TVSquad

Do you think there are times when Patricia Heaton wishes she was still working on Everybody Loves Raymond? What about Kelsey Grammer...don't you think there are days when he reflects on how lucky he was to have played Frasier Crane first on Cheers then on Frasier all those years, winning awards and having job security, critical acclaim, the knowledge that you were at the top of your game? That's not to say that either Patty or Kelsey are not on the top of their game now, but the failure of Fox's Back to You last season must have been a shock to the system.

Now they're both working on new sitcom projects and hoping for the best. Scrubs' Neil Flynn has joined Patricia Heaton in The Middles, an ABC sitcom pilot about a middle-class family living in middle America struggling in these tough economic times. They have three kids, too, just like the set up in Everybody Loves Raymond. Meanwhile, Kelsey Grammer's also doing comedy for ABC. The network has ordered a Grammer pilot about a corporate big shot who tries to reconnect with his estranged family.


And like Heaton's show, this one reflects the recession era, too. Grammer's tycoon has been downsized from his company and misses being the top dog.

On a side note, Everybody Loves Raymond writer Tucker Cawley, an Emmy winner, will be penning Kelsey's comedy. Normally, that would be a good thing. But Cawley's last two credits are Out of Practice and Welcome to the Captain, two lame CBS sitcoms. Okay, Out of Practice wasn't that bad, but there was no excuse for Welcome to the Captain.

But it's an interesting conundrum, this sitcom situation. It shows you that the best talent can be brought together, top writers, experienced, gifted actors, all the right elements, and yet it may not click. That was the case with Back to You. It seemed like it couldn't miss. It seemed like Heaton and Grammer would be able to move effortlessly into another hit show. It just didn't work out that way.

And while there are still some who will defend Back to You -- like those that claim Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip deserved better from NBC -- it just wasn't good enough. For Grammer and Heaton's sake, here's hoping third time's the charm (although I think Kelsey's actually on sitcom number five).