Frasier revival, tossed salad, and scrambled eggs coming to Paramount Plus as early as next year
Kelsey Grammer said that the Frasier revival is still in its early stages, but is on the way
TV News Frasier
Forget what the weirdos over at Friends will tell you; the white whale of television revivals has always been Frasier. Kelsey Grammer’s persnickety radio psychologist character was a television staple for 20 years (if you include Cheers), garnering Emmy after Emmy, and a worldwide infatuation with Niles, Roz, and, of course, Eddie (R.I.P). Well, Grammer says that Paramount hears the blues a-callin’ and wants more Frasier, and it’s coming sooner than later. So you can imagine it now, somewhere in Hollywood boardroom filled with executives banging their hands on a long oak table chanting “Frasier. Frasier.” until some poor soul got Grammer on the phone. It worked because Grammer says that it’ll probably be out early next year.
“Well, we don’t actually have a date when we’re going to start filming,” Kelsey Grammer told Collider. “We’re still kind of breaking the story a little bit, we’re doing a polish now.”
“When will we see a Frasier? Probably in the first quarter of next year.”
Grammer confirmed the revival’s existence earlier this year. Back in February, the actor told The Hollywood Reporter that he heard the cries of a desperate, confused, and, frankly, pathetic country and that he and Paramount+ could fix it with some more Frasier.
“Having spent over 20 years of my creative life on the Paramount lot, both producing shows and performing in several, I’d like to congratulate Paramount+ on its entry into the streaming world,” Grammer said in a statement. “I gleefully anticipate sharing the next chapter in the continuing journey of Dr. Frasier Crane.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the writers of the “Modern Day Frasier” Twitter account, @FrasierContempo, (and also television writers) Chris Harris (How I Met Your Mother) and Joe Cristalli (Life In Pieces) would be pen the new series. Nothing warms your heart quite like a Twitter account getting fulfill its dream of writing a contemporary version of a beloved sitcom. We’re still waiting on that @Seinfeld2000 show, though.
80 Comments
He needs to be careful about how the process goes. Can’t afford another misstep.
I’m hoping some of the ST:TNG Season 8 Twitter plots come up in the next season of Picard.
Or maybe an appearance by a certain Captain Morgan Bateson
I (am too lazy to but) want to make a Twitter gimmick account called “Shipwide Emails,” the idea being that every time Data is possessed by an alien intelligence or Riker’s duplicate shows up, it’s someone’s job to email the rest of the crew and explain what’s going on.“LCMDR Data has recently begun having dreams. If you find him wandering the ship at 0300 and he does not seem to know where he is, please contact LCMDR La Forge immediately.”“LT Worf has recently had his arm cut off and reattached by alien crab monsters from another dimension. Please respect his personal space while he adjusts to this fact.”“CMDR Riker has not been demoted; if you see a version of him wearing engineering colors, this is a transporter clone who was trapped on a planet for seven years. He has not had sexual harassment training.”
There needs to be at least one email apologising for the “Kathy on the beaming console is such a bitch” message to the entire Federation instead of just one person, leading to approximately one billion “You sent this to everyone, you know” and “Please take me off this mailing list” replies.
And you just know some of those people hit “reply all.”
Also an email every time the holodeck went on the fritz and tried to kill everyone, which happened at least once per year.
Nothing warms your heart quite like a Twitter account getting fulfill
its dream of writing a contemporary version of a beloved sitcomThis also happened with Star Trek: Lower Decks, by the TNG S8 guy, Mike McMahan. Are there other examples?
It was Funny or Die videos, not Twitter, but the guy who made the “Zack Morris is Trash” videos was hired to write on the Saved by the Bell reboot.
Wow, that’s shocking given how shitty that Lower Decks cartoon looks. Whoever would have thought that writing a whole show is harder than 140 characters?
I’m still waiting for a TV show about the famous Ed Balls tweet that just read “Ed Balls”. It practically writes itself!
It’s better than you’d think, at least if you’re a hardcore trek nerd who knows all the trivia but doesn’t take it too seriously (and doesn’t mind constant fanservice). If you’re looking for it to be the next TNG-style series, you’ll be disappointed, but if you take it at face value, it’s quite enjoyable.
The opening credits are just about the funniest thing from Trek in decades.
and doesn’t mind constant fanservice Note it is western fanservice and not anime fanservice. Don’t expect a hot springs episode or an over abundance of Boimler panty shots.
Lower Decks was absolutely the only thing that made me hesitate about cancelling my Paramount+ subscription. I still did, though.
Paramount+ had better get its butt in gear. There is almost nothing there of original content if you don’t like the new Trek series.Of all of the newer streaming services, this one is the most obvious “quick cash grab”.
Than it looks? So you haven’t even seen it I gather. Impressive you’ve managed to formulate such an iron clad opinion of it.
Morgan Cooper who made a trailer for a dramatic take on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was hired to work on its reboot.
Well, if Paramount+ can bring Picard back after three decades, why not Frasier after two? What’s next?
“Honeymooners” reunion CONFIRMED!
None of the core cast of TNG has died, for one. Even Diane Muldaur is still around.
I thought we agreed to never mentioning her?There is only Dr. Beverly Crusher. Side note: I miss the ST:TNG recaps. Frakes was the best. And I’m still convinced that it was O’Neil ghosting.
I know I’m going to take heat from this, but Gates McFadden is a terrible actress, at least on TNG. She’s nice eye candy, and she’ll forever be my hero for the epic Wesley slap, but she couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag.Her character was kind of awful too—who ever heard of a cure for a cold causing the entire ship to regress into primitive life forms?
That’s a lie, everyone knows she fell down that lift/elevator shaft.
I got a tossed salad notification for this?
Seinfeld already got their reunion special out of the way on Curb Your Enthusiasm. It was the perfect way to do it, we don’t need a real one.
John Mahoney He was a great actor. Sad he won’t be part of this, regardless of how you feel about Frasier. The Russia House wasn’t a great film, but it had great performances, and especially his. It did have a great soundtrack.
His performance in Barton Fink was so terrific that not only did every role he played afterward kind of turned into William Faulkner for me, William Faulkner completely turned into John Mahoney in my mind, if that makes any sense.
This. How on earth do they plan to do a revival without arguably the most important character on the original show?It would be like Fresh Prince without James Av……oh right.
They should throw caution, taste, and dignity to the wind and cast a CGI John Mahoney, like in that Star Wars movie.
Hell, have Martin replaced by a CGI Grand Moff Tarkin and just never have anyone comment on it.
I loved him in Cheers as the jingle writer.
Without John Mahoney’s performance, Say Anything… would have been just another piece of flotsam in the late 80s/early 90s teen romance oeuvre. God, he was so good in that role.
At least we’re finally calling it a revival now instead of a reboot. Correct terminology FTW!
NewsRadio was the thinking man’s Frasier.
I can’t even think of anybody who is even remotely like Phil Hartman who could play Bill McNeal in a reboot. Thankfully, they’d probably never try.
Shortly after Harman’s death, there was a rumor printed on Ain’t It Cool News, supposedly from an inside source, that stated that the show’s creators had taken a meeting with William Shatner to discuss his joining the casts. I don’t know if that’s true, or if it would have worked. The season they did produce remains overshadowed by the tragedy even to this day, and John Lovitz, as effective as he’s been in other roles, was a terrible fit. (The office already had a weirdo spaz.) Shatner might have been interesting.
That certainly would have been….interesting.Then again, who expected The Shat to knock it out of the park on Boston Legal?
Most of it didn’t work, but I do remember a few times they found the right for Lovitz. I think they may have been better served replacing Bill with a funny female character (since Catherine had also left). Then it wouldn’t have felt so much like a Lovitz for Hartman situation.
Season 5 was rocky but had its moments. I would have loved to see a possible s6 up in New Hampshire (?) at the new station Mr James bought.
They’d probably keep Jon Lovitz as the replacement Phil.The real question is who’d replace Andy Dick, who would most certainly not be invited back.
“Wanted: One generic spaz for revived 90s TV show”They could always get French Stewart back on the show.Or his “twin” Jon Stewart.Edit: Also, what would they do about the rather controversial Rogan?
Lovitz is great but he was the wrong guy to fill that void, personality wise.
The problem is that he played a new character, and not his insane character from a previous episode.
Which one, nuthouse Lovitz or jumper Lovitz sent to Siberia? 😉
A sexual offender with a coke problem? It’s Hollywood, so tons of candidates.
Billy West?
Yeah, he’s got the voice, but what about the appearance and acting ability?
Oh I have no idea. I was just making a joking reference to him voicing Zapp Brannigan when the character was originally written for Hartman.
The whole premise of the show was “elitist snob is forced to share an apartment with his blue collar father.” It doesn’t work as well when the father is dead.
Frasier does have a son even though you hardly saw him in the show. I would assume a revival would have Frederick move in and be the source of whatever hilarious culture crashes ensue. Maybe he’ll be a Juggalo or something.. one can only dream.
His son was briefly goth in one of his rare appearances, I would fucking love it if he turned into a Juggalo soon after and stayed that way for the last 15+ years.Also, if they really are going to try for a dynamic similar to the original show and have Frasier move in with his son or something I really hope they acknowledge that Frasier was a shitty absentee father. I know it was probably mostly the writers forgetting or not being interested in “Frasier as a dad” stories, but judging from what we saw over a decade of the show Frasier seems to spend at most a couple of days per year with his son.
This would be a good angle. They could also have some freedom to tell Frasier/Frederick stories that happened “off camera”..i.e., stuff we didn’t get to see. From that standpoint, they could basically invent a whole backstory out of thin air!
Now I want a Frasier revival where Frasier has to live with his Juggalo son, with the added twist that Kelsey Grammer isn’t apprised of the plot beforehand, so we’re watching him struggle to stay in character while surrounded by juggalos. I realize I just type the phrase “I want a Frasier revival,” and I want to be 100% clear that I was being hyperbolic. I don’t want that. Nobody wants that.
Well any premise can make for a good show. Whether it will is another thing entirely, and I’m not optimistic about a revival of something like this. But who knows? It could be the best thing since… tossed salad and scrambled eggs.
Kind of worked up to a point with Psycho.
Now there’s an idea. He’s got Martín siting in that chair in some dusty attic nobody ever sees. He still has his call-in show, but he always ends up reassuring the callers that, “Everyone goes a little crazy sometimes.”
“A man’s best friend is his brother.”
Eh, the main character originated in a series where the premise was “bar owner and waitress have romantic tension while barflies make jokes”. It’s not impossible that Frasier Crane’s third outing might go a different route entirely.
Of course, that premise was developed out of the Freudian concept of the “Oedipal complex.” The revival, in contrast, will utilize a more Jungian schema, like the one followed in Weekend at Bernie’s.
New premise: “elitist snob is forced to share an apartment with his Force Ghost father.”
Won’t work. The way to do a third Frasier series is for him to be a character on a show with more of an ensemble cast, and then he departs after the third season.
Can the new series feature a recently divorced Niles? “It turns out, and as a psychiatrist I really should have seen this coming, that Daphne and I had built our relationship on an extremely unhealthy basis of blind infatuation exacerbated by my deep-seated insecurity caused by an unhappy marriage to an abusive partner. Also, this chardonnay is nowhere near piquant enough for my tastes.”
I would be surprised to see David Hyde Pierce on the show since he is not a fan of Kelsey Grammer.
How does he feel about paychecks though?
Every time I see Kelsey Grammer acting (and especially when he’s playing Frasier Crane) it depresses me a little bit. He played the same character for 20 years — the last several of those he was earning something like a million bucks an episode. And he is STILL working!Now I have not been working for as long as Grammer has; I haven’t even been working for as long as he’s played Frasier Crane. I don’t earn nearly as much as he does. I hope to retire some day, but when I put it in perspective, I think: If Kelsey Grammer can’t afford to retire, then what hope do I have?
It depends on how many times you plan on getting married. I think Kelsey has had a few alimony payments to cover, which might account for the need to still work.
Yup – he’s with his 4th wife. I have to think he’s still relatively financially secure so maybe working is somewhat because he wants to. I mean Seinfeld is still doing things.
I suppose his lifestyle is pretty different than mine. He enjoys getting married and divorced many more times than I do, and he has crashed more sports cars than I. Those expenses probably add up pretty quickly.
Do you really believe Kelsey Grammer can’t afford to retire? People in creative fields generally enjoy what they do, which is why they tend to work into old age. I’ll retire the minute it is feasible.
My comment was mostly tongue-in-cheek, and I acknowledge that some people work not because they need to but because they truly love what they do.I worked with a man who could certainly afford to retire, but in his words: “the work is fun, the pay is good, the people are nice, and the parking is free” so he stuck around for a while.
At the same time, there’s the issue of “lifestyle inflation”. Give a regular schmo just a couple episodes worth of “Frasier money” and he’d be set for life at his current lifestyle; but if you’ve become accustomed to that kind of cash flow by buying multiple homes around the country, taking exotic trips, giving lavish gifts, and participating in expensive hobbies, it’s not too unreasonable to think that some wealthy individuals would need to continue working to keep that up.
Hoping it’s basically just gonna be a live action this:
Been watching a bunch of “Frasier” as of late, it’s free on Hulu and it’s a pleasant show for the most part. Niles is the best part of it IMO (ok well maybe Eddie, but he’s the best human). It gets pretty exhausting watching the 40-something+ old balding, average-looking Frasier Crane paired every other week with love interests 20 years his junior in ‘90s fashion model shape. Makes more sense though when you know he’s an executive producer who directed a lot of the episodes.
I attempted to rewatch it a couple of months ago and despite the generally breezy vibe had to give up because it was just too misogynistic, which really started to wear on me at a certain point.
Its not much of a stretch when you remember that horseface Jerry Seinfeld (before he was unbelievably rich) and especially short, bald, ‘stocky’ George pulling in flawless women every week.
The irony is that some actresses played both Jerry’s/George’s girlfriends and Frasier girlfriends such as Teri Hatcher and Lisa Edelstein.
I mean those are a stretch too. This is a stock Hollywood/Media thing for men and women. Anne Bankroft was in her late 30’s when she played the “cougar” to 30 year old Dennis Hoffman’s “graduate.”This article – entitled “Leading men age, their love interests don’t” – has a nifty chart.
https://slate.com/culture/2015/05/leading-men-age-but-their-love-interest-don-t.html
No. I already pay Spectrum far too much for a bunch of nothing while I watch UK TV streaming. Why the HELL would anyone pay extra for a sitcom?
I can’t believe I got a “Salad Tossing” notification for this. Thanks for nothing AV Club.*zips up pants and puts lotion away”
Will he be offering psychological advice to his fellow magat vermin?
I’m not sure how to feel about this. I LOVED Frasier, but what I loved about it was the interplay between Frasier, Niles, Martin and the rest. The closest comparison I can think of is I Love Lucy vs The Lucy Show (and Here’s Lucy afterwards). What made I Love Lucy special was the interplay between Lucy and Ricky. With all respect to Gale Gordon and Vivian Vance, Lucy without Ricky wasn’t nearly as interesting (I can watch several I Love Lucy episodes in a row, but struggle to get through even one Lucy Show).I agree with other posters that the most likely scenario would be Frasier living with a very unFrasierlike Frederick. Bebe Neuwirth could likely be coaxed into returning as Lilith if enough $$$ were thrown around. If Lilith filled the Niles role (i.e. smarter than Frasier but even more repressed) and Frederick could be an acceptable Martin 2.0, the show might have a chance at working.