“The assumption on my part was always that Frasier had grown,” says Frasier EP and star Kelsey Grammer as he joined a panel for the Paramount+ series at Deadline’s TV Contenders. “He’s an older man now – wiser, smarter, hopefully funnier and a little less hysterical about some things but still a man of honed, refined tastes and insists on living well.”
The Paramount+ reprisal of Frasier, a spin-off of Cheers, follows the next chapter in the life of the psychiatrist turned-radio host Frasier Crane. After returning to Boston from Seattle, Frasier takes on new challenges and relationships in hopes of living out a dream or two. The series also stars Jack Cutmore-Scott, Nicholas Lyndhurst and Toks Olagundoye.
“This is one of the most famous character in television, so we wanted to make sure we got it right,” says showrunner Chris Harris. “It was Kelsey’s idea at some point during the process… to go back to Boston. Originally, we had talked about other cities, but that just felt right. A returning home, there’s just something comforting to that.”
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“We knew we couldn’t replicate the old show, the old show was arguably the greatest sitcom of all time,” says showrunner Joe Cristalli. “We need new characters that sit on their own that are foils to Kelsey’s Frasier in a new way, in a fun way with new energies and new dynamics.”
In the series reboot, Frasier is hired as a psychology professor at Harvard leading to new experiences for the character. “You do get off on having new characters around, new energy, new life… and the idea that he’s shaping minds and that he’s now an educator,” says Grammer.
Check back Monday for the panel video.