Born in Cheers as a supporting character, Frasier Crane starred in his own series in the nineties, achieving that, even today, he continues to hold the record for the highest number of Emmy Awards won by a comedy, with 37 awards and 107 nominations. Two decades after his last appearance (Frasier aired from 1993 to 2004), Kelsey Grammer reprized the role of this snobbish psychiatrist last year with a radical change of scenery: Frasier returns to Boston with new challenges, the biggest of which is to rebuild the battered relationship with his son Freddy. The actor recently visited Madrid to promote the series, available here on the SkyShowtime platform, which also has the original series in its catalog.
How did Frasier come back to television?
It was my decision. I was very happy with how the original series ended but after seeing the good reception of Roseanne's return, I realized that there was a niche in the market, of people who wanted to continue watching that type of fiction. Frasier was a good series so we wanted to do something different with the central character and a new world. And it has worked well.
Was it risky to recover a television icon like Frasier so many years later?
The only thing I was worried about was whether the public would be willing to give it another chance. And the best way for it to work was to make a third act with a totally different world for Frasier. We wanted to have some members of the original cast, but we still wanted it to be a new series, with new circumstances. And since we couldn't reunite the original cast, we were in a way given the gift of a completely new environment but keeping Frasier as this lovable character who always has trouble adjusting and is always looking for affection.
How is Kelsey Grammer similar to Frasier and how is she not?
We walk the same streets but we are not especially similar. We love good education, deep knowledge of the language, expressing ourselves well... and also caviar (laughs). But I'm actually much simpler than Frasier, a guy who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty if necessary.
How has playing a character as popular as Frasier for twenty years, including Cheers, affected you?
In the private sphere it has been, honestly, quite easy to keep our distance although it is evident that when you appear on television your privacy is invaded. And professionally, when Hollywood sees that you are successful at something, they want to keep you there. So my job is to make sure I don't get pigeonholed and just do other different things.
Why did Frasier resonate so much with the audience?
Because it was always surprising how he was able to move forward. There's an old rule that you should never let the audience get ahead of you, but when you do a show like Frasier they always know where it's going to end and that it's going to ruin it in some way but they don't know how. The pleasure is discovering how he will get there, how he will manage to ruin everything. We still have wonderful creative ways to ruin your life. And that is what we are going to continue doing.
Playing Frasier, have you learned anything about psychiatry?
It's funny because an actor and a psychiatrist are in the same business: we have to find out what motivates a person to do what they do. And to do this, we study the human experience. We are all seeking to understand ourselves and I think that is what unites us.
