The Surprising Amount Of Times Kelsey Grammer Has Played Frasier

Even if Kelsey Grammer had just played Frasier on “Cheers,” “Frasier,” and the revival show, he would have already made television history by portraying the same character across three series and four decades — rivaled only by his co-star Bebe Neuwirth, who made history on the “Frasier” revival when she showed up as Dr. Crane’s ex-wife and former “Cheers” character Lilith Sternin. But Grammer has Neuwirth beat. The actor has quietly expanded the Frasier-verse outside of those main shows, appearing in a number of cameo roles across other sitcoms, commercials, and specials.

Frasier first appeared in the third season of “Cheers” back in 1984 as a love interest for Shelley Long’s Diane Chambers in the two-part episode “Rebound.” Initially intended as a recurring character who would eventually leave the series, Grammer impressed series creators James Burrows, Glen, and Les Charles enough that they made him a main cast member for the show’s fifth season in 1986.

When “Cheers” wrapped up in 1993, the original plan was not for Frasier to get his own spinoff. But after NBC convinced former “Cheers” writers David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee that they should do just that, “Frasier” was born. That beloved ’90s sitcom ran for a further 11 seasons until 2004, before Grammer, along with writers Chris Harris and Joe Cristali, revived the series in 2023. But throughout that 40-year time-span, Grammer also played Frasier in a number of other places, perhaps most notably in Angell, Casey, and Lee’s other “Cheers”-related spinoff “Wings.” To be more accurate, “Wings” was set in the “Cheers” universe without being a direct spinoff. By extension, then, it was also set in the “Frasier” universe, and in season 3, episode 16, “Planes, Trains, & Visiting Cranes,” the good doctor and his then-wife, Lilith, showed up on the series.

With the debut of “Frasier” in 1993, then, Grammer had appeared as the titular psychiatrist in three separate shows set in the same universe. But that wasn’t the end of his prolific cameo career.