There aren’t many television spin-offs that even manage to stay on the air, let alone surpass their source material in quality. Frasier is the exception that proves the rule. I enjoyed Cheers, but I loved Frasier. You may recall that I gushed at length about this series when the show wrapped production; briefly, however, I thought it was a near-perfect mixture of sophisticated wit, lowbrow farce, and genuine human emotion (as opposed to the ersatz variety displayed by the sarcasm-bots on most sitcoms), specifically the complex emotions that exist between grown men and their fathers. In the end, it was a very different series from its parent show, and that was a big part of what made it great.
If you’re curious about how the show came to be — and I personally find this behind-the-scenes stuff fascinating (yes, I am one of those geeks who actually watches the extras on DVDs) — then you ought to check out a series of entries over at Ken Levine’s blog. Levine is a writer who worked on both Cheers and Frasier, not to mention The Simpsons, Dharma and Greg, and M*A*S*H. While he’s been on vacation, his friend Peter Casey, who co-created Frasier with David Lee and David Angell, tells the story in three parts (Part One, Part Two, and Part Three). Among the various trivia points that Peter reveals: the show was nearly set in Denver, Martin’s physical therapist was conceived of as a feisty Latina (they had Rosie Perez in mind for the part), and Lisa Kudrow of Friends fame was originaly cast as Roz.
After Peter finishes his tale, Ken talks about (and reprints a substantial portion of) his favorite Frasier script.
And in other classic TV-related news, I just ran across word that WKRP in Cincinnati is supposedly coming on DVD in ’07. I have to admit, I thought this would never happen because of the substantial music clearance problem (which I discussed here) for this music-heavy show. The report I linked to above suggests that some music changes have been made — something which will inevitably offend the purists — but that efforts have been made to make sure the substitutions fit the episodes. I’m ambivalent about this whole music issue. I would prefer that we get the shows exactly as they originally aired, with no changes in editing, runtime, or music. But I’m also a pragmatist, and ultimately I think it would be preferable to have the shows available in some form than consigned to the Memory Hole. (And yes, I know that runs counter to my stand on the original, unrevised version of Star Wars; I’m just a ball of contradictions, aren’t I?) Hopefully, the changes will be minor ones. I’m looking forward to seeing Johnny, Venus, and Les Nessman again…
