Kelsey Grammer didn’t want Frasier Crane to hang around after “Cheers” ended its long run on NBC. He changed his mind, though.
“I wanted to kill Frasier, I thought it was his time to end,” Grammer said in a 2016 interview on “The Rich Eisen Show.” “‘Cheers’ is over, let’s do something else. I had a deal with Paramount and they said we’re going to do another show when ‘Cheers’ is over with you. I said, ‘Cool.'”
It did end up being cool as Grammer finds himself playing Crane on “Frasier.”
The show focuses on Frasier moving from Boston to Seattle and hosting his own radio show. He’d take calls from listeners, even guest celebrity callers, and offer advice. His character is a psychiatrist and his opinions come from his own practice.
TV Star Kept Playing His Iconic Character On Spinoff For 12 Seasons
Grammer, who is planning on a “Frasier” reboot, has in the original show a cast of solid actors. It ran for 12 seasons on NBC. Jane Leeves, David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney, and Peri Gilpin made up the core of supporting cast members. Of course, there’s Eddie the dog too.
“Cheers” provided the base for Grammer and other actors to create memorable characters. Yet the lone spinoff from the NBC sitcom happened to involve the one actor who, at first, didn’t want to go on with his role.
For his work on the original “Frasier,” Grammer won a number of Emmy Awards. He picked up four for “Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series” in 1994, 1995, 1998, and 2004. Grammer also won another Emmy for his voice-over work on “The Simpsons.” In case you don’t know, Grammer provides the voice of Bart Simpson’s nemesis, Sideshow Bob.
‘Cheers’ Puts Grammer Co-Star On Show While Dropping Dream Job
Kelsey Grammer was a part of “Cheers” from the first season. That wasn’t the case for his costar, Woody Harrelson.
Harrelson, who played Woody Boyd on the barroom comedy, went through an audition for the role. He put his sights on his dream of playing on Broadway. Harrelson talks about the process in a 2012 interview on “The Howard Stern Show.”
“I was an understudy on a Neil Simon play called ‘Biloxi Blues,'” Harrelson said. “And then I got a little furlough from that to go do this movie ‘Wildcats’ and I was in L.A. finishing that movie.
“As I was finishing it, I was supposed to go back and do the play,” he said. “And the opportunity that came up to do this, to audition for this show where there was a character called Woody. He’s from Indiana, where I’d just gone to college.”
Obviously, Harrelson did the audition and won the part. It means that Broadway gets put on the backburner. But Harrelson’s career took off after “Cheers” thanks to movie roles like in “Natural Born Killers” and others.
