‘Frasier’ Director James Burrows Reveals the Secret to Frasier Crane’s Longevity (Exclusive)

The only person who has known Frasier Crane longer than Kelsey Grammer is James Burrows. The legendary sitcom director co-created Cheers in the 1980s. He directed the Season 3 premiere in which Frasier first appeared, as well as the pilot episode of the original Frasier sitcom (and dozens more episodes after that). James Burrows is back in the director's seat for the Frasier revival and helmed the first two episodes of the new show.

Frasier returns to Boston in the revival series to start a new chapter and to mend his relationship with his adult son Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott). They will be joined by Frasier's nephew David (Anders Keith), Frasier's Oxford buddy Alan (Nicholas Lyndhurst), Alan's boss Olivia (Toks Olagundoye), and Freddy's roommate Eve (Jess Salgueiro) on the new adventure.

While this is a fresh start for Frasier, Burrows maintains that he's the same character who people have been watching on TV for almost four decades.

"He's a little bit older and probably a little bit smarter and wiser. It's just putting him in new situations," James Burrows told The Messenger ahead of the Frasier revival premiere. "Taking a character that the audience knows really well and putting him in with new people is the aim of the show."

Burrows, who has directed over 1,000 sitcom episodes, is a master of the craft. But when asked about his role in bringing Frasier back to TV, he said that his main job was simple.

"My goal was to keep it connected to the character of Frasier to maintain the integrity and the humor of that character that's been around now for almost 40 years," he explained. "Kesley and I have a really special relationship. I am there to protect him and protect the character."

Burrows and Grammer have a special relationship, but the premiere episodes marked the first time that Burrows had worked with several of the new cast members. As the director, he was responsible for getting the group to gel and feel like an ensemble off the bat. He shared the piece of advice he gave them when filming the new show.

"The counsel I give them is to be able to survive in a scene with Frasier Crane, with Kelsey, who has a dynamic comedic talent, and you can't get lost. You have to compete on his level," Burrows explained. "It doesn't have to be as loud or as boisterous as him or as demonstrative as him, but you have to find something where you can hold your own in the scene with him. That was my goal in forming this homogenous group of people who look like they've been together forever."

Even though Frasier is most known for being ostentatious and snobby, Burrows maintains that there is a reliability to the character that has made him someone people are willing to revisit over and over — and it's why he thinks the new series will succeed.

"There's an interest to him. There's an identifiability to him. A man who is a little full of himself but does get his comeuppance. He's an endearing character," Burrows elaborated. "If we brought Sam Malone back — we wouldn't do that — but you're interested in seeing what happens to Sam Malone. There are enduring characters that you're interested in…These are characters that the audience identifies with in our pillars of history in the sitcom."

And if anyone would know about lasting sitcom characters, it is James Burrows.

Frasier premieres with two episodes on Thursday, Oct. 12 on Paramount+.