From Boston To Seattle: the Creation of Frasier
In the 8th series of Cheers, Paramount gave Kelsey Grammer a deal to do a show of his own. He asked Cheers writers and producers David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee if they wanted to work with him, and they said yes.
Cut to 1992. Kelsey had decided that he'd had enough of playing Frasier Crane on Cheers and would leave at the end of the season. Later Ted Danson (Sam Malone) announced he weaned to leave too, so Cheers would be coming to an end after its 11th season. During this season, David, Peter and David worked with Kelsey about his show. Their first idea was that Kelsey would play a bedridden millionaire, which Kelsey liked. However John Pike, head of Paramount Television, wanted Kelsey to continue playing Frasier in his own show. Pike persuaded Kelsey to carry on with Frasier by saying he would have a guaranteed hit if he did.
David, Peter and David then started developing the show. At Cheers, they had come up with a story about Frasier filling in for a week as a radio shrink. They liked the idea, which hadn't been in a Cheers episode, and decided that's what Frasier would do in Seattle (they chose Seattle because it was far away from Boston; the producers didn't want a Cheers character dropping by every few weeks).
At first the entire show would be set at KACL, but David Lee had an idea. His father had recently had a stroke, and this gave David the idea of Frasier having to look after a disabled father. Ignoring the fact that on Cheers, Frasier had said his father was dead, they created the character of Martin Crane. They also scrapped all of the radio station characters they'd created except Roz and Bulldog.
The character of Niles wasn't originally planned. The original plan was just Frasier and Martin from the Crane family, both being the opposite of each other. However the producers saw David Hyde Pierce's picture, noticed his resemblance to a younger Kelsey Grammer, and created the character. Niles was also a psychiatrist - in fact, he was Frasier if Frasier "hadn't gone to Boston, met all the gang at Cheers and actually got a life".
Daphne was added in as a working class ally for Martin to oppose the snobbery of his sons. She was going to be either Latin or British at first, and the producers chose British. Kelsey was originally opposed to the idea at first, but after doing a reading with Jane Leeves he changed his mind and she was hired.
The last member of the cast to be added was Moose, who plays Eddie. The producers thought a dog who did nothing but stare at Frasier would be funny, and so Moose got the part.
In May 1993 the final episode of Cheers aired on NBC. It was 90 minutes long and had a reunion between Sam and Diane. A month after this was filmed, Stage 25 went through an overhaul. The bar was taken down and the Frasier sets were built. And on September 16th 1993, the first episode of Frasier was shown.
Legal Stuff:
Frasier created by David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee. Based on the character "Frasier Crane" created by Glen and Les Charles and featured in the NBC / Paramount production "Cheers". Frasier is a Grub Street Production for NBC and Paramount. All Frasier characters are copyright NBC, Paramount and Grub Street Productions.
Goodnight Seattle created and maintained by Gareth Thomas. Any comments? Contact me and let me know. I'm listening.
This site is totally unofficial.