Kelsey Grammer, 71, is set to star in an NBC drama about a man who became an EMT in his 60s

Kelsey Grammer is attached to star in Pops, a medical drama in development at NBC, TVLine has confirmed. He would play "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", according to NBC's logline.

The project is inspired by Ed Levien, a Maryland man who became an EMT in his 60s. Grammer is 71.

Back to the network, back to medicine

TVLine calls it a return to the network that made Grammer a household name. It would also be a return to medicine of a sort. According to Wikipedia, Frasier Crane, MD, studied at Harvard College, Harvard Medical School and Oxford, and was introduced on Cheers as a psychiatrist; in Frasier he hosted a radio show at KACL. Pops would put Grammer among first responders.

• Writer and executive producer: Danny Weiss, who spent ten seasons on NBC's Chicago Med, rising from staff writer to co-executive producer.
• Executive producers: Grammer, Jordan McMahon of Grammnet, Ed Levien himself, and 3 Arts Entertainment.
• Studio: Universal Television. Deadline first reported the project.
• Status: in development at NBC.

TVLine says the premise "doesn't sound all that dissimilar" from ABC's The Rookie.

Cheers, from 1984

TVLine's summary of Grammer's career says he played Frasier on Cheers from 1982 to 1993. Those are the dates of Cheers, not of Frasier.

Grammer joined in the third season. According to Wikipedia, the character debuted in the season 3 premiere, "Rebound (Part 1)", in 1984, as a love interest for Diane Chambers in the Sam and Diane story. Wikipedia's own page on Grammer lists his Cheers years as 1984 to 1993.

The rest of the run:

• Frasier (1993 to 2004): the spin-off, which moved the character to Seattle after his divorce from Lilith.
• Wings (1992): a one-time appearance as Frasier.
• Frasier (2023 to 2024): the Paramount+ revival, announced in February 2021 and, per TVLine, cancelled in January 2025 after two seasons.

The revival is where the character last changed careers. According to Wikipedia, Frasier is recruited by Harvard's psychology department as a professor, partly to prove himself as a serious psychiatrist rather than a mere showman. His last appearance so far is "Father Christmas", the 20th episode of the revival's second season. The next career change Grammer has lined up belongs to a different character entirely, and a different kind of medicine.

Wikipedia calls Frasier Crane one of the longest-running roles played by a single live-action actor in primetime television history, with more than 20 years on air.

What the role won him

For Frasier alone, Grammer won four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series out of eleven nominations, and two Golden Globes out of eight nominations. In total he has six Emmys and three Golden Globes, along with a Tony Award, according to Wikipedia.

Outside Frasier, his best-known work includes Hank McCoy, the Beast, in X-Men: The Last Stand, Days of Future Past, The Marvels and Avengers: Doomsday, and the corrupt mayor in the Starz drama Boss (2011 to 2012), which won him a Golden Globe.

Two Cranes, one network

Grammer is not the only Frasier alumnus with an NBC project. David Hyde Pierce, who played Frasier's younger brother Niles, is attached to an untitled multi-camera comedy at the network from Marco Pennette, a veteran of Mom. It was first announced in September.

That means the actors who played both Crane brothers have projects in development at NBC at the same time, one a comedy and one a drama.

The age gap is the premise

Grammer was born on February 21, 1955. The man whose story inspired Pops started his EMT career in his 60s. On screen, the logline already puts the character among first responders "half his age".

The casting turns that up a notch. The real Levien was in his 60s. The actor playing the version inspired by him is in his 70s.

What is still unknown

• Whether NBC orders a pilot. The project is only in development.
• When it could air. No season has been mentioned.
• How closely it follows Levien's story. TVLine describes the series as inspired by it, not based on it.
• Whether both Frasier alumni get a series. Hyde Pierce's comedy is also still in development.
• The rest of the cast, including the younger first responders the logline describes.
• Whether the setting connects to the Chicago shows. Weiss comes from Chicago Med, but nothing has been said about a link.

Kelsey Grammer spent more than twenty years playing a Harvard-trained psychiatrist. Pops would bring him back to the network that made him famous, at 71, as a rookie in emergency medicine.