TVSquad

I have to thank my fellow Squadder Bob Sassone for turning me on to Ken Levine's fantastic blog; not only is Levine funny when he writes about random stuff, but he gives advice about what to do and what not to do when writing a sitcom script. The man knows what he talking about; he's written for many classic sitcoms, including M*A*S*H, Cheers, and Frasier.

But it's his behind-the-scenes anecdotes that are my favorties. And this past week, he gave us some doozy, and he didn't even write them: he let his friend Peter Casey, one of the co-creators of Frasier, do a three-part series on how the show was created.

In part one, Casey talks about the process of developing a series for Kelsey Grammer after Cheers ended. There was no intention of having him play Frasier Crane; in fact, the idea was to have Grammer play a paralyzed publishing magnate who was taken care of by a sassy Rosie Perez-type. Paramount convinced Grammer that reprising Frasier was the right idea. Casey goes on to talk about the reasons why they set the show in Seattle, and how it came about that Frasier ended up taking care of his father in the show.

Part two is about the casting process. According to Casey, it seemed like the casting for most of the parts was kismet; for instance, Niles didn't exist until someone showed Casey and his partners David Angell and David Lee a picture of David Hyde Pierce and remarked how he and Grammer could be brothers. Other cast members, like John Mahoney as Martin and Jane Leeves as Daphne, were "pre-approved" by then-NBC president Warren Littlefield, which is a rare occurrence in the business. He even talks about Grammer's doubts about having a Brit play Martin Crane's health-care worker, thinking it would make the show sound too much like The Nanny and the Professor.

The only role that required a casting call was Roz, and part three goes over Casey's side of the now-famous story about how Lisa Kudrow initially landed the role but was fired before the pilot filmed in favor of Peri Gilpin. We've always heard Kudrow's side of the story, but this is the first time we've heard the story from the producers' side. Apparently, Kudrow just wasn't forceful enough to hold her own with Grammer, even though the producers thought she was insanely funny.

It's all interesting stuff, and Casey goes into much more detail than I do here, so I encourage you to go over to Levine's blog and read these entries for yourself. It's good insight into how even classic shows take a roundabout route from idea to finished product.