Cheers to that: Kelsey Grammer wants Shelley Long’s Diane to appear on ‘Frasier’ reboot
Diane and Frasier back together again?
Kelsey Grammer is hoping for fellow “Cheers” alum Shelley Long to make an appearance on his “Frasier” reboot.
Long, 74, famously played waitress Diane Chambers on the hit ’80s sitcom while Grammer, 68, appeared on both the NBC series and his own 1993 spinoff as Dr. Frasier Crane.
Grammer said he “would like to see Diane come back” when he dropped by “The Kelly Clarkson Show” on Tuesday.
The “X-Men: The Last Stand” alum added that Frasier should be able to “put something to bed” with Diane and “end up with a nice thing between them.”
In the Boston-set “Cheers,” the pseudo–intellectual Diane and the pompous psychiatrist Frasier were engaged for a period of time before breaking up.
Grammer’s character then moved to Seattle for his spinoff where he lived with his father, Martin Crane (the late John Mahoney), and his brother, Dr. Niles Crane (David Hyde Pierce).
Frasier returned to Boston to reconnect with his adult son Freddie (Jack Cutmore-Scott) in the revived Paramount+ show, which debuted late last year.
“When I first got the role, the key to Frasier for me was that he loved her with his whole heart, that he loved with all of his being. And that actually defined who he is,” Grammer told the “American Idol” winner, 41, on Tuesday.
He continued: “He’s been that way ever since. He just goes in wholeheartedly with everything — and that’s what makes him funny.”
Long appeared in three episodes of “Frasier” from 1994 to 2001. (The series ran for 11 seasons until 2004.)
In the revival, several characters from the OG series returned, including Bebe Neuwirth as Frasier’s ex-wife Dr. Lilith Sternin and Peri Gilpin as his friend Roz Doyle.
Pierce, 64, has previously stated that he would not be joining the reboot, telling the Los Angeles Times in December: “I never really wanted to go back.”
“It’s not like I said, ‘Oh, I don’t ever want to do that again.’ I loved every moment. It was that I wanted to do other things,” the Tony winner went on. “And when we got into real talks about the reboot, I had just started on the ‘Julia’ TV show and was working on a musical and going to do another musical, not this one.”
Pierce continued: “And I just thought, ‘I don’t want to be committed to a show and not be able to do stuff like this.’ And I also thought, ‘They don’t actually need me.’ ”
“Frasier has moved on to a new world. They have new characters. And I think I’m right. It’s doing great. And the new people they have are great.”
