Frasier turns 25: Read an oral history of NBC's "Must-See TV" pioneering Cheers spinoff

Vanity Fair

Creators David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee followed a simple mantra in creating Frasier: "no stupid jokes, no stupid characters. Deliver smart, heartfelt content framed within awkward situations. And never take the easy way out." The result was a hit comedy that launched on Sept. 16, 1993, winning a record-breaking 37 Emmys off of 108 nominations over the course of 11 seasons. Originally, the plan was to have Kelsey Grammer play a totally new character, a paralyzed multi-millionaire with a 'Rosie Perez-type" as his nurse. But that idea was quickly scrapped with the proposal that Grammer reprise his Frasier Crane character from Cheers. As writer-producer Joe Keenan explains: "Frasier has so many flaws: he’s vain, pompous, condescending. He’s an insecure snob, always trying to ascend to some new social pinnacle. But underneath that, there’s this incredibly decent guy who truly wants to help people."

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• Frasier worked because Cheers had fleshed out Grammer's character enough that he could hold his own and carry a show
• Frasier was ahead of its time in some ways, arriving before "metrosexual" was coined and with Roz as a feminist icon
• How Frasier's poshness foreshadowed the new Seattle
• Frasier's Seattle condo would be worth up to $3.63 million today