When Cheers ended after a mammoth eleven-season run, Kelsey Grammer wanted Frasier Crane to “die.” Not literally — that would be a bit dark for one of the best TV series of all time — but the comedy series actor was ready to retire the character for good.
First appearing in season 3 of Cheers, psychologist Frasier Crane started off as a recurring character, and the love interest of series regular Diane Chambers (Shelley Long). Things didn’t work out between them (she jilted him at the altar), but by season 5 the character started frequenting Cheers a lot more — proving so popular that he was promoted to a series regular.
Clearly, execs could see a future for Frasier beyond the ending of Cheers, but in a 2016 interview on The Rich Eisen Show, the actor of one of the best ’90s TV shows of all time said he was initially unsure.
“I wanted to kill Frasier, I thought it was his time to end,” Grammer explained. “Cheers is over, let’s do something else.”
As it turns out, Grammer was set to do something else. But it involved Frasier Crane being very much alive. He continued, “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.’”
And cool it was. Frasier, which followed Crane as he moved back to his hometown in Seattle and became a radio host, ran for another eleven seasons and won no less than 37 Primetime Emmys during its run. If that wasn’t enough, it also won the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy for five consecutive years, meaning that when the series eventually ended in 2004, the character truly ended on a high.
But even then, Frasier wasn’t dead. Somehow, Frasier Crane returned. Not to turn anyone to a Sith Lord or anything, but to lead a second Paramount Plus show wherein the character returns to Boston and settles into the next phase of his live.