Frasier returns: Kelsey Grammer’s return is fraught with risk | Frasier

Aalready high in the small line of fallout shows that at least equal to the longevity and legend of the parent, Frasier (NBC, 1993-2004) – born of Cheers (NBC, 1982-93) – will aim for a place on a pedestal even more empty: classic series successfully relaunched after a long hiatus.

Arrested Development in the US, Birds of a Feather and Open All Hours in the UK made such a comeback, but these shows did not have Frasier status. Dusting off the fastidious Seattle-based radio psychiatrist played by Kelsey Grammer involves something like the degree of risk of returning to Fawlty Towers, which its creator, John Cleese, may have always wisely refused to do.

As is often the case with artistic successes, Frasier is not the result of planning but of happy accidents. The cheers, placed among regulars at a Boston bar, did not introduce the character of Dr. Frasier Crane, a ridiculous psychiatrist, until the third series; even then, it was only written for a few episodes, as moderator of the hesitant marriage of two of the permanent cast. After John Lithgow turned down the role, the producers chose Grammer, then 29 years old with an emerging reputation in American theater, particularly in the work of English playwrights: William Shakespeare, David Hare and Simon Gray. (There are a number of warm references to the actor in Gray’s volumes of often harsh theatrical memoirs.)

This has been the response of the show’s writers (and then viewers) to Grammer as Frasier, whom he has remained for the past eight seasons as a big thinker among heavy drinkers. But, remarkably in terms of what happened next, he remained a relatively minor character.

By the time Cheers came to an end, it had already become common for networks to seek financial compensation for themselves and emotional solace for audiences by trying to take advantage of the best shows. The record was mixed. Korean War medical drama M * A * S * H ​​resulted in one minor hit and two flops; Happy Days had seven descendants, two of whom prospered: Mork & Mindy and Laverne & Shirley.

Even though the Boston bar show was still going on, it had tried to grow another golden apple from the tree, but The Tortellis (1987) was canceled after one season. Perhaps because of this, the creators of Cheers – James Burrows, and Glen and Les Charles – were initially reluctant to a direct narrative continuation after Cheers ended in 1993.

Seeing something special in Grammer, members of the writing team built him into a crippled billionaire role dependent on his caregivers, but the network rejected him. As for the idea of ​​extending Grammer’s previous character, Frasier’s creators – David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee – may have learned from Mork & Mindy, a sci-fi show that originated from a nostalgic comedy, that a second success is more likely. with a significant distance from the first. Nervous that if the new show falters, NBC would call cameos from regulars of Cheers, effectively re-enacting the old show, they would put Frasier on the other side of America. This is how Frasier moved to Seattle, the character’s hometown, where he fled after a divorce and took a job as a radio advice host.

A narrative sleight of hand was necessary, for in the world of Cheers, Frasier had been an orphan only child; but the spin-off gave him a competitive dyspeptic shrink brother, Niles (David Hyde Pierce), and a sick father, Martin (John Mahoney), who in the pilot episode acquired a caregiver, Daphne Moon (Jane Leeves). As Daphne, bizarrely, is from the northwest of England, Frasier hits among the major American sitcoms in his setup lines spoken with a Mancunian cod accent.

While British sitcoms are often built around slogans (“I didn’t get to where I am today,” “Lovely jubbly!”, Etc.), American comedy depends more on the characteristics of the catch – the height of Frasier, the wickedness of Niles, the (seen in his name) the daffiness of Daphne. These do not appear by repeating the same sentence, but by new verbal expressions of the main stroke. In his post-death recovery, Frasier easily adapted to the culture of music videos and memes, with multiple compilations of Frasier’s best offensive expressions, Niles’ vicious reprimands, Daphne’s wacky Britishism, and more.

Since Frasier is politically liberal, this inevitably aroused some amusement as Grammer’s own allegiance is firmly Republican and right-wing; he made pro-Trump, pro-Brexit, and pro-Putin comments.

But those who find it surprising, even hypocritical, that actors can play characters outside of their own worldview may miss the point of a profession rooted in simulation and psychological exploration. If you dine with Sir Anthony Hopkins, he’s unlikely to eat your liver with beans; yet brilliantly portrayed, like Dr. Hannibal Lecter, someone who would.

And, regardless of their acting skills, the writers, whether or not inspired by the gap between Grammer and Frasier, have given the character deep contradictions – a liberal culture and setting snob, an expert in relationships that struggles with family and lovers. Much of the best comedy involves people ill-suited to what they do – Captain Mainwaring is not of the officer class, Basil Fawlty has no manners of hospitality, David Brent cannot handle his own career. In Cheers and Frasier, Grammer’s character is a fish that feels both in and out of the waters he finds himself in. Most actors would tell you that a Republican playing a Democrat might find this a help rather than an obstacle.

The new Frasier will air on Paramount Plus, a streaming service. This is another example of how the fragmentation of broadcasting through digital expansion has, by changing the economics of television, democratized programming. An old show with a large fan base may not match the demographic or ratings of its original network, but could do decent business for a niche selling point. BBC One had doubts about relaunching all Creatures Big and Small, but it fits the smaller Channel 5 perfectly. Even if out of sheer curiosity or nostalgia, Paramount Plus should have a market ready for at least the first new Frasiers. .

Some show-runners are stuck having killed their characters in the finale, forcing them either to a prequel, or to medical or theological convolutions in order to bring them back. Frasier, however, lagged behind 16 years ago. Viewers were misled into thinking that a plane carrying the protagonist was going to land in San Francisco (where there was the promise of a new job), but the runway turned out to be in Chicago, where there was the lure of a lost love.

A complication of the plot will be that Mahoney, who played Martin, passed away in 2018, and revamping that part would raise taste and script issues. (Dad would now be at least 90 years old.)

So the writers’ room will likely start by asking questions such as: where is Frasier, around 70, in 2021, and with whom? Are Niles and Daphne still married? Their son, David, now a teenager, offers another potential new installment. Frasier was (in line with his time) a very white spectacle, so diversity will have to be introduced somehow.

And, since Frasier’s last on-screen appearance, the real America has had eight years of Obama and four of Trump as president. What did the character do with it? It could really give Kelsey Grammer something to play with.