KelseyGrammer-related stories
Posted Oct 17th 2009 1:31PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free

In what must be a major slap in the face to Kelsey Grammer and the creators behind
Hank,
ABC is pre-empting the show on October 28th with the Halloween classic
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Wait, it gets worse. It's pre-empting the show with a
repeat of
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown from the night before. Granted, the previous night will be the expanded, hour-long version, but still...
Admittedly, opinions of
Hank haven't exactly been stellar. Quite the opposite, in fact. While the show has not actually been canceled, it does not seem long for this world. Its only consolation is that it lasted longer than
The Beautiful Life.
Kelsey Grammer will never be able to get away from Frasier Crane, much like Carroll O'Connor was never able to get away from Archie Bunker. It's a shame since Grammer is a better actor than that.
Posted Oct 15th 2009 2:03PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free

Let me give you a quick inside look at how things operate here in online entertainment journalism land: ABC sent us an invite to talk to Kelsey Grammer (and his co-star Melinda McGraw) during the same whirlwind
"defending Hank" tour that Bob mentioned in his post yesterday. As much as I wanted to talk to Grammer, the conditions just didn't seem to be right.
For one, we would have had maybe ten minutes to talk to him. For another, he'd be defending a show that is a) terrible and b) on the verge of being cancelled. I want to talk to Grammer about comedy,
Frasier,
Cheers, his heart attack, and lots of other stuff. I wasn't particularly interested in him telling me how good he thinks
Hank is for the whole interview.
But, when he told The TV Addict that last night's episode
was going to be funny, it got me curious; maybe they had figured things out and made a leap in quality. So I tuned into last night's episode. I wish I hadn't.
Continue reading Hank is truly painful to watch
Posted Oct 9th 2009 8:37AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Reality-Free, Cougar Town, Modern Family

I've always heard that three out of four ain't bad. But if you're Kelsey Grammer, it's a whole different ball game. While there's been no word on the horrid
Hank, ABC has ordered
full season pick-ups for the rest of their Wednesday comedy block. At this point, I'd say that was inevitable. ABC's bold experiment of a whole new night of programming seems to have worked out.
Early buzz on
Modern Family particularly brought people to sample the wares, and luckily that show delivered.
The Middle has been impressive as well, and would probably fare even better if it switched places with
Cougar Town. Courteney Cox's latest vehicle is much better than I expected, but not up to the creative caliber of its lead-ins.
As for
Hank? Well, it is the only multi-camera comedy on the night, so it stands out a bit in that respect. Oh, and its derivative and lacking in any originality or, and this one can be a bit of a problem, comedy. So there's that to deal with as well.
Posted Aug 8th 2009 7:01PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free

The title of this post seems far-fetched: How could a big TV star like Kelsey Grammer think that Kevin Reilly, the programming head of FOX, had something to do with the
heart attack he suffered a year ago?
If you heard Grammer speak about it during the panel for his new ABC comedy
Hank, it's not hard to connect the dots. "I had an event they thought was stress related. You can make of that what you will. It was a rough year," said Grammer, whose FOX sitcom
Back to You was cancelled after its first season.
His beef was that he pitched the show to Reilly when the exec was still at NBC, and he passed. Then Reilly got the position at FOX after they bought
Back to You. So, basically, the show was airing on a network whose entertainment head already passed on it somewhere else. That, according to Grammer, caused conflict between the network and the writers of the show.
Continue reading Does Kelsey Grammer think FOX president gave him a heart attack? - TCA Report
Posted Aug 4th 2009 2:01PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, Programming, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free

Alyssa Milano's career resurgence continues (or begins, it depends on your perspective, I guess). ABC is expected to
order 13 episodes of Romantically Challenged, a sitcom about a thirtysomething man dealing with his new girlfriend (Milano) and his needy best friend. If picked up, the series will air midseason on ABC, around the same time the network plans to premiere three dramas,
Happy Town,
V, and
The Deep End.
This news comes almost a year after the network dumped Milano's last shot at a sitcom,
Single With Parents.
Romantically Challenged almost ended up on ABC's fall schedule, reportedly due to the strong buzz surrounding Milano's performance. But the network decided to push it back, presumably to make room for its
other new comedies, including Bill Lawrence's
Cougar Town and
Hank, starring Kelsey Grammer.
Continue reading ABC set to pick up Alyssa Milano comedy for midseason
Posted May 18th 2009 10:40AM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, Pickups and Renewals, Upfronts, Reality-Free

ABC will make official pick up announcements Tuesday, but the trades are already reporting that the network has
ordered a large number of new shows for the upcoming fall season.
Along with some dramas and mythology-laden shows, it looks like ABC is playing it safe by picking up four half-hour family comedies starring some well-known TV vets.
Joining the already renewed
Scrubs and
Better Off Ted will be
Hank, a multi-camera family show starring Frasier's Kelsey Grammer and
The Middle, a single-camera comedy with Grammer's former
Back to You co-star Patricia Heaton. Both shows seem to have pretty tired concepts. Hank is about a washed-up Wall Street deal maker who moves back to his home town, and
The Middle is about a middle-class mom who is approaching middle age. Hopefully the stars, and the jokes, will make these shows worth watching.
Continue reading ABC picks up new comedies starring TV vets
Posted Jan 7th 2009 6:06PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Casting, Reality-Free

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.
Continue reading Grammer and Heaton: back to TV
Posted Oct 1st 2008 8:00AM by Paul Goebel
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Ask TV Squad, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Reality-Free, Stump the King
This week's letter comes from a fan named Jim Rodrigues.
Jim writes...
"I just saw an episode I've never seen before! This was rare indeed. It involved the crew of the Enterprise devolving into different creatures. Barkley became a spider. Captain Picard was becoming a lemur. Warf (sic) was biting amphibian Troi. It was my favorite episode other than one of the best T.V. episodes ever, "Cause and Effect." I was wondering if this "monsters running around" episode was released for Halloween? It would be the perfect October 31st episode. If someone knows the title and the date of release, I surely would appreciate it."
Continue reading Stump the King: Star Trek: TNG
Posted Jun 2nd 2008 4:14PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Celebrities, Reality-Free

According to
People magazine, Kelsey Grammer is in a Hawaiian hospital after suffering a mild heart attack. A rep for Grammer says it happened Saturday morning as he was paddle boarding with his wife near their home in Hawaii. He immediately went to the hospital where doctors determined it was a mild heart attack. He'll be in the hospital for a few days for observation.
Grammer was most likely enjoying a little time off before he returns to television this fall. His Fox sitcom,
Back to You,
was recently canceled but he quickly rebounded and
took a role on an ABC comedy called
Roman's Empire. He'll have the title role, actually, as Roman, the wacky patriarch of a wealthy and eclectic family. This new comedy is a departure, of sorts, for Grammer. Rather than the
Frasier and
Back to You-style sitcoms with multiple cameras, his new project is a single-camera venture.
Posted May 24th 2008 2:03PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Casting, Reality-Free

It didn't take long for Kelsey Grammer to bounce back from his
Back to You flop stint. The Fox sitcom, a high profile one at that with Emmy-winner Patricia Heaton as his co-star, was dumped by the network recently.
Kelsey was so bummed out that he even tried to get other networks, CBS in particular, to pick up the news room comedy. No dice.
Back to You was a dead shark.
Now, less than two weeks later,
Kelsey Grammer has been cast in a new ABC sitcom called Roman's Empire. This is big news for a big star and he's the emperor in the title. He's playing Roman.
Roman's Empire is not a three-camera, traditional sitcom, which has been Grammer's playground since
Cheers. Frasier may have been one of the best three-camera sitcoms ever. As an actor, Kelsey's accustomed to having an audience watching him work.
Empire is a single-camera comedy -- like
The Office or
My Name Is Earl or
Samantha Who? -- and revolves around a nice guy named Leo (Nick Thune), who's dumped by his heiress-like girlfriend (Christine Woods), but remains connected to her crazy family, the Prettys. That's especially true of Roman Pretty, the family patriarch, an outspoken, outrageous character.
Continue reading Back to...work: Kelsey Grammer lands new sitcom
Posted May 16th 2008 8:00AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Cancellations, Reality-Free

Frasier has left the building, but Kelsey Grammer hasn't. Or maybe he just doesn't want to. The actor, whose Fox situation comedy,
Back to You, was canceled after just one season, doesn't want to call it quits. He wants the show to continue and he's so determined, he's even lobbied for the show personally. The Emmy award winning star phoned CBS executives -- including CBS CEO Les Moonves -- to plead the case for
Back to You.
When Kelsey phoned, Les took the call, and he even told Grammer that he'd "think about it," that is, moving
Back to You to CBS. However, when Kelsey followed up with a call to Nina Tassler, CBS Entertainment prez, she dismissed it. There really was no room on the
CBS schedule for another sitcom; even
Rules of Engagement (which CBS has a vested interest in bringing back) won't be broadcast till mid-season next year. There's no mention of Kelsey calling ABC or NBC; perhaps they didn't take his call?
Continue reading Kelsey asks CBS to save Back to You
Posted May 10th 2008 12:36PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Cancellations, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free

Fox has made the call, and it's a big "see ya later" for Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. But their loss is someone else's gain. The pilot for
the Jason Bateman directed comedy series The Inn has been picked up for a 13-week commitment, while Back to You has been axed. The Brad Garrett-Joely Fisher sitcom,
Til Death, meanwhile, has been given another year.
Bateman, who starred in
Arrested Development -- the Emmy-award winning comedy that the network dumped unceremoniously because of low ratings -- was behind the camera for
The Inn pilot. The show, which is about the haves and have-nots in a fancy, five-star New York City hotel, has a promising cast of funny folks including Niecy Nash (
Reno 911!), Jerry O'Connell (who looks like Jason's twin), and the really hilarious Jesse Tyler Ferguson (remember him on
The Class -- he was so funny!).
Continue reading The Inn is in, but Kelsey & Patty are dumped
Posted Dec 14th 2007 10:01AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, 24, Boston Legal, The Shield, My Name Is Earl, Festivus, Heroes, 30 Rock, TV Squad Lists, Damages, Journeyman, Dirty Sexy Money, Samantha Who?
... Six welcome returns.
Every fall season I get stoked about all the new shows, with cool new premises ("A guy travels through time trying to make right what once went wrong!"-- Journeyman not Quantum Leap), and all the big changes in store for existing shows. But it's equally exciting to see which beloved actors will be returning to television. Brad Garrett coming back to television in 'Til Death last year? Cool! Patricia Heaton and Kelsey Grammer both coming back to television ... together? That's gotta be awesome, right? Jerry O'Connell on Carpoolers ... well ... ? I like the guy, but I'm not scheduling a 'Welcome Back' shindig for him.
Half the fun of a new television season is the return of great actors and actresses to the small screen. And while I could have easily done 10 or even 20 of these, I've narrowed it down to the six talents who were most welcome back in my house on a weekly basis this past year. I've even been so bold as to rank them. Feel free to agree, disagree and present your own lists in the comments.
Continue reading On the 6th Day of Festivus, TV gave to me...
Posted Sep 3rd 2007 9:31AM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Video, Web, Celebrities
By now you may have seen the preview for FOX's new comedy Back to You, which stars Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. In the preview Grammer's character, a prominent Los Angeles news anchor, apparently cusses out a colleague while still on the air. I say apparent because all of the swear words are bleeped out for network television.
You're probably just itching to find out what Kelsey really said, aren't you? Well, thanks to the pack rat known as YouTube you can see that same clip in all of its foul-mouthed glory. It's not the entire preview, just the part that shows Grammer's character yelling and screaming at the off-camera production crew. It's also minus the laughing you hear on the FOX preview. Don't know if this is a good or bad sign for the show or not. I have labeled the video, which you'll see after the jump, as Not Suitable For Work.
Continue reading What Kelsey Grammer really says on that Back to You promo - VIDEO
Posted Apr 14th 2007 1:05PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Commercials, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities

Sometimes, when I'm bored and my WiFi router is broken, I like to play "guess the celebrity commercial voice over." Most of the time, I usually get things right, as advertisers are using more familiar voices than ever before. But sometimes I wonder if a company uses a particular voice for more reasons than they're available, recognizable, and like cashing large checks for very little work.
Case in point is a recent set of Hyundai ads starring the voice of Kelsey Grammer. In the ads, Grammer compares the attributes of the Korean car company's Santa Fe SUV with a much more expensive Land Rover. Of course, this being a Hyundai ad, the Santa Fe comes out favorably, matching the Land Rover in every category except cup holders.
Continue reading Hyundai goes for irony with Kelsey Grammer
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