EXCLUSIVE: Twenty two years after the end of Frasier, Kelsey Grammer is set to star in another potential NBC series, this time a drama. Grammer is headlining and executive producing Pops, which has entered development at the network. It is written by longtime Chicago Med writer-produced Danny Weiss.
In Pops, Grammer plays the title character, a man aged out of a successful career who, in desperate need of a fresh start, jumps into the chaotic world of emergency medicine alongside first responders half his age.
The project is based on the true-life story of Ed Levien, a Maryland resident who became a volunteer EMT in his 60s after a successful career in advertising. Nicknamed “Pops” by his younger co-workers, he spent 12 years as EMT until returning last fall at the age of 76.
Pops draws parallels to ABC’s The Rookie, about LAPD’s oldest rookie, which also was based on a real person changing careers midlife. It also shares some similarities with the CBS sitcom Carol’s Second Act, starring Kelsey’s Back To Your co-lead Patricia Heaton as a divorced mom with adult children who goes to med school and becomes a 50-something medical intern. (Grammer guest starred alongside Heaton.)
Weiss and Levien executive produce Pops alongside Grammer and Jordan McMahon via Grammer’s Grammnet NH Productions and 3 Arts Entertainment. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the studio.
Grammer has straddled comedy and drama throughout his career. His hourlong series credits include Starz’s Boss and Amazon’s The Last Tycoon. At NBC, he is reunited with his Frasier co-star David Hyde Pierce, who is starring in a multi-camera comedy in development.
Grammer was a fixture on NBC for more than two decades playing psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane across three series, Cheers, spinoff Frasier and Wings. The role, which he recently revisited for Paramount+’s Frasier revival, earned him four of his five Emmys.
Grammer will be seen in the upcoming film Avengers: Doomsday, out in December, reprising his MCU role as Dr. Henry “Hank” McCoy. His Grammnet company has produced such series as Medium and The Game. Grammer is repped by UTA and Vault Entertainment.
Weiss, a former US Marine, spent 10 seasons on NBC/Universal TV’s Chicago Med, rising through the ranks from staff writer to co-executive producer. His medical drama experience also includes writing a freelance episode of Fox/Universal TV’s House, M.D., where he spent four seasons as the in-house medical researcher. Weiss is repped by Echo Lake Entertainment and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.