The Frasier Guest Stars We Most Want To See In The Reboot
When it was first announced that "Frasier" would be resurrected for a reboot, I think a lot of us had the same thought: again? Not that the beloved "Cheers" spinoff, which ran for 11 glorious seasons on NBC between 1993 and 2004, had already been rebooted once before, but that it feels like everything else has. From classics like "Hawaii Five-O" and "Dynasty" to hour-long dramas like "Veronica Mars" and "Prison Break," to dozens of sitcoms, like "Full House" (rebranded "Fuller House"), "Will & Grace," "The Connors" (a reboot/spinoff of "Roseanne"), "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" ... you get the picture.
The witty, quippy, debonair world of Seattle psychologist and radio personality Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) belongs to a rarefied universe of '90s TV dynamite, including "Friends," "Seinfeld," and "In Living Color," none of which have been rebooted. Would taking the paddles to Daphne, Roz, and Niles denude them of their charms? Then again, other '90s megahits like "Sex and the City" and "Boy Meets World" have, to some success, reopened business with fresh visions and found new audiences.
Well, you can judge for yourself whether or not it was a good idea to revive "Frasier," as the first two episodes of the reboot are officially streaming on Paramount+. Sans David Hyde Pierce and Jane Leeves, who won't be returning, John Mahoney, who passed away in 2018, and Peri Gilpin, who has tentatively confirmed to return in some capacity, star Kelsey Grammer is pulling most of the weight of "Frasier" 2.0, in terms of star power. That's why we've rounded up a list of the funniest, most dynamic, and most beloved guest stars from the original series for this dream list of who we'd like to see on the reboot.
(Paramount casting: if you've made it this far, please keep reading.)
Shelley Long
I mean ... do I even need to explain? It's Shelley Long! Den Mother of "Troop Beverly Hills!" The daffy, undead delight from "Hello Again!" And of course, Diane Chambers from "Cheers," the one-time girlfriend of Frasier Crane in his original incarnation, who later went on to make several appearances on "Frasier."
Long's Diane is one of the best characters not just in "Cheers" history, but in television history. She's always been somewhat misunderstood, and certainly unfairly maligned by "Cheers" fans. Diane appears in the pilot episode of "Cheers," dumped and abandoned by her fiancé Sumner Sloan (Michael McGuire) and forced to take a job waitressing at the bar. She'd go on to have a legendary on-again-off-again relationship with Ted Danson's Sam Malone, but her romantic arc started with Frasier. Diane and Frasier (Friane, if you will) only date for a year on the series, but it was enough for Shelley Long to show back up in three episodes of Grammer's spinoff.
Long and Danson had genuine, smoldering romantic chemistry. Long and Grammer have great chemistry too, but it's of a dizzier, brighter, more platonic and fun variety. Long's irrepressible effervescence lit up the screen in two dream sequences on two different episodes of "Frasier" (1994's "Adventures in Paradise: Part 2" and 2001's "Don Juan In Hell: Part 2"), but it's her somber, soul-searching turn in 1996's "The Show Where Diane Comes Back" that makes her the perfect candidate for the reboot. In the episode, Diane shows up in Seattle lovelorn, lost, and broken, desperate for Frasier's counsel, and the two make stirring amends after their big break, when Diane left him at the altar.
Long doesn't act near as much as she used to, so Paramount's "Frasier" would be a perfect opportunity for a return to form.
Ted Danson
While we're on the "Cheers" tip, we might as well make the call for the show's out-and-out-star, Ted Danson, to return for the "Frasier" reboot. Danson appeared in every single episode of "Cheers." His character, Sam Malone, is the owner of the bar where the series takes place; he's a former relief pitcher for the Red Sox, a boozer, a womanizer, and an all-American jock. In other words, aside from being girl-crazy, he's got next to nothing in common with Grammar's refined, persnickety psychiatrist. Their contrast is played to comedic effect throughout "Cheers," but they share a meaningful friendship too, as in one episode when Frasier refers Sam to a meeting of sex addicts to get help for his woman-hunting ways.
That's the strand that the writers behind "Frasier" picked up for Sam's one and only appearance on the show, 1995's "The Show Where Sam Shows Up." In the episode, you might be able to guess, Sam shows up. He's left Boston to visit Frasier in Seattle and, like Long's character in "The Show Where Diane Comes Back," urgently seeks his counsel. Upon Frasier's referral, Sam has been in counseling for sex addiction, where he met his current fiancee Sheila (Téa Leoni). Sam has just left her at the altar much in the same way Diane left Frasier at the altar years ago, and after some reassurance from Frasier, decides to fully throw his chips into the monogamy hat and commit to her. There's just one problem — they've both cheated on each other since getting together, and one of Sheila's partners was Frasier.
Things resolve by episode's end, but Sam never discovers Sheila and Frasier's secret. Let's pick it up there.
Patricia Clarkson
Now for the real fun. The superstars, character actors, and household names in the making who appeared for one or two episodes, left incredibly strong impressions, and left the door open for a return. The first my mind goes to is Patricia Clarkson, arguably the biggest bag Frasier ever fumbled. Frasier and Clarkson's character Claire French first meet in line at an electronics store in the 2001 episode "Semi-Decent Proposal." Niles is buying a DVD player with a feature that perplexes him: "What do you suppose multi-angle capability means?" Frasier rattles off a bogus answer causing Claire, who overhears them one spot ahead in line, to gracefully interject and correct him, in the flirty, intelligent, whimsical, and captivating way only Clarkson can.
Claire anchored a three-episode arc over the course of season 8, and returned for the first episode of season 9 only to be broken up with, after Frasier is tortured by romantic dreams of all his jilted lovers and ones who got away, including Diane. Frasier dated many, many women over the course of 11 seasons of "Frasier," but Claire had to be one of his most perfect matches. She was worldy and sophisticated yet down to earth and charming. She got along with Frasier's family and friends swimmingly ... so naturally he kicked her to the curb.
I'd like to see Claire back in the "Frasier" reboot but not so the two can try a second chance at love, but so that she can tell him how wrong he was for letting her go.
Brian Cox
Brian Cox was already something of a major actor in his native England around the time his guest spot on "Frasier" rolled around. He'd been playing serious, prestigious roles on stage since the 1960s, racking up an impressive CV during his tenure with both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. He began pivoting into film and TV in the '90s but was mainly confined to British serials and TV films. By the time of his first appearance in "Frasier," however, in the 2002 episode "The Guilt Trippers," he'd become fully immersed in the Hollywood model, appearing in films like Renny Harlin's "The Long Kiss Goodnight," Barbet Schroder's "Desperate Measures," and Wes Anderson's "Rushmore."
Cox is a serious actor, but he was able to fully flex his comedy muscle as the surly, slurring, hard-drinking patriarch of the Moon family, Harry. Niles seeks Harry out to 1) ask him for his blessing to marry Daphne (Jane Leeves), and 2) reunite him with his wife Gertrude (the magnificent Millicent Martin). Harry is a hilarious character, with a one-track mind on slamming down brews funded via a scheme where men pay him to hit on their girlfriends, so they can knock him out and look heroic. Niles is ultimately unsuccessful in his quest to reunite the estranged moons, but he does persuade Harry of his good character, who urges Daphne to go through with the marriage.
Now that Cox is more famous and beloved than ever among American audiences thanks to "Succession," let's find a way for Harry Moon to make a pit stop at Frasier's new Boston bar hangout in the reboot.
Laura Linney
Oh Charlotte Connor ... we really thought you were the one. Well, a lot of people thought that Roz (Peri Gilpin) was. But if you're basing "Frasier" endgame purely on story continuity, the character played by Laura Linney was without a doubt Frasier's best hope at lasting love.
Linney's character first appeared midway through the final season. Charlotte Connor played a matchmaker who Frasier hastily pays to set him up on a series of dates out of anxiety that everyone in his life seems to be settling down — Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and Daphne (Jane Leeves) are having a baby, Martin (John Mahoney) is getting remarried, etc. The dates are all disastrous, probably because Connor is a scammer with only five clients who she continually matches and rematches to drain them of cash. Frasier is outraged at the deception, Charlotte's already in a relationship, and there are further roadblocks to their romance, but still they end up together. In the series finale, Frasier scraps plans to move to San Francisco to anchor a television show, making the impulsive decision to follow Charlotte to Chicago, forsaking his West Coast fame and fortune. It's the boldest demonstration that Frasier might finally be growing out of his immature ways.
Yet when the curtains opened on the "Frasier" reboot, Charlotte was nowhere to be found. Frasier/Charlotte stans (Frailottes, I guess?) shouldn't hold out hope either, as according to a recent interview with Metro.co.uk, Linney doesn't seem to be involved with the reboot: "I love that whole group of people so I'd be ... I have no idea what their plans are," she said adding, "They're keeping it close to the vest." Reboot writers: if you know what you're doing, give us some Frailotte closure! And help me come up with a better couple name!
Bob Hoskins/Jeanne Tripplehorn
More than a few "Frasier" fans feel that the show lost a lot of the spark that first garnered it a wide audience in its later seasons. It's not an uncommon critique of TV in general, which can grow strained and stale as writers run out of ideas and actors yearn for new challenges. Many credit seasons 9-11's stagnation with the culmination of Niles and Daphne's long-running will-they-won't-they dynamic. Spoiler alert: they will, and do, and for many, this left the series without an engine of tension, speculation, and excitement to power it forward.
Putting that aside, the series had some of its funniest episodes in the later seasons. Case in point "Trophy Girlfriend," a season 10 episode in which "Frasier" gets the hots for Chelsea (Jeanne Tripplehorn), a coach at the local gym who aids Frasier to victory in a doubles squash match. The problem begins as soon as they start dating. "Frasier" witnesses Chelsea's strict, drillmaster coaching style and can't shake the comparison to an abhorrent, abusive coach he had as a child, played by Bob Hoskins. Frasier begins to hallucinate Hoskins whenever he's with Chelsea, making for some truly hilarious scenes, as when a tracksuit-clad Hoskins gingerly washes Frasier's back during a romantic bubble bath.
These characters have absolutely no narrative relevance to the larger "Frasier" story, and that's precisely what makes them such easy calls for a return.
Jennifer Coolidge
Have you had enough? There are so many more. Before I get into what makes Jennifer Coolidge such an obvious choice for a reboot reprise, here are some special mentions that deserve a shot too: Bebe Neuwirth, who plays Frasier's ex Lilith and the mother to his son, Freddy (and is actually confirmed to return), Patrick Stewart, who plays a celebrated concertmaster who develops a crush on Frasier after a series of misunderstandings, Michael Keaton, who plays Lilith's conman brother Blaine, Jean Smart, who plays the aggressive and glamorous Lana ... and so many more.
Jennifer Coolidge is in the Hoskins/Tripplehorn camp, in that she plays 0 role in furthering the larger story, but her role was such a hit that fans still reminisce upon her single episode appearance. That episode, season 8's "Forgotten But Not Gone," sees Coolidge as Frederica, the German physical therapist hired by "Frasier" to help Martin with his injuries. Father and son are first put off by Frederica's whimsical volatility, slapping hands and shouting in one second and laughing and giving bear hugs the next. But by episode's end, she's won over Martin's hard heart with her schnitzel and her joie de vivre. Do we need to see Frederica on the "Frasier" reboot? Absolutely not. Do we want to see her? Yes, please, we'll give anything.
New episodes of "Frasier" premiere on Paramount+ every Thursday.