Kelsey Grammer is reeling from the sudden cancellation of his Frasier revival, but a source with knowledge of the situation exclusively tells Closer that a few bad calls on his part may have contributed to the show’s demise.
“Kelsey made a very rich deal for this Frasier reboot and was picky and selective about the behind-the-camera talent as well,” the insider says. “The show turned out nicely and did fine with critics, but nobody was doing this for cheap and the individual episodes cost a lot — too much in my opinion.”
The source explains that the “sitcom format is meant to be cost-effective — you’re using the same sets and the same actors week in and week out. But Kelsey’s fee was up there, in the $2 million per episode range, and a lot of people need to get paid on a Frasier project because of its longstanding roots as a Cheers spinoff.”
The original Frasier, which served as a spinoff to the hit NBC sitcom Cheers (1982-1993), was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons from 1993 to 2004. It starred Kelsey, 70, as psychiatrist Frasier Crane, who returned to his hometown of Seattle to host a radio show. While back home, Frasier reconnected with family members and made new friends.
The Frasier revival, which first premiered in October 2023, acted as a sequel to the 1993 series and followed Frasier as he embarked on his “third act” in Boston, where he hoped to build a better relationship with his son. Unfortunately, the revival did not appear to be as popular as Cheers or the original Frasier during its two-season run on Paramount+. Multiple outlets reported the cancellation on January 17.
“Of course, all this would be moot if the show was a breakout phenomenon on Paramount+, but it never really was,” the insider continues. “The Frasier die-hard fans showed up, but it didn’t lure in new casual viewers, and I don’t think Kelsey made a lot of new fans.”
With that said, the Frasier revival has seen a slight uptick in streaming popularity following its cancellation, earning the No. 9 spot in Paramount+’s Top 10 TV shows in the United States on Tuesday, March 11, according to Flix Patrol. However, it has since dropped to the No. 10 spot.
The source concludes that the revival’s producers and CBS Studios “are shopping the show around, and maybe a deep pocketed buyer will step up, but Kelsey has nobody to blame for the big price tag of this show but himself. And that was the reason the show has been canceled: it cost way too much!”
Despite the cancellation, Kelsey himself appears to have high hopes for the show’s future. The Boss alum told The New York Post on March 6 that he’s “very positive” about Frasier coming back for a third season on a different streaming service or network.
“There’s a better home for it,” he explained. “I mean, obviously, they didn’t really promote or spend much time on it.”
Kelsey continued, “The fellow that worked at Paramount+ when we first sold the show there left, and so it sort of fell into their laps, the next administration, without having any real conscious and what to do with it. So I think they gave it sort of a good try, but they weren’t particularly passionate about the project. We’ll end up somewhere where people are passionate about it. Listen, it’s got a huge audience, a big following, and if people know where to find it, I think they will.”
