This Forgotten 1990s Sitcom Was the Closest NBC Ever Got to a True Frasier Replacement

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Without Cheers, viewers might never have gotten Just Shoot Me, Scrubs, The Office, Workaholics, Parks and Recreation, Superstore, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Abbott Elementary, St Denis Medical, or DMV. In contrast, the successful Cheers spinoff Frasier earned nowhere near as many imitators, even though the Kelsey Grammer vehicle was almost as popular as its historically huge predecessor. The five-season workplace sitcom Newsradio was about the only show that recaptured the appeal of Frasier, even though its focus on an ensemble cast meant that the series never had a primary protagonist like Frasier himself.

NewsRadio Came Close To Replicating Frasier’s Appeal

Although Frasier’s personal life dominated a lot of the show’s plots, the Cheers spinoff focused primarily on his work as a radio show host and on-air psychiatrist. His colleagues Roz and Bulldog Briscoe both played significant supporting roles in the show, and many episodes centred on Frasier’s exploits at work while hosting his show. In much the same way, Newsradio focused on the radio station WNYX, run by Dave Foley’s genial young news director, Dave Nelson. The Kids in the Hall star was joined by an ensemble cast including Stephen Root, Maura Tierney, and the late, great Phil Hartman.

Although Foley’s sweet Dave could not be less like the high-strung Frasier Crane, Newsradio still borrowed a lot of Frasier’s DNA in a way that few other shows of the era attempted. The show’s focus on the radio station workplace and the conflicts between its employees mirrored Frasier’s office-set storylines, and the chaos of live radio provided a lot of fodder for comedy in both shows. However, while there are lots of shows that were modelled on Friends and Seinfeld, Newsradio was one of very few sitcoms to borrow Frasier’s style.

Why Seinfeld And Cheers Produced More Imitators Than Frasier

From more obscure titles like Two Guys and A Girl to shows as iconic as How I Met Your Mother, there are a lot of hangout shows that owe some of their inspiration to the success of Friends and Seinfeld. The Big Bang Theory, New Girl, and the underrated cult classic Happy Endings all borrowed from these two hangout shows to develop their unique stories, and it is easy to see why. With their large ensemble casts and young heroes, Friends and Seinfeld both had formats that could be emulated with relative ease.

Although shows like Newsradio and Just Shoot Me did borrow some elements of Frasier, there’s not that much that’s very similar to the Cheers spinoff because Frasier had a very specific tone, setup, and comedic style. If the title character were even slightly more irritating and self-centered, the entire show could have been unwatchable, whereas Friends and Seinfeld spread their stories between a bigger cast with more varied personalities. As such, it probably shouldn’t come as a shock that a lot of shows wanted to be the next Cheers, but only Newsradio dared to be the new Frasier.