Hey baby, we hear those blues a-callin’ — and they’re saying that a Frasier reboot might actually be happening. Per Deadline, star Kelsey Grammer already has a potential storyline in mind for a revival of his hit ‘90s TV series.
And the timing couldn’t be more perfect, considering the show turns 25 this year.
Grammer and some of his costars spoke about the NBC show at the USC Comedy Festival Vol. 4, held in Los Angeles on Saturday. Largely, the panel of actors and producers remembered the late John Mahoney, who memorably played the Frasier family patriarch, Martin.
John Mahoney was a lovely man. His Martin Crane was FRASIER's moral center; his cranky decency and bewildered love for his two improbable sons was hilarious one minute, heartbreaking the next, and you never caught him acting. It was a privilege and a joy to write for him. pic.twitter.com/Fs7RvNjxOj
— Joe Keenan (@MrJoeKeenan) February 6, 2018
More: John Mahoney & All the Other Celebrities We’ve Lost in 2018
But the subject of a potential reboot did come up, and Grammer offered some intriguing insight on its status. First order of business? Figuring out how to keep the gang together while relaying that they’d all moved forward.
“A lot of us are quite committed to the concept that you would never try to redo what we once had,” Grammer said, seated alongside costars David Hyde Pierce (Dr. Niles Crane), Jane Leeves (Daphne Moon) and Peri Gilpin (Roz Doyle).
Grammer, who of course starred as the eponymous Dr. Frasier Crane, insisted the reboot would “have to have a different foundation,” since more than a decade has passed since the series capped off its 11-season run in 2004.
#Frasier’s series finale aired 13 years ago today. Here’s why it’s one of the best sitcom finales of all time https://t.co/t04J26zkJwpic.twitter.com/kBpcM5TMhv
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) May 13, 2017
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Rest assured, though, that Grammer can’t imagine creating a revival without the original series stars together again.
“There has been some discussion — nothing is planned; nothing is set in stone. In my own personal approach to what I’ve discussed with other people is that I wouldn’t want to do it without these guys,” Grammer said of Pierce, Leeves and Gilpin, adding that he wants “a new life with a new continuation for all of them but that they’re still together.”
Another promising bit of intel to emerge from the panel? Grammer admitted he had a sort of stripped-down storyline in mind for the revival. “Whatever happens, in my mind, should be that he sorted out something that he hadn’t sorted out previously. That would be the stepping point, so we’ll see,” he said.
Deadline first broke the news about a potential Frasier revival back in July, noting that Grammer has been spearheading the project and that it was potentially being shopped by CBS.
At that point, sources suggested that the reboot would be set in an entirely different city, albeit with the same cast of characters (sans the beloved Mahoney, may he rest in peace).
The all Frasier all denim cast photo shoot is the greatest sit com photo shoot in history pls don’t @ me pic.twitter.com/soxwozpJ5Y
— meeg (@cowboylikemeag) October 28, 2018
More: All the Nostalgic TV Shows & Movies Being Rebooted in 2018
Fans of the original series may well remember that Frasier itself was a spinoff — the character of Dr. Frasier Crane had been introduced on the Boston-based series Cheers. The spinoff saw him return to his Seattle roots to reconnect with his family and to kick off his radio hosting career.
So, perhaps the reboot will see Frasier and his friends return to the East Coast. Only time will tell, but consider our curiosity piqued.
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