'Frasier' comedy revival news: NBC boss want show to return but faces roadblocks

Kelsey Grammer at a Tony Awards press event in New York City, May 5, 2010. He played Frasier Crane in NBC's "Frasier" from 1993-2004.Wikimedia Commons/Tenebrae

With the scheduled return of some classic comedies like "Will & Grace" and "Roseanne," NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt is interested in doing the same for the 1990s show "Frasier."

Greenblatt spoke with TVLine about the possibility of getting "Frasier" back on the air. However, there would be some potential roadblocks before that could be done.

"I've had conversations with [executive producer] David Lee about ['Frasier']. ['Frasier'] would be great. I'd love to [bring back] 'Frasier.' We put out feelers about [it] over the years. But I don't think there's any real interest. I think everyone's moved on," he said.

Another possible reason that Greenblatt attributes to the disinterest in the revival is that the co-creator David Angell and his wife died in the 9/11 terror attacks in New York and he doesn't think Lee and co-creator Peter Casey would want to do the show without Angell.

"Frasier" was a spin-off of the comedy "Cheers" and continued the story of Seattle psychiatrist Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer). Joining him were his dad Martin Crane (John Mahoney), brother Niles Crane (David Hyde Pierce) and station boss Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin).

It remains to be seen if Greenblatt can convince the producers to revive "Frasier" for a new audience. After all, he was instrumental in bringing back "Will & Grace" out of retirement for NBC.

Even before the first season of the reboot airs on Sept. 28, the show has already been renewed for a second season. The comedy follows the lives of Will Truman (Eric McCormack) and Grace Adler (Debra Messing) as quirky professionals living in New York.

Greenblatt has also been eyeing another comedy classic "30 Rock" to come back on television.

The executive expressed, "I've talked to Tina Fey about it over the years. It's not inconceivable that she could wake up one day and go, 'I could tell some more 30 Rock stories.' That's something I would want to do."