roz lost the job to.

Bring back Maris (ex-wife to Niles)! They should do a whole new show around Maris. It would all be about her, but she'd never appear. That would be ground-breaking.

[quote] They would never have Niles come out as gay. That would negate the a huge chunk of the original series. Even though it was quite obvious he was not a straight man.

But, really Frasier was just as queeny as Niles.

[quote]They would never have Niles come out as gay. That would negate the a huge chunk of the original series.

You have never known a gay man to be infatuated with a woman? Stephen Sondheim would like to talk to you about Lee Remick, to get you started.

R22, what episode is that from? Why did Frasier fall?

The problem is that there was lots of covert gayness in the original show, in so many ways, that if transplanted to 2021 would look coy, weird and fucked up.

So there probably needs to be an openly gay character to compensate. Not Niles because as the poster said above that would invalidate so much of the original show, though Niles pinged to high heaven throughout the run.

How about - Frasier’s son Frederick is gay. But ironically, he’s more masc than Fraser and loves sports. The contrast of the straight aesthete dad with the sports loving gay son provides the humour.

R40, Bulldog could come out of the closet. All his macho bravado from the original show could be explained as him being deep in the closet and overcompensating out of fear of being outed.

I hope this will be good. It was my fave US comedy

I didn't read "most of the cast" to mean anything other than John Mahoney won't be there. Kelsey said "they've all been invited" so let's hope all the great characters return. We want Bebe!

I want the character Bebe back and also the actress Bebe back. Harriet Sansom Harris and Bebe Neuwirth were both fantastic.

My favourite piece on the gay stuff in Frasier was written in this blog

R22 Haha. That's comedy gold. Hopefully he broke something. One time I was walking out of my car and crossing the street and this stupid Karen bitch falls flat down onto her face as she stepped off the curb. I just looked at her blankly and said nothing. I felt like saying: Haha and pointing at her like Nelson or learn how to fucking walk, dumb bitch. I have had a few Karens fall flat on their face or ass over the years in front of me and it is always funny.

I always hated him and this show.

I find the original surprisingly re-watchable in the re-runs I occasionally catch up. Unlike many old sitcoms, it doesn't have too many problematic storylines or jokes. The only problem is diversity but almost all old sitcoms have that problem.

I'd like to at least just hear that Sam Malone wound up with Diane Chambers. Of all the shows with will they or won't they type stories, I always thought Sam and Diane should wind up together. That scene from her last episode in season 5 should be a flashforward, not a fantasy.

Yeah I’d be down for some more Frasier.. I love the vibe between Niles and his ex wife

[quote] The only problem is diversity

And here we go again. Why did their immediate circle need to be diverse? In any case the show did address the makeup of their circle of friends and acquaintances in the Dr Mary episode where Frasier reflects on how he and Niles don't have any black friends.

I think the first scene should be a woman we never saw before. She laughs about how her ex-husband from years before has come out as gay, and it's causing all sorts of upheaval which she's enjoying hearing about from a distance. She's waiting her turn for botox injections or something. Someone suddenly says "Marris! Your turn!"

It's Marris Crane and we're seeing her for the very first time. I'm thinking Jami Gertz or Wendie Malick.

R53, it would be a bit creepy having Wendie Malick play the role.

For the people saying Daphne and Niles had no chemistry, I disagree, I thought they were cute together (though everyone fell off toward the end a bit), I thought Martin and Sherry were great together, and even Bulldog and Roz had some funny, touching moments - to be perfectly honest, I thought the only member of the cast who never managed to create real romantic chemistry with the majority of female characters was Frasier/Kelsey himself.

R54 You know, I really don't know her or her work at all. I just think she looks the part. Why creepy? Too young?

R56, because Malick played the character whom their dad Martin married towards the end of the series. She was supposed to have been the Crane boys' babysitter when they were kids.

Having someone who played Niles' stepmother also play his ex-wife would be a bit creepy.

r56, Wendie Malick played Martin's other half in the later seasons, she was a sloppily rehashed version of Sherry in my opinion, the studio had Malick under contract after the cancellation of her show (Just Shoot Me!?), and wanted to use her, so they stuck her in a bad wig and put her on Frasier.

Ohhh ok haha. I had no idea. That takes her off the list.

Any thoughts on Gilpin being the only regular cast member not to nominated for an Emmy, R31?

[quote] even Bulldog and Roz had some funny, touching moments

They were a couple?

Oh, someone reminded me, I also liked Martin with Cam Winston's mother, played by Emily Yancy.

So maybe Jami Gertz, or Julie Haggarty? Or that Valerie Mahaffey.

r61, my memory's fuzzy, but remember when Bulldog was down on his luck and looking after baby Alice, they got close to it, but Roz turned him down - I always thought the writers made a mistake writing him off

Original Eddie (Jack Russell Terrier) is gone as well. Dog and his master, both quite dead.....

Will the gay station manager Tom, played by Eric Lutes, be coming back?

It’s a fucking sin, R60. Roz >>>>> Daphne The Emmys are often terrible with this though

Though NOTHING will be a bigger Emmy sitcom failure/snub than Jane Krakowski not winning for Jenna Maroney on 30 Rock

[quote] the studio had Malick under contract after the cancellation of her show (Just Shoot Me!?), and wanted to use her,

Link?

Niles wouldn’t have to be gay, just pansexual. Something to attract the Zoomer demographic.

Will Frederick be trans in the new series?

[quote] [R61], my memory's fuzzy, but remember when Bulldog was down on his luck and looking after baby Alice, they got close to it, but Roz turned him down - I always thought the writers made a mistake writing him off

They had secret sex.

R68

Don't think anyone has been able to provide concrete evidence, but general consensus among Frasier fans and others is that Wendie Malick was brought onto show because JSM had just ended and her contact still had time remaining.

If true suits could have either paid Ms. Malick to do nothing, or use her elsewhere. Either way Wendie Malick was going to get paid because of her contract.

Roz's baby daddy should come out as bi and sleep with Niles' adult son who is written as having a daddy fetish.

[quote] They had secret sex.

Well, if it was secret, how did you find out?

[quote] The only problem is diversity but almost all old sitcoms have that problem.

It is only a problem for people who want shows to reflect their ideology instead of reality. Whether right or wrong, I would say the vast majority of people do not have friendship groups or families that look like a United Colors of Benetton ad.

^^even in Manhattan. Check out the current Madonna thread, nearly everybody in that bar in Manhattan was white.

R50, I was thinking the same thing. That was in of the biggest blunders of all time. They should have ended up together in the final season of Cheers.

I'm not so sure. It would have been satisfying for audiences, but the point constantly made by the show itself was that although Sam and Diane had chemistry off the charts, they were a horrible mismatch when you looked at their values, capacities, interests and life goals. Not to mention his compulsive infidelity.

Besides, at the meta-level the point of Cheers was that it was a celebration of losers. I love it so much because it did this during the Greed is Good decade, when ostentatious success was lionized. It could not maintain its integrity yet let its central relationship succeed.

I still can't watch the last episode of Cheers though, what they did to Diane, having her become an LA type and, what, wanting Sam to work in a juice bar? It's like the writers went out of their way to make Diane a villain.

They did because of the way Shelley left.

There was bad blood.

[quote] Cheers was that it was a celebration of losers.

Hey!

Maris would need to be played by someone anorexic looking.

Maris, the myth, the legend, must always remain offstage.

The descriptions of Maris got increasingly outlandish and it would be impossible to cast anyone in the role.

Will Emmy winner Jean Smart make an appearance as the crazy loon Lorna?

R78, they were a mismatch, but they worked. Both were insufferable in different ways, but they also fit together. Sam also stayed faithful to her, which was huge for someone like him. It was interesting because both were still single in Frasier, so they never found anyone else who could deal with them.

R79, I never understood why they even bothered to bring her back, just for the tease. First off, the nonplussed reaction from the others. Diane was always nice to them and they mostly liked her, except for Carla. Then the California thing. I think the dislike of SL definitely bled into the show. Even during her last couple of seasons, Diane was treated horribly, even by Sam.

Kristin Bell has been casted as Maris.

Too tall, fat, and eyelidded r87. No way.

Oh, dear!

around 2:30 Shelley Long gets choked up while talking about Nicholas Colasanto, she says "he just loved -- you don't get that too much" - it really sounds to me like much of the rest of the cast were just kind of immature and cliquey, they even avoided her at the reunion, years later, very petty - Long strikes me as someone certain insecure types like to pick on or "other".

R90 thank you for that. Shelley Long helped create one of he greatest characters in television history. Yup, I actually put her up there with Archie Bunker, Maude, and Tony Soprano. Something about Diane's outsider status, and her longing to belong, resonated with me as a gay teenager. Shelley played the character beautifully.

I think Rhea Pearlman, who was still saying negative shit about Shelley in 2012, needs to fucking let it go. But for Shelley Long, Cheers very likely would've been shitcanned after 13 episodes. It was in the garbage ratings wise. But Brandon Tartikoff saw something in it, and spared it. I suspect it was the magic brought by Sam and Diane.

Cheers writer Ken Levine summed up the situation on the set nicely:

"Case in point is Shelley Long. Yes, she could consume a lot of rehearsal time, but that was just her process. And it was because she cared so deeply about getting it right. She’s a very good-hearted person. Trust me, I’ve worked with monsters. I’ve worked with actors who were mean-spirited, unhappy, and took a perverse delight in making everyone else around them unhappy too. That was not Shelley. She asked a lot of questions? And at times it was annoying. But so what? Look at the results. On the screen she was just luminous. She managed to take a character who easily could have come off strident, condescending, and insufferable and made her real, loveable, vulnerable, and funny. With all due respect to the gifted ladies who have won Emmys for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy over the last thirty years, I don’t think any can compare to Shelley Long. This may result in fifty angry comments but I stand by it."

Amen.

This all sounds like shit.

I loathed the Coach character. He wasn't funny at all and a shit actor. I've never been so happy when someone died. Woody was hot, sexy skin tight jeans, and good at playing a doofus.

That’s horrible, R93. I thought Coach was hysterical and NC did a great job.

R94 And why would anyone give a fuck what you think?

I think a reboot of Frasier is a bad idea. And Roz comes back to be with Frasier? Not plausible. This will just as bad as the reboots of Will & Grace, Rosanne, and Murphy Brown.

Ever watch Grace & Favour (a.k.a. Are You Being Served Again?) One of the earliest examples of an ensemble cast reboot, and it was terrible.

The only person who thinks this is a good idea is Kelsey Grammer.

Same reason why anyone who give two fucks about what you think, R95.

Malick wasn’t under contract to the studio. It’s not the 50s, for gods sake. She was under contract to a specific show and when it ended she became available and she had a great reputation as a comedic actress as a pro so of course NBC would want to use her in another show.

Grammer was the one who kept saying no to reunions and reboots for years. I think it's a bad idea if only because Grammer is a far right lunatic a whole bunch of people who didn't know that are about to find out, thanks to this reboot.

Jean Smart gets plenty of work and doesn't need this, but they should bring back that kid who played her son Kirby- he was hilarious! The episode where he takes Roz as his date to his prom is great.

Lara Flynn Boyle would make a great Maris.

Seeing Maris would ruin the joke.

What I like about this thread is that it is 50% about the brilliant Shelley Long/Diane. R91 it's hard to put my feelings in better terms than you did.

A disservice was done to the character and the fans of the early years with that "Cheers" finale. So not everyone would have been happy if Sam and Diane got together? Then what "Frasier," if not "Cheers" should have at least done was leave Sam and Diane in each other's orbit again, with a "will they or won't they" question surrounding their relationship.

By the time Shelley left, the Sam/Diane dynamic was all played out.

I want Aunt Zora back

R104 I don't disagree they needed to change things up, but Rebecca was never it for me. She and her incessant crying was played out by season 8.

I'm not a big fan of it, so I hate to say it, but "Friends" did something right that "Cheers" never managed, when they put Chandler and Monica together mid-series. It kind of distracted/took-over from the Ross and Rachel story and. I think, kept that show alive. "Cheers" just never had an equally compelling 'B' story.

Would you have preferred Twiggy over Kirstie, r106?

I don't understand the question, and I won't respond to it.

I always pictured Valerie Mahaffey as Maris.

A wisp of a girl, she!

Well, FUCK!

[quote] Kelsey Grammer says Frasier will be "rich beyond his dreams" in the reboot

Our guess? He sold the dog.

Kelsey Grammer’s been having a busy year. Even if you leave off the pilot for that show where he and Alec Baldwin were going to be roommates—a concept so deafeningly loud that it’s still echoing around in our heads months after ABC backed away from the series like a startled animal—the veteran actor has numerous projects (The God Committee, The Space Between, the new Trollhunters movie) either on the way or currently out. But there’s only one that the true Gram-heads are dying to get the details on: Paramount+’s long-prayed-for Frasier reboot.

But while Paramount confirmed back in February that television’s reunion with everyone’s favorite Freudian was certainly on the way, the actual shape of the project demanded several important questions. Would the series feature appearances from former cast members David Hyde Pierce, Jane Leeves, or Peri Gilpin? Would it use any of our incredibly good ideas for a revival series (including the one where Frasier is a malevolent A.I. trying to take control of futuristic Seattle)? What ever happened to all those tossed salads and scrambled eggs? What is a boy to do?

Anyway: Grammer has now filled in a few light details, courtesy of the above interview with New York Life. Specifically, he revealed that the new show will see Frasier ditch Seattle for some new digs, describing him as the perpetually unsatisfied “George Bailey of television.” He also noted that he’s reached out to Hyde Pierce, Leeves, and Gilpin for a potential return, with the hope that the new series will serve as a “third act for everybody.” Grammer also stated that the show will also acknowledge the death of John Mahoney in its first episode. But then Grammer got kind of enigmatic, stating that Frasier’s new life circumstances will see the already-pretty-damn-rich character become “rich beyond his dreams.”

And while it might possibly mean that the reboot will finally see Dr. Crane achieve the ultimate status symbol of the mega-rich—i.e., having two pianos in your apartment, so that you can recreate the Donald Duck/Daffy Duck musical duel from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?—the very corny tone in Grammer’s voice when he said that line suggests to us that he’s probably talking about the “rich” “bounty” of alleged “wealth” that is family. (The obvious pitch would be for Frasier to end up living with his son Frederick, who’s the right age to have a couple of precocious kids running around, warming everybody’s hearts. There could even be a little Niles!) We’re still holding out hope, though, because seeing Grammer and Hyde Pierce pull off that double piano thing would actually be pretty sweet.

I loved Peri Gilpin as Roz--I would love to see her again. She had the world's best voice.

I don't think I'd like to watch a show with a "super rich" Frazier.

I think it'll be a flop, like how Roseanne totally flopped in its final season, when the family won the lottery.

People just didn't want to see it.

R113 There is a difference, Frazier was never really poor.

The Connors were poor working class people and when they "won the lottery" the show showed them living like white trash who won the lottery. They were still white trash instead of the fantasy version that the white trash imagine when they play the lottery. They imagine they won't still be trash. Though the fact is that the rich are just as trashy as the poor, they just do it in comfort.

If he is rich beyond his dreams, I can’t wait until I see where he lives.

Frazier’s apartment was a dream. I’d move right in.

I’m guessing he is a podcaster with a Spotify deal.

He could also continue having fake celebrity guest cameos

I bet it is not monetary wealth, like what it said in the article. He wasn’t exactly poor either. Maybe he will be internationally known though; maybe he wrote a book. Disappointed that Leeves will be back. I think Fredrick should be single, Frasier shows were always geared towards adult audiences. Maybe they’ll do a romance between the children of the characters from the original.

“David Hyde Pierce is the only one who works regularly so he might pass. And Bebe might be over it.”

What a stupid supposition. I mean just absolutely dumb.

IF they drag Maris on-screen it should be someone like Megan Mullally who can pull off that great, manipulative demon spawn from hell bitch routine like she did on Parks and Recreation.

Well, Megan Mullally can't be Maris though, because she appeared on Frasier as a different character.

You never saw Golden Girls, I guess, where many actors played multiple characters over the course of the run.

Megan Mullally is an unfunny harpie. She can't play Maris.

[quote] Bulldog could come out of the closet. All his macho bravado from the original show could be explained as him being deep in the closet and overcompensating out of fear of being outed.

the actor has been out for years and is now a handsome daddy

r95 this is a great thread except for you

Niles holds the key on whether the reboot will work. If he's not around, then they can forget about it.

They should separate Niles and Daphne -- their marriage was questionable from the beginning.

And they should bring back Maris as a regular, onscreen character. I suggest Valerie Mahaffey play her. She and David Hyde Pierce work well together.

Buh but Valerie already guest starred on the original run. Really though I love her and she'd be great.

I hope Brandy (the traditional spelling) makes a cameo.

Megan Mullally is hefty.

Seeing Maris would spoil the joke.

[quote]Wendie Malick was brought onto show because JSM had just ended and her contact still had time remaining.

TVLand Royalty.

[quote] Wendie Malick was brought onto show because JSM had just ended and her contact still had time remaining.

You do realize, that other than being on the same network, the shows were produced by different companies. So if she had a contract with the producers or studio behind JSM it would have nothing to do with Frasier.

It's Jane Leeves....

[quote] Speaking to Entertainment Weekly on 17 February, Leeves said she had no intention of leaving the US medical drama series The Resident to film the then-rumoured Frasier reboot. Leeves has played an orthopaedic surgeon on the show since 2018. “I won't be leaving The Resident to do that if it happens,” Leeves said.Feb 25, 2021

They should write Frasier moving back to Boston, coming full circle, wandering around the bars of the city and trying to recapture what he experienced at Cheers.

Good for Leeves, I hope Kelsey's vanity project fails. The original Frasier had a few good episodes but most are just crap.

You don;t have to leave a show but schedules could be arranged . Chances are Jane Leeves wouldn't have the career she has without "Frasier", it's called loyalty.

R134 Fuck that. If you have something good going on already, you don't owe nuthin to a has been like Kelsey.

Unless there is some real bad blood between Leeves and, say, Grammar I can't see a reason why Leeves can't show up in person for at least one special episode setting up a narrative about whatever happened to Niles and Daphne's relationship for the new Frasier series.

Her schedule can't as bad and tight as Joe Manganiello's, can it?

no r134 "loyalty" doesn't require you to sign on to something that may have a bad script, a bad premise, or simply a bad career move. Maybe she doesn't want her career to be define by the past.

and r133 you're just wrong, but thanks for playing. Frasier is often cited as one of the best written and evergreen sitcoms. It's smart, it's character-driven, and perfectly cast, down to every anonymous guest caller. Not my personal [italic]favorite[/italic] show ever, but no doubting it's quality.

...Which leads us to a really important question- More than cast, which [italic]writers[/italic] and directors will come back?

Recast her with Kim Catrall.

I’ll be glad it Leeves doesn’t come back. She was ok at the beginning, but she went from new age hippy to a bit of a shrew. The Nile/Daphne relationship was a drain on the show and they had no chemistry.

[quote]Maybe she doesn't want her career to be define by the past.

Sorry, she's a TV supporting actress, always was and always will be and 99% of the world will only know her as Daphne anyway

[quote] I’ll be glad it Leeves doesn’t come back. She was ok at the beginning, but she went from new age hippy to a bit of a shrew. The Nile/Daphne relationship was a drain on the show and they had no chemistry.

100%, R139!

Not only that, but her sole purpose on the show was to care for Martin.

Now that he's dead, there's no need for her character.

R141, she got married to Niles and they had a child. Unless they write the script to get them divorced, Daphne arguably has more of a reason to be in the new show than say, Roz. Frasier always looked down upon lowbrow Roz and, apart from the one fling they had, it never seemed like they would ever be friends. If Frasier has now moved to Chicago there would be no reason for Roz to be a part of his life.

The most important question: Are the writers coming back? If the same team of writers gets together, I think this show is sure to be good. You know what would be cool? If Frederick rebelled against his stuffy upbringing and decided to go to the Police Academy instead of college. Then he became a crusty cop, just like Frasier's dad. Then you'd have a reverse of the original dynamic.

There's room for Roz. The first episode can open with Frasier's radio show producer making a mess of the show and then quitting. Maybe this is the fifth producer to quit in a few years' time, and the radio station owner is lamenting the fact that no one wants to work with Frasier. Then Frasier mentions that there is one producer he worked exceptionally well with. The station calls Roz and makes an offer she can't refuse.

I think Frasier should come out as a Republican on his show.

Now THAT would be an interesting storyline.

Based on the interviews I’m reading, everybody has turned it down. My guess is if enough money is thrown at them they’ll sign. Roz I can take or leave, but Niles would be a huge loss. I wouldn’t be surprised if they do head back to Boston. I can see them getting some of the Cheers crew involved.

[quote] Based on the interviews I’m reading, everybody has turned it down

I wonder if it has to do with Kelsey being a Republican MAGAT?

Most of the cast are left-leaning, so maybe this is their way of cancelling him.

Frederick and Alice could be a couple

[quote] Based on the interviews I’m reading, everybody has turned it down.

r146 you're a genius

[quote] Among the details was the revelation that, although Grammer had “reached out to everybody,” original recurring cast members David Hyde Pierce (Niles Crane), Jane Leeves (Daphne Moon) and Peri Gilpin (Roz Doyle) have all so far declined to join the new project.

Oh STFU, Arthur. I was just linking in case anybody wanted to read the entire article.

I think this whole reboot idea is stupid ... and maybe some of Kelsey's former cast mates think so too. I it might be fun to propose some different ideas that Kelsey can pursue.

Tune in this fall to watch "Frasier Crane's Cheers." Frasier is back in Boston. Recently widowed, he buys his former haunt with plans to turn it into a sophisticated wine bar. But his business partner Megan (Allison Janney), a savvy pro bartender who understands the neighborhood's clientele, has other ideas. The culture clash extends to the bar's troubled waitress Wanda (Janeane Garofalo) and naive sommelier-in-training (Nolan Gould) as well as the old time regulars (John Ratzenberger, Paul Willson, Tim Bagley) and the pretentious nouveau riche couple who has invested in the bar (Jenna Fischer, Dan Futterman). Plenty of old cast members from Cheers and Frasier will be making regular guest appearances! Pilot episode directed by James Burrows.

Promises to be fascinatingly bad television.

How about reuniting Kelsey Grammar and Patty Heaton in a reboot of both Frasier and The Middle? They could both be newly-widowed. Hilarity ensues.

Maybe Daphne accidentally fell off Frasier's balcony and Niles married Roz in his grief. But the most important question...what about Eddie?

Grammer is hard to figure out. He's Repug and folks say he's right-wingy but he played half of a gay couple in La Cage on Broadway for a year, and was surrounded by gay actors and gay humor on Frasier.

R154 He always strikes me as liberal on social issues but much more right wing on economic issues.

Kelsey isn’t racist and homophobic but he’s a big conservative in probable part due to his history of addiction, peripatetic upbringing and history of murder in his family.

Also, remember he was the Executive Producer of Girlfriends.

R156 Thanks for that, twat. Now tell us how many personality or psychiatric disorders he has. Not as many as you, I bet.

Without Niles it will fail.

… are you ok, R158?

If Frasier is returning one hopes Dr. Frasier Crane has mellowed with age, because quite honestly going towards end of first series he was just a huge pompous, supercilious prig that one wanted to whack with a croquet mallet.

Yes, know that's how series began but as time went on Frasier just became unbearable at times.

Other night caught rerun of when Niles Crane has emergency open heart surgery. Frasier shows up with a complete report about the hospital, doctor, best procedure etc... When surgeon comes in and begins to explain to Niles and Daphne about what is going to happen during operation Frasier keeps butting in and contradicting. He finally pulls out "I'm *Dr. Frasier Crane* from *HARVARD* you know *Har-vard.....*.

^reminds me of Evan Handler as Alan Dershowitz in The People Vs OJ.

Yes, but hospital/staff get their revenge on the great Dr. Frasier Crane

Later in episode when of the assistant surgeons comes out to brief Daphne about status of her husband. She delivers what she has to say and then Frasier buts in... Doctor looks as him and says "Doctor "X" told me about you... and I'm to do *this* if you start asking questions". The doctor then simply turns around and leaves the area without saying a word to Frasier....

These actors become Republican when they become rich and realize that if they make a million a show they have to pay taxes on that million first, then deduct the 10 per centers, manager, agent, publicist etc based on that million paycheck and not after tax and it seems it's all going out the window.

The irony is that Kelsey Grammar lost more money in divorce settlements than he would by paying taxes like any normal citizen.

He's not just a Repig, he's repeatedly complained about being discriminated against because of his politics, despite the fact that he's earned millions upon millions and a whole sack load of Emmys. The guy got to keep his job on Cheers even though he was in jail for a drug conviction and got to keep his job on Frasier despite being alcoholic to the point of hurting the show AND despite being caught banging the underage babysitter.

He is one of the luckiest men in entertainment, yet all he does is complain. He's gotten away with things that almost no one else could have gotten away with.

On top of all that, he's said plenty of times that Trump was a perfectly fine president. He's not "moderate on social issues" if he likes Trump.

r158, are you r95 or are there two of you crazies?

R167 There's a way to check, cunt.

I guess that's a yes. Time for your meds, dear.

And I just checked. Score one for me. Bingo.

I rewatched all eleven seasons of Frasier during the double whammy of lockdown and chemotherapy last year. It made life better. A reboot is either just what the world needs right now....or it’ll be a horrendous travesty that we’ll all wish had never happened. Could go either way. Frasier had the double lightning strike of perfect scripting (during its peak, anyway) and perfect casting and chemistry. If Niles isn’t in this, I will cry. I can’t imagine Frasier without him now.

It was a great show but I’m not sure we want to go back.

Agree r171. I think they might be overestimating Grammer's solo appeal. He was obnoxious in a way that needed the right priggish partner. When you think about, Diane and Niles has some similarities.

I liked Kelsey Grammer in a movie in which he bonds with his estranged daughter, Kristen Bell, on a cruise ship. Wry, sad, likeable. Everything you’d hope

That said, his latest movie, a transplant drama, has Julia Stiles as his love interest. Yeah.

Hope things are going well for you, r171.

I hope Guy from the ski lodge (James Patrick Stuart from General Hospital) makes an appearance.

It’s pronounced Guy, r176.

Please not Kristen Bell. She is way overexposed. Used to love her but now wish she and her husband would take a long sabbatical.

They could just be saying that Grammer “reached out to everybody” to be respectful, their plan might've been to have a lone Frasier make a clean break of things from the outset, following the blueprint created after Cheers, that would fit, and if this is a success I'm sure the original cast will make guest appearances just like the Cheers cast did on Frasier.

Will the audience/laugh track be returning, or will they take a different route?

This has to stop. Does nobody in network TV have any fresh ideas any more?

What next? Digging up Mary Tyler Moore?

No way there is going to be a Frazier reboot without Niles, Daphne and Roz. No way. It wouldn’t be Frazier.

He would just do a new show or cancel the reboot. That was the whole cast.

[quote]It wouldn’t be Frazier

It certainly wouldn't.

R181 they were doing reboots in the 80s and most early tv was adapted from radio and so on. Originality has never bern television's strong point.

I'm guessing the supporting cast is hesitant because this whole project is so shaky it could register in a seismograph.

It's not being written and developed by the brilliant original creative team, including gay Joe Keenan. It's instead being developed by a couple of unknowns who wrote fanfic posted on Twitter. That alone would make an actor hesitant about signing on.

I'm guessing Leeves Pierce and Gilpin got a look at the treatment or the pilot script and didn't like what they saw.

And sorry, certain ideas are just flat-outwrong. FRASIER 2.0 shouldn't be set anywhere but Seattle - it had Seattle in its DNA. The original worked because it had a brilliant premise that allowed it to explore both family dynamics and romantic travails, without cloying, annoying kids.

I don't want to see 70 year old Frasier Crane with toddlers on his lap.

And is there a story left to be told about a character who has already been on television for 20 years? There's really nothing we don't already know about Frasier, so any character development iis bound to be redundant.

I'm torn. I love Seattle and the old cast, but I didn't think Frasier, as a character, would work away from his Boston setting and Cheers, and I was wrong. Maybe a clean break is exactly what it would need for a reboot. Then if it establishes itself the others can visit like his Cheers friends did.

I actually think this could work more than SATC. There is more material to pull from.

I'll say this much for Kelsey Grammer. He got lucky when he was cast as Frasier Crane and he rode that train to fame, fortune, several wives, and several trips to rehab over the course of twenty years.

And I've seen him in several other sitcoms and dramas in the years since Frasier went off the air. He is not capable of playing any other character, or to put it another way, every character he plays winds up being Frasier Crane because Grammer just doesn't have any other kind of acting instinct.

So of course ... he should try to play Frasier Crane again. What else can he do?

R36 A whole Waiting for Godot situation.

r188 the public also has no ability to see him as anything else because he played the part of SO long in different shows and for SO long in perpetuity (reruns/streaming). It's branded on him. He sort of pulled it off on Broadway a couple of times, but it still seemed a bit like Frasier playing Georges or Cast Hook—neither of which was incompatible. Frasier playing Macbeth didn't work, as much his fault as ours. He'd played Shakespeare well pre-[italic]Frasier[/italic], and he later sent up some of the same qualities in himself that made him good for Shakespeare...so there was no turning back.

I liked his latest movie as a washed up rock has been.

Personally, I for one would be happy to never hear the name Kelsey Grammer ever again or see his unattractive mug

Maybe he can make history and do the entire season as a one man show! "I Frasier!"

Grammar as Felix and Cosby as Oscar in a senior Odd Couple.

Or a reboot of Humpy Old Men.

I would like to see Grammer and Hyde Pierce in a new series together.

R190 It is kind of like Lucy, she could change the name and the situation, but all America wanted to see was LUCY. Thankfully, for Grammer, Frasier isn't really a physical comedy character. He won't have the same issues she had on Life With Lucy.

r168 I had you blocked and just looked at your collected works and you say "cunt" in nearly every post.

Going to block you again, cunt.

R198 Good, cunt. I get off on attacking all the wretched trolls on here. There is no end to their levels of cuntitude, cunt.

I don't get the dried up old men with their dried up old opinions here.

They took Frasier out of Boston in 1994 and made it work with a new (non-Cheers) cast.

Who says it can't be done again? How do you know for a fact that a reboot won't work without so-and-so?

Oh, wait. That's right, this is the DL, where, if things aren't they way they were 20/30/40/50 years ago, they're no good at all!!

I keep forgetting the DL mantra...

It may well be a success.

I wish the Murphy Brown reboot had been on Netflix and gone more serious.

a) I'd have to be skeptical about a Frasier reboot, except that was also my reaction to a Frasier spinoff from Cheers.

b) Add this all together and who could play Marris ?

Throughout the series Maris has never been seen; however, she has been described to the viewers by a variety of people, including Niles. Maris has been described as being extremely thin, frail, and pale, as Martin describes Maris to a police dispatcher as being "very, very Caucasian", and Frasier once said she had no pigmentation and would "sear like an ahi tuna" if she remained in the sun for more than three minutes.

Lady, Niles' canine companion has been compared to Maris on a few occasions. The dog bears such a resemblance to Maris that Martin even refers to it as "Four-legged Maris", even going as far as saying that it acts like Maris, barks like Maris and aside from the fact that it eats now and then that they are dead ringers

She was seen by Martin, Frasier and Roz who were hiding in her bathroom and was mistaken by Roz for being a moving hat rack. Maris is evidently so thin and narrow that Niles even jokes that he couldn't see her half of the time when she was standing right in front of him.

Diane Chambers described Maris as being the "queerest little creature" she had ever seen, indicating that she may also be somewhat short.

As a result of her extremely skinny frame and tendency to avoid eating, Maris tends to get weakened and exhausted rather easily, such as when trying to impress the guests of Frasier's party during "The Crucible", and is too weak to slam a door shut on her own. She also has a slight webbing on her fingers, which according to Niles makes her feel self-conscious and refuses to hold hands.

It is mentioned by Niles that while she enjoys dancing, the barracuda (developed by famed Latin-American sensation Carlos del Gato AKA "the Barracuda") was the only dance that she was capable of doing, as the hustle was much too strenuous for her, though her fetching underbite was apropos for the dance.

[quote] He is not capable of playing any other character, or to put it another way, every character he plays winds up being Frasier Crane because Grammer just doesn't have any other kind of acting instinct.

c) Like hell.

What is the obsession with Maris? She and Niles were long divorced when the show ended. Why would she factor into this reboot? She shouldn’t.

R202 I love you and worry about you in equal measure. Well, maybe not equal.

R203 Most DLers, who are over 70, have the mentality of someone with stage 3 syphilis. There ain't much intellect. That's why they obsess over a non-character in a horrible fictional TV series like Frasier.

I'm surprised that NBC didn't snap this up.

They should just let it die - Frasier was a fantastic show so why ruin it with what is sure to be a shit revamp.

I think it did die. Haven't heard anything about it for quite a while. Once it became clear that none of the other actors from the original show were involved, people stopped paying attention to this stupid idea.

Apparently, this was being developed by a couple of FRASIER fanfic writers with a Twitter account.

It involved none of the original actors, writers or producers except for Grammer.

If it died in development hell, great. And I say that as a FRASIER fanatic who thinks the original series is a gold standard for sitcoms.

DEADLINE: Speaking of Frasier, do you know anything about where things stand with the reboot?

PIERCE: I don’t know where they stand. I haven’t talked to Kelsey in a while. The last time I talked to him, I knew that it was a work in progress, and I think it still is in the works.

DEADLINE: With all the talk about it over the years, have you thought at all about where you’d want to see those characters?

PIERCE: My feeling was always that they had gone on their way, and I wasn’t really thinking about where they had gone. I went on to other shows. But I think if I saw a script where I went, “Oh my gosh, how interesting. Who would have thought that this is what they’re doing?” That’s why I never say I wouldn’t do it. It’s about how their story is told, because I care a lot about those people, those actors. This is how I always pick my projects, now that I have the luxury of picking them: I take them because I have to. That’s what happened with Julia. I read this script and I thought, I have to do this part. I want to explore this person and explore this relationship. And so, if I were to see a script of a Frasier reboot that I had to do, I would do it.

I won't watch it if Niles isn't in it.