Posted in: Paramount+, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: cheers, frasier, kelsey grammer, paramount plus

Frasier: Kelsey Grammer on Wanting Shelley Long's Diane to Return

During an interview with Kelly Clarkson, Frasier series star Kelsey Grammer explained why he wants Shelley Long's Diane Chambers to appear.

Could Shelley Long's Diane Chambers end up following in the footsteps of Bebe Neuwirth's Dr. Lilith Sternin & Peri Gilpin's Roz Doyle? If Kelsey Grammer – star, executive producer & director of Paramount's Frasier – has his way, she will. While having gone on record in past interviews as being hesitant to have too many references to the previous series or Cheers, Grammer shared with daytime talk show host Kelly Clarkson that he "would like to see Diane come back" to help bring both characters some closure. As fans of the classic Boston bar-set sitcom already know, Long's Diane began dating Grammer's Dr. Frasier Crane during the third season following her break-up with Sam Malone (Ted Danson). Though Diane and the good doctor wouldn't last, Frasier would go on to become a beloved member of the bar's ensemble – so much so that he would be spun off into his own sitcom.

With that level of personal backstory still unresolved between them, Granner says that he would like to see Frasier have a chance to "put something to bed" with Diane – with the end result being "a nice thing between them" that would allow both of them a sense of peace. "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 explained to Clarkson. "He's been that way ever since. He just goes in wholeheartedly with everything — and that's what makes him funny."

"I just thought we can't do the show without honoring John…" Grammer explained to Clarkson in the following clip, getting emotional while discussing the show's touching tribute to the late John Mahoney. And in a special edition of "Kellyoke," Grammer & Clarkson duet the theme song from the new reboot:

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