Frasier Crane began his TV life ignominiously. The character that came to define Kelsey Grammer’s life was initially little more than the dorky, snooty, socially awkward psychiatrist Shelley Long’s Diane Chambers had started dating at the top of Cheers‘ third season. Diane, of course, still much preferred Ted Danson’s Sam Malone, but Frasier proved an endearing character, and the showrunners kept him hanging around Cheers right through the end. Diane made a few appearances on Frasier’s titular spinoff, though usually only in dreams. And now that the good doctor has his fancy new reboot, he’d like her back once more.
Per Entertainment Weekly, Grammer appeared on Kelly Clarkson’s daytime chat show, where he confessed that he “would like to see Diane come back.” It wouldn’t be just a novelty. He thinks Frasier and her have some unfinished business, that he needs to “put something to bed” with her, so they “end up with a nice thing between them.”
Though Frasier bounced back from Diane but good, marrying (for a time) Bebe Neuwirth’s far more similar — and far more uptight — Lilith, it was always clear Frasier never totally got over her.
“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 reflected. “He’s been that way ever since. He just goes in wholeheartedly with everything — and that’s what makes him funny.”
So will Frasier and Diane meet once more to bury the hatchet for good? Possibly! Long’s turns as Diane is one of sitcom history’s all-timer runs, and it’s always a treat to see her.
The new Frasier streams on Paramount+.
(Via EW)