XPost: rec.arts.tv, alt.tv.lost, alt.tv.sesame-street   
   XPost: alt.tv.the-west-wing, alt.tv.cheers   
   From: epwise@yahoo.com   
      
   Ubiquitous  wrote in   
   news:l2cu9d$jlm$1@dont-email.me:   
      
   > By Joe Oliveto,  Ryan Menezes   
   >   
   > Every so often, television brings us such an iconic character that we   
   > have to marvel at the genius of the writing staff. But these   
   > characters don't always spring fully formed from the minds of   
   > producers as they high-five each other. Occasionally it's just a happy   
   > accident, as is dramatically proven by the fact that ...   
   >   
   >   
   > #1. Frasier Crane from Cheers and Frasier Was Kept Around to Annoy   
   > Shelley Long   
   >   
   > NBC   
   >   
   > You may be thinking, "How were they going to write Frasier out of a   
   > show called Frasier?" But people often forget that the star of that   
   > sitcom about rich people originally began as a character on Cheers,   
   > that sitcom about drunk people. Despite TV execs being generally   
   > starved for originality, spinoffs are rare in TV land, and popular   
   > spinoffs virtually unheard of (we're looking at you, Joey).   
   >   
   > But Frasier was so popular that he not only got his own show for 11   
   > seasons, but also showed up on another sitcom called Wings, because   
   > why not?   
   >   
   > Why We Almost Didn't Get Him:   
   >   
   > Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) was never originally a core cast member   
   > of Cheers. In fact, he was only supposed to show up for a few episodes   
   > in the third season, long enough to have an affair with Diane (Shelley   
   > Long) and create a little dramatic tension. Essentially, he was a   
   > device to make Sam jealous.   
   >   
   > Of course, Sam, Ted Danson's bartender character, was the guy we were   
   > really supposed to like. He was the down-to-earth, friendly, relatable   
   > lead. Frasier Crane was basically his opposite -- a stuffy, pompous   
   > rich guy who didn't care much for the working class functional   
   > alcoholics who hung around at Cheers. The plan was that he would stick   
   > around for a few days until the others told him to piss off and Diane   
   > could come to her senses.   
   >   
   > And no one was more eager for this to happen than Long, who hated   
   > Grammer and was constantly demanding he be written out of the show as   
   > quickly as possible. But you know who hated Long in return? The   
   > writers, who Grammer says kept the character around purely out of   
   > spite. If Long had liked him, or even been less of a horrible person,   
   > maybe they'd have just let Frasier drop off the map. Of course, that   
   > might be Grammer not giving himself enough credit -- the producers say   
   > they just loved what Grammer did with the character, which is what   
   > they would say since it sounds better than "The entire show was just   
   > our experiment to see if we could cause Shelley Long to have a nervous   
   > breakdown."   
   >   
   > Regardless, between Cheers and its spinoffs, the one-time character   
   > that nobody was supposed to like became the longest continuously   
   > running television character of all time. And we are counting X-Men 3   
   > as a Cheers spinoff here, because the Beast was clearly Frasier Crane   
   > in a blue furry costume.   
   >   
   >   
      
   Perhaps in a sitcom.  James Arness was on 635 episodes of Gunsmoke over   
   the same time period (20 years, 1955-75) (with an additional 5 TV movies   
   during 1987-94). (There were 495 episodes of Cheers and Frasier during   
   1984-2004).   
      
   He was also on almost all if not all episodes of Gunsmoke (unlike early   
   Cheers episodes with Grammer) and also appeared not only in half-hour   
   episodes but mostly hour-long episodes as well.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)