7 TV Shows That Kept Kelsey Grammer on TV in Between ‘Frasier’ Stints
Those tossed salads and scrambled eggs are calling again! Emmy winner Kelsey Grammer is returning to the role that made him a household name: He will reprise the part of Dr. Frasier Crane in a Paramount+ reboot of Frasier, 36 years after debuting the psychiatrist character on Cheers.
While we wait (no premiere date has been set), we’re looking back on the TV roles that have kept Grammer on the small screen since Frasier signed off in 2004. Almost all these TV productions featured the actor — who it was earlier reported would star in an upcoming upcoming ABC multi-camera comedy opposite Alec Baldwin — playing powerful men facing humbling twists of fate.
‘A Christmas Carol: The Musical’ (2004)
Bah! Humbug! Grammer starred as the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge in NBC’s adaptation of the 1994 Broadway musical based on the classic Charles Dickens story — alongside Jason Alexander as Marley and Jane Krakowski and Jesse L. Martin as two other ghosts. It was also a family affair: Grammer’s then-wife Camille was an executive producer.
‘Back to You’ (2007–2008)
Before Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan created Modern Family, they dreamed up this Fox sitcom, in which Grammer starred as disgraced high-profile anchor Chuck Darling, who has to return to his old job at a Pittsburgh newscast. It reunited him with his former cohost, played by Patricia Heaton after a profanity-laden tirade of his goes viral.
‘Hank’ (2009–2010)
Another sitcom starring Grammer as a man on a downward trajectory, this ABC comedy featured the actor playing Wall Street CEO Hank Pryor, who moves to his wife’s home in small-town Virginia after losing his job. It lasted just five episodes, and Grammer later told WENN that he called the president of Warner Bros. to “put a bullet in this thing.”
‘Boss’ (2011–2012)
Grammer fared better with this Starz drama, playing Tom Kane, a Chicago mayor hiding his dementia diagnosis. The show aired for two seasons before getting the ax, but it did earn Grammer a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Actor – Drama Series.
‘Partners’ (2014)
In his next Chicago-set show, Grammer shared the screen with Martin Lawrence, who was returning to TV for the first time since the end of Martin in 1997. The two actors played Allen Braddock and Marcus Jackson, two lawyers from different walks of life. FX gave the show a “10/90” order, meaning a total of 100 episodes would be produced if the first 10 did well. Partners only aired 10 episodes, so you can do the math!
‘The Last Tycoon’ (2016–2017)
Within the span of three days in 2017, Amazon canceled two F. Scott Fitzgerald-inspired TV shows after just one season: Z: The Beginning of Everything, and this drama, in which Grammer played a Hollywood studio boss butting heads with Matt Bomer’s film producer character.
‘Proven Innocent’ (2019)
The most recent of Grammer’s one-season-wonders is this Fox legal drama, in which he played Gore Bellows, a Cook County state attorney with a history of questionable convictions—and an antagonist to the lawyers fighting to free the wrongfully accused. “I’m the guy they wanna get,” Grammer said with a smirk in a behind-the-scenes featurette.
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