Why Frasier’s Co-Creator Doesn’t Want to Be Involved With Reboot

Don’t expect Frasier co-creator David Lee to be involved in the show’s upcoming reboot. The Cheers spin-off is one of the few television offshoots that became as successful as its parent series. Now, almost two decades since it wrapped up in 2004, Frasier is being revived, this time, through Paramount+.

Star Kelsey Grammer, who played the titular character, has been leading the efforts to bring the Cranes back into the small screen. For years, the actor and producer teased that the reboot has been in the works, but nothing came out of it until it was officially ordered by Paramount+ in 2021. Grammer is confirmed to reprise his radio psychiatrist character, Frasier Crane, but no additional castings have been announced. In fact, there hasn’t been any substantial update about the Frasier reboot for a while now. But whatever is happening with it, Lee says that he won’t be involved with it.

The prolific comedy writer’s choice doesn’t have anything to do with drama among the people involved. Instead, it’s a practical decision for him. As he explained in a new interview with Palm Springs Life, he gave Grammer the go-ahead to work on a Frasier revival but he and his co-creator Peter Casey won’t be attached to it simply because they feel like they’re too old to work gruesome hours in producing a weekly show.

“The answer is we don’t know. Kelsey is very interested in doing it and seems to be shepherding it along. But my partner, Peter [Casey] and I, who are two of the three creators who are still alive at this point, we said, “Go with God, but we’re not going to be involved.” It’s not because we don’t love everybody involved, it’s just that producing a weekly television show is a young man’s game. Quite frankly, we did that already.”

One thing that Lee may have missed when answering the question is that there’s a chance that the Frasier revival would be released all at once but with a lesser number of episodes. Network sitcoms, like the original show, were rolled out weekly and had a traditionally lengthy 18 to 24 episodes every season. But streaming series, even comedy ones, tend to only have at most 12 offerings per year. If Lee and Casey were only worried about that, perhaps they can check out what Paramount+’s release structure for the Frasier reboot will be. It’s worth noting, however, that Lee previously said that he’s opposed to the idea of reboot considering how perfect the sitcom’s ending was.

Unfortunately, Lee isn’t the only one who shares the sentiment regarding reviving Frasier. David Hyde Pierce long said that he’s opposed to the idea — even before the project was greenlit. The actor has yet to comment about the matter since it was officially announced last year, but if his stance remains the same, then it could pose big problems for Grammer’s efforts to bring back the Cranes. Despite the show being named after one character, it was an ensemble comedy, with Niles being as prominently featured as his older brother. So if Hyde Pierce decides to sit out the upcoming project, fans would be massively disappointed, especially with John Mahoney’s Martin Crane no longer going to be around.

Source: Palm Springs Life

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