Wendy Williams, the one-time host of her popular, Daytime Emmy-nominated namesake talk show, has been diagnosed with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. While this is terrible news – especially to her legion of fans – one can only hope that it will bring even more attention to the disease, which gained much more attention once it was revealed that Bruce Willis has been going through similar circumstances.
A statement on Wendy Williams’ condition (via The Hollywood Reporter) reads: “As Wendy’s fans are aware, in the past she has been open with the public about her medical struggles with Graves’ Disease and Lymphedema as well as other significant challenges related to her health…Over the past few years, questions have been raised at times about Wendy’s ability to process information and many have speculated about Wendy’s condition, particularly when she began to lose words, act erratically at times and have difficulty understanding financial transactions.”
This weekend, a multi-part Lifetime documentary titled Where Is Wendy Williams? will air. However, representatives for Williams want fans to know that it may even be outdated in a way already, with her sister stating, “I spoke with her yesterday and I speak with her very regularly when she reaches out to me. She is, from what I understand, in a wellness, healing type of environment…We cannot reach out to her, but she can reach out to us. And she is in a healing place emotionally. She’s not the person that you see in this film.” The reason some family members claim they cannot have contact with Williams is due to her currently being under court-appointed legal guardianship, which itself has drawn the ire of those who have known her the longest.
The documentary began filming in 2022, the same year The Wendy Williams Show went off the air partly due to her ongoing health issues. On average, the show took in more than 1.5 million viewers on a daily basis. Over its 13-season run, the show had more than 1,500 episodes.
Another portion of the statement reads: “Wendy is still able to do many things for herself. Most importantly she maintains her trademark sense of humor and is receiving the care she requires to make sure she is protected and that her needs are addressed. She is appreciative of the many kind thoughts and good wishes being sent her way.” With that, we do wish Wendy Williams luck in her ongoing battle. Considering how wide her fanbase is, perhaps her diagnosis can further highlight the struggle of those who are currently going through all of this.
When news came out that Matthew Perry had passed away at his home in Los Angeles back in October, it came as a tremendous shock to his millions of fans. While no one, initially, knew why the actor had passed, in the weeks that followed the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner revealed that “contributing factors in Mr. Perry’s death include drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine”, which he was being legally prescribed. He had been using the drug to treat his ongoing opiate addiction. At only 54, Perry was deserving of a major second act in his career, with him having been sober for many years and having defeated his personal demons. Truly he will forever be part of the pop culture, and his career will never be forgotten.
Matthew Perry (1969-2023)
Seasons three through six of Friends had some of Chandler Bing’s funniest and most character-defining moments. There he is handcuffed, without pants, to a filing cabinet; remaining in “time out” in a box for nearly a full episode; hooking up with—and later marrying—Monica…We all remember them fondly. The one who doesn’t? Matthew Perry, who says these seasons were a blur due to his problems with substance abuse.
But to truly understand the actor, we go back to the beginning. And the beginning began when he was born on August 19th in Williamstown, MA, the son of two prominent people: actor John Bennett Perry and mother Suzanne, who later served as press secretary to Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau (father of Justin, who Perry says he beat up in school).
Early Roles:
Perry developed an interest in acting after he served it up on the tennis court as a youth, moving from Canada to L.A. to live with his father, starting with small bits on shows like 240-Robert (1979)—a series that starred his father and is considered lost—and HBO sketch series Not Necessarily the News (1983), along with more popular fare like Charles in Charge and Silver Spoons. After TV movie Morning Maggie, Perry got his first consistent acting job on the Fox sitcom Second Chance aka Boys Will Be Boys, retitled to focus more on Perry’s character, Chazz. It only lasted one season, but the year it ended, 1988, was a turning point for the actor.
Although most of us haven’t heard of the titles, Matthew Perry was getting steady work. There was TV movie Dance ‘Til Dawn alongside Christina Applegate, Alyssa Milano and Tracey Gold; a one-off on sitcom Just the Ten of Us; a two-episode stint on fantasy Highway to Heaven; and his feature debut, A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (River Phoenix was Jimmy). In 1989, he appeared in the Tony Danza-starring comedy She’s Out of Control, not to mention a three-episode arc on Growing Pains, playing Gold’s boyfriend who drinks and drives, resulting in his death—as part of the “very special episode” craze.
Around this time, he would call it quits on being credited as Matthew L. Perry, which seemed like sort of a good luck charm, since he landed his first lead in a sitcom, co-headlining CBS’ Sydney (1990, with Valerie Bertinelli and Craig Bierko, the fool who turned down Friends a few years later). But it was hardly a good luck charm, with Perry looking to becoming trapped in a series of TV movies and shows, playing Desi Arnaz Jr. in Call Me Anna (1990) and doing one-offs on Beverly Hills 90210 (1991), Dream On (1992), Sibs (1992) before sticking another series, 1993’s Home Free, for ABC, which lasted just 11 episodes (with two unaired). There would also be TV movies such as Deadly Relations (1993) and Parallel Lives (1994), as well as L.A.X. 2194, an unaired pilot that he was too busy doing to initially take a little show called Six of One…He, too, did Doug Liman’s DTV Getting In…And yes, Perry would be getting in the business in a major way that same year…
How did Matthew Perry become Chandler Bing?
After Bierko dropped out, Perry joined the cast of Six of One fortunately renamed to Friends, as the youngest member, playing Chandler Bing, the sarcastic one of the group. Either way, he was a fan favorite. Perry and the cast, which consisted of Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt Leblanc and David Schwimmer, would end up earning up to $1 million per episode in the last two seasons (up from $22,500 in the first season). This money, tragically, would come in handy…
It was during this run that Perry went full-on with his drug addiction—he always wanted to be famous but neglected to take into account some of its trappings—first becoming addicted to Vicodin following a jet ski accident in 1997, something that later turned into a 55-pill/day habit, only enhanced by the mounting pressures of shooting Fools Rush In (1997), an innocent yet generic flick that proved a major departure from the TV environment. In 1998, Perry co-starred opposite Chris Farley in Almost Heroes (1998). Far from a Farley/Spade pairing, it remains a tarnish on Farley’s filmography. 1999 would bring another non-challenging rom-com, Three to Tango, while the next year saw the decent enough The Whole Nine Yards, which excels more due to Bruce Willis and his chemistry with Perry and everyone else in the cast. The same year, Perry suffered from pancreatitis, brought on by alcohol abuse, something his Friends co-stars tried and failed to get him off of. By 2001, Perry was heavily into alcohol, Vicodin, methadone, and amphetamines.
Matthew Perry’s Drug Problems:
This came to a head in 2002 while Perry was filming Serving Sara with Elizabeth Hurley. With less than two weeks left in production, his addictions truly started affecting his work, as his quart of vodka/day habit sent him to much-needed rehab…but only because he thought he would die. To date, Perry estimates he spent around $9 million to get sober, going to rehab more than 60 times.
The next few years would see a two-episode stint on Ally McBeal and Perry giving drama a legit go, with three episodes on The West Wing (2003)—earning two Emmy nods—and co-starring in his first play, David Mamet’s Sexual Perversity in Chicago (more commonly known for its big screen adaptation, About Last Night). But he couldn’t avoid comedy, next starring in the pointless sequel The Whole Ten Yards (2004), and directing an episode of Scrubs alongside his father.
After Friends
Following Friends’ end in 2004, many in the cast wondered what would come of their careers. Perry waited until 2006 to get in front of the camera, starring in TV movie The Ron Clark Story to Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG nominations. So began a fairly reliable pattern of passable but still forgettable TV and movie work that still seems to be active. There was the promising but failed, one-season Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, playing the head writer of an SNL-esque show; 2007’s Numb, which went DTV in the US despite a strong enough turn as a depressive with depersonalization disorder; indie attempt Birds of America (2008); the casually charming 17 Again (2009) with Zac Efron—which capped off the decade and surprisingly and unjustly still remains his most recent feature.
The 2010s started off with potential, with the creators giving him a voice in the video game Fallout: New Vegas based on his avid love for the series. 2011 brought another series, ABC’s Mr. Sunshine—which Perry co-created and wrote episodes of—but that was canceled after just nine episodes. Perry again returned to drama with a four-episode arc as an attorney on The Good Wife (2012-2013), which he’d reprise for a 2017 three-episode run on The Good Fight. Perry yet again was given a shot at headlining a sitcom, playing a sportscaster on Go On, which, yes, was canned after one season. The same year that ended, Perry gave back in a most noble way, opening a Malibu rehab center that unfortunately shut down in 2015—but that’s twice as long as most of his shows at least…That same year, Perry latched onto the Oscar Madison role in an Odd Couple reboot, which miraculously lasted three seasons. In 2016, Perry returned to the stage, writing The End of Longing, which played London and off-Broadway. In 2017, Perry seemed to want to let his fans in more on his personal life, playing famous boozer Ted Kennedy in TV movie The Kennedys: After Camelot.
And then his colon exploded. No, really. His aggressive OxyContin abuse in the latter part of the decade led to an exploded colon, leaving him with a colostomy bag. His abuse also put him in a coma with two weeks on life support, with doctors giving him a 2% chance of survival, detailed graphically and effectively in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
The Friends reunion:
Perry made his first appearance in awhile on HBO Max’s Friends reunion special, which was filmed during the pandemic. While it was meant to be a lighthearted look back at the show, fans were surprised at Perry’s appearance, with him notably haggard looking, and slurring his words. While some speculated that his substance abuse issues could have returned, the explanation was much more ordinary than that – he’d simply had emergency dental surgery shortly before filming.
Did Matthew Perry Hate Keanu Reeves?
When Perry put our his memoirs, many fans were offended about the way he slighted Keanu Reeves, thanks to the following passage: “It always seems to be the really talented guys who go down. Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?” Fans wondered what Perry, who’d never worked with Reeves before, had against the beloved actor. In response Perry opted to remove the offending passage from future versions of the book, stating, “I said a stupid thing. It was a mean thing to do…I pulled his name because I live on the same street…I’ve apologized publicly to him. Any future versions of the book will not have his name in it.” He added earlier, “I’m actually a big fan of Keanu…I just chose a random name, my mistake. I apologize. I should have used my own name instead.”
Tributes from his Friends co-stars:
Shortly after his death, the Friends cast, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa kudrow, Matt Leblanc and David Schwimmer, released a joint statement, that read as follows:
“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family. There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss. In time we will say more, as and when we are able. For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world.”
In the weeks that followed, his castmates would post their own, individual, heartfelt tributes to their late co-star.
While Matthew Perry has had his ups and downs, he managed to find sobriety in 2021 and tried to use his story to educated people on the dangers (and stigma) of addiction. Indeed, having passed away at 54, it hard not to think that Perry could have had a tremendous second act in his life and career ahead of him, making his passing all the more tragic. Yet, he leaves behind a wonderful legacy and will never be forgotten.
Austin Butler completely embodied Elvis Presley for Baz Luhrmann’s extravagant biopic, spending three years researching the life and music of the iconic musician. He even adapted Presley’s southern drawl the entire time and needed a vocal coach to help him lose the accent. Thankfully, Austin Butler didn’t go quite that far when it came to playing the sadistic Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in Dune: Part Two.
“I’ve definitely in the past, with ‘Elvis,’ explored living within that world for three years and that being the only thing that I think about day and night,” Butler told the Los Angeles Times in a joint interview with director Denis Villeneuve. “With Feyd, I knew that that would be unhealthy for my family and friends.” Villeneuve was quick to chime in, “And for me!“
Butler continued, “So I made a conscious decision to have a boundary. It allowed for more freedom between action and cut because I knew I was going to protect everybody else outside of the context of what we were doing. That’s not to say that it doesn’t bleed into your life. But I knew that I wasn’t going to do anything dangerous outside of that boundary, and in a way that allowed me to go deeper, I think.” Villeneuve added that “when the camera was on, it was like you were possessed,” but when the camera was off, “you were still maybe 25 or 30% Feyd. Just enough to still be present and focus but removed enough that you didn’t kill anybody on set.“
The first reactions to Dune: Part Two have been extremely positive, with our own Chris Bumbray giving the film a rave review, including plenty of praise for Austin Butler. “Feyd-Rautha may be the role that finally gets people to stop looking at him as Elvis, with him playing a sadistic baddie who’s about as far removed from The King of rock n’ roll as you can get,” Bumbray wrote. “His intensity and sadism push the boundaries of the PG-13 rating, and the final confrontation with Paul will likely rank highly among the best action scenes of the year.” You can check out the rest of Bumbray’s review right here.
Dune: Part Two will “explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a path of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.” The film will hit theaters on March 1st.
At long last, Prime Video has revealed the official release date for The Boys season 4, with the new season set to premiere on June 13th!
The first three mind-blowing episodes of The Boys season 4 will drop on June 13th, followed by a new episode each week, concluding with the epic season finale on July 18th. All eight episodes of the diabolical drama will stream exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. The streaming service also dropped a new poster to celebrate Homelander’s birthday, which you can check out below.
“In Season Four, the world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power,” reads the official synopsis. “Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son and his job as The Boys’ leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late.“
The Boys stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara, Colby Minifie, Claudia Doumit, and Cameron Crovetti. New additions to the season 4 cast include Susan Heyward, Valorie Curry, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke teased that fans have another intense season on the way. “I would just like to add that I was in post today, working on a Season 4 scene that miiiiiiight be the batshit craziest thing we’ve ever done?” Kripke tweeted. “Like I truly can’t believe we got away with it.” You’ll remember that this is a show in which a man shrinks to crawl into his lover’s penis, only to sneeze and expand to normal size, exploding his partner from the inside.
In addition to another season of The Boys, there’s another spinoff in development called The Boys: Mexico from Blue Beetle writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, with Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal set to executive produce. The pair are also considering appearing in the series, although they would not be main roles. Since the debut of The Boys in 2019, we’ve seen two spinoff series released: The animated anthology series The Boys Presents: Diabolical and Gen V, a college-set spinoff which wrapped up its first season last year and has been renewed for a second.
Here’s some exciting news: Deadline reports that Tom Cruise is set to star in a new movie from Alejandro Iñárritu for Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment. This would be Iñárritu’s first English language movie since The Revenant, which hit theaters nearly a decade ago.
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but it’s said that Iñárritu co-wrote the script last year with Sabina Berman as well as his Birdman co-writers Alexander Dinelaris and Nicolás Giacobone. It was reported yesterday that Tom Cruise was looking to return to more serious, dramatic fare with an award-winning director, and Alejandro Iñárritu certainly fits the bill. The movie will also be the first project that will fall under Cruise’s strategic partnership with Warner Bros.
According to Deadline’s report, Cruise arranged a meeting with Iñárritu as soon as he learned of the director’s new project. The actor quickly signed on as soon as the meeting concluded. In addition to starring in the movie, Cruise will also produce alongside Iñárritu.
The Terminator franchise has spent the last thirty years chasing the high of the first two movies, and Linda Hamilton thinks it’s time to finally let it die.
Linda Hamilton starred in The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day as Sarah Connor and later returned for Terminator: Dark Fate, but she is not interested in reprising the role for any further potential reboots. “I’m done. I’m done. I have nothing more to say,” Hamilton told Business Insider. “The story’s been told, and it’s been done to death.“
Hamilton added: “Why anybody would relaunch it is a mystery to me. But I know our Hollywood world is built on relaunches right now.“
Arnold Schwarzenegger shared a similar sentiment last year but believes that the franchise can continue, just not with his involvement. “The franchise is not done. I’m done. I got the message loud and clear that the world wants to move on with a different theme when it comes to The Terminator,” Schwarzenegger said.” Someone has to come up with a great idea. The Terminator was largely responsible for my success, so I always would look at it very fondly. The first three movies were great. Number four [Salvation] I was not in because I was governor. Then five [Genisys] and six [Dark Fate] didn’t close the deal as far as I’m concerned. We knew that ahead of time because they were just not well written.“
Hollywood hates to let a franchise die, so I’m certain Terminator will return at some point. In fact, James Cameron was reportedly writing a new Terminator movie last year but was holding out to see how this whole AI thing plays out. I’d be down for a legit reboot of the franchise, but I just don’t have the energy for yet another sequel that jumps through convoluted time-travel hoops to connect to the first two movies. Give us something genuinely different, or let the franchise slide into molten metal. Thumbs up, baby.
Is there still life left in the Terminator franchise?
While Warner Bros. continues to sit on his adaptation of the Stephen King novel Salem’s Lot, filmmaker Gary Dauberman has gone on to sign a first-look feature deal with Sony’s Screen Gems, where he is expected to “create projects for himself while curating a slate featuring established and up-and-coming filmmakers.” One of the projects he has set up at Screen Gems is the video game adaptation Until Dawn, which will be directed by David F. Sandberg. Now Deadline has revealed that Dauberman is going to be producing a film called Ushers for Screen Gems… and we have no idea what Ushers is about, because it’s based on a short story by author Joe Hill (who happens to be a son of Stephen King) that has never been published!
Dauberman and his team at the Coin Operated production company will develop and produce Ushers, with Coin Operated’s President, Mia Maniscalco, also earning a producer credit. Ashley Brucks and Michael Bitar are overseeing the project for the studio.
The film’s screenplay is being written by Zak Olkewicz, whose previous credits include The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Bullet Train, and Fear Street: Part Two – 1978. Olkewicz was also a co-producer on the Sandberg-directed horror film Lights Out.
Joe Hill’s works have previously inspired the films Horns, In the Tall Grass, and The Black Phone, as well as the TV shows NOS4A2 and Locke & Key. A few of his stories have been turned into segments of the anthology series Creepshow – which is very appropriate, since not only did his dad create the Creepshow franchise with George A. Romero, but Hill also had an acting role in the original film. The Black Phone director Scott Derrickson is currently working on a sequel that’s scheduled to reach theatres next year.
Last month, Hill mentioned on social media that the Ushers short story is going to be included in an anthology called New Demons, which will soon be launching a Kickstarter campaign. Hill wrote, “I wrote half a dozen short stories last year – I don’t know which is best, but Ushers was my particular favorite.”
Are you interested in seeing how this Gary Dauberman / Joe Hill project is going to turn out? Share your thoughts on Ushers by leaving a comment below.
Laura Harrier (White Men Can’t Jump, Entergalactic, BlacKkKlansman) is ready to go to war with Nicolas Cage and Bill Skarsgård for the Andrew Niccol-directed (Gattaca, The Truman Show, The Host) sequel Lords of War. Harrier will star opposite Cage and Skarsgård for a follow-up to the filmmaker’s 2005 thriller, Lord of War.
Andrew Niccol directs from a script he wrote, with Cage reprising his role from the 2005 original, arms dealer Yuri Orlov. The plot includes a father-son twist, with Skarsgård playing Orlov’s son, Anton. In the Lord of War sequel, Anton “tries to top his father’s wrongs instead of stopping them as he launches a mercenary army to fight America’s Middle East conflicts.” The details of Harrier’s role remain a mystery.
“There is so much more to explore with these characters. Plato said it best — ‘Only the dead have seen the end of war.’ I’m looking forward to spending more time in the company of the charming devil that is Yuri Orlov and now his illegitimate son – who turns out to not be legitimate in any way,” director Niccol said about Lords of War last year.
Niccol directed and wrote Lord of War, featuring Nicolas Cage as Yuri Orlov, an arms dealer who confronts the morality of his work as an INTERPOL agent is chasing him. Ethan Hawke, Jared Leto, and Bridget Moynahan also star.
Though she appeared on over 40 episodes of the TV series One Life to Live, Harrier’s star began to shine brighter after she played Liz, Peter Parker’s love interest, in the Tom Holland-fronted Spider-Man: Homecoming. She then brought attitude and captivating stares to Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman as Patrice Dumas, the president of the black student union at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
She stars as Camille Washington opposite David Corenswet (Superman: Legacy) in the TV mini-series Hollywood. The show focuses on a group of aspiring actors and filmmakers in post-World War II Hollywood trying to make it big. Her latest role is for the White Men Can’t Jump remake, starring Jack Harlow and Sinqua Willis as the B-ball hustlers.
What did you think about Lord of War when it hit theaters in 2005? Are you ready to follow Yuri Orlov into the heart of danger again? Let us know in the comments below.
Just yesterday, we heard that Tigers Are Not Afraid filmmaker Issa López, who directed and co-wrote all six episodes of the fourth season of the HBO anthology crime series True Detective (a season that’s known as True Detective: Night Country) “might” come back to do another season of the show. Now it’s a sure thing. Variety has broken the news that HBO has ordered True Detective season 5, and López, who has just secured new overall deal with the network, will be back at the helm.
True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto was the mastermind behind the first three seasons of the show, but once the third season wrapped up, his HBO deal expired and he signed a new (short-lived) deal with FX. HBO retained the ownership rights to True Detective, and with Pizzolatto gone they were interested in bringing in someone who had “a fresh voice with a different point of view” to oversee the show. That search led them to Issa López.
True Detective: Night Country was the most-watched season of the show, averaging 12.7 million cross-platform viewers, with 3.2 million checking out the season finale on the day of its release. So it’s no surprise to hear that HBO wants López back for season 5. She had this to say about the network ordering another season: “From conception to release, Night Country has been the most beautiful collaboration and adventure of my entire creative life. HBO trusted my vision all the way, and the idea of bringing to life a new incarnation of True Detective with Casey, Francesca and the whole team is a dream come true. I can’t wait to go again.“
Francesca Orsi, executive vice president of HBO Programming and head of HBO drama series and films, provided the following statement: “Issa López is that one-of-a-kind, rare talent that speaks directly to HBO’s creative spirit. She helmed True Detective: Night Country from start to finish, never once faltering from her own commendable vision, and inspiring us with her resilience both on the page and behind the camera. Alongside Jodie and Kali’s impeccable performances, she’s made this installation of the franchise a massive success, we are so lucky to have her as part of our family.“
True Detective: Night Country picked up after the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, as the six men that operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace. To solve the case, Detectives Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves, and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice. JoBlo’s own Alex Maidy loved Night Country, giving it a 9/10 review. Of course, it’s too early for us to have any idea what True Detective season 5 is going to be about.
López executive produced Night Country alongside the season’s star, Jodie Foster. Other executive producers include Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, and Mark Ceryak of Pastel, as well as Chris Mundy, Alan Page Arriaga, Steve Golin, Richard Brown, Mari Jo Winkler, and season 1’s Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, and Cary Joji Fukunaga. Pizzolatto also receives an executive producer credit, but (like McConaughey, Harrelson, and Fukunaga) that credit is his only involvement with the show at this point. Princess Daazhraii Johnson, Cathy Tagnak Rexford, and Sam Breckman were producers on the latest season.
What do you think of HBO and Issa López reteaming for True Detective season 5? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Kelsey Grammer and the gang have a reason to celebrate this Thursday after getting a green light for FrasierSeason 2 at Paramount+! The comedy, filmed in front of a live audience, continues at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles with many stars who made the first season such a hit returning.
The series “follows Frasier Crane in the next chapter of his life as he returns to Boston with new challenges to face, new relationships to forge and an old dream or two to fulfill finally.” Kelsey Grammer returns as the show’s title character, with Jack Cutmore-Scott as Frasier’s son Freddy; Nicholas Lyndhurst as Frasier’s old college compatriot turned university professor Alan; Toks Olagundoye as Olivia, Alan’s colleague and head of the university’s psychology department; Jess Salgueiro as Freddy’s roommate Eve; and Anders Keith as Frasier’s nephew David.
“Fraiser is a love story, and I am very happy we will be allowed to continue it. I’m delighted that our partners at CBS Studios and Paramount+ are on board for another season, and I can’t wait for the fans to see what we have in store!” said Grammer in a statement.
If you are hoping for a Cheers reunion, you might be in luck, though not in the way you would assume. In October, cheers co-creator James Burrows confirmed that the legendary bar’s last call is final. However, Grammer has ideas about how surviving members of the Cheers cast could reprise their roles, possibly for Fraiser Season 2. His ideas include parts for Ted Danson as Sam Malone and Shelley Long as Diane Chambers.
“The relationship with Diane is something that still gnaws at [Frasier] a little bit because he felt like he failed at it,” Grammer told Deadline on the red carpet at the Emmy Awards in January. “It would be nice if they acknowledge one another… ‘I’m glad you did ok.’”
He added, “It would only happen if it’s important to Frasier’s development as a human being.”
Additionally, Grammer said, “If Sam Malone is still alive and has a vital connection of making Frasier move to another place,” he could find his way onto the new series.
While the chance of a Cheers reunion hangs in the air, it sounds like Grammer and the team are ready to pull out all the stops to make Frasier as memorable as possible.
Are you excited about Paramount+ ordering Frasier Season 2? Let us know in the comments below.
