Kelsey Grammer recently opened up about how the Frasier reboot was heading down the wrong path and he was ready to ‘kill it.’ Paramount, the network behind the reboot, were giving him notes on the scripts which seemed to be veering Frasier in a ‘dark and gritty’ direction.
Grammer spoke to the CBS Morning show, saying; “We’d just been given a bunch of notes on what they (the studio) thought the show should be. The notes were awful. They were going down the wrong path at that time. You know, they were well-intentioned, but we were being ‘noted to death.’ I finally said, ‘look, let’s just kill it now’ and they said, ‘no, no. Sorry. Yeah, we understand, it’s supposed to be funny.’”
Grammer is the only original main cast-member of Frasier returning for the reboot. David Hyde-Pierce (Niles), Jane Leeves (Daphne), and Peri Gilpin (Roz) may make cameo appearances at some stage, but aren’t in the regular cast. Incredibly, British comedy legend Nicholas Lyndhurst – best-known for playing Rodney in comedy series Only Fools and Horses – is in the reboot. He plays an old college friend of Frasier’s. Jack Cutmore-Scott plays Frasier’s now fully grown son, Freddie.
Speaking of Only Fools and Horses, the other greatest British sitcom of all time – Fawlty Towers – is also getting the Frasier reboot treatment. In the case of Fawlty Towers, it’s been nearly 45 years since it was last on air, and for Frasier – it’s been almost 20 years.
Revivals, reboots, and legacy sequels are all the rage at the moment, sometimes with not much time passing from the original series. A Justified spin-off is bring Raylan Givens back eight years after the main series ended. Party Down (starring Adam Scott) is back after a over a decade, and legendary animated series Beavis and Butt-Head returned last year. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has also had a reboot, now in its second season, and King of the Hill is being revived.
Check out our guide to the best TV series.