Grammer to headline and produce NBC drama
Kelsey Grammer is attached to star in and executive produce Pops, a drama that has entered development at NBC. The project is written by Danny Weiss, a longtime writer and producer on Chicago Med. In the series, Grammer plays the title character, a man who leaves a successful career behind and, needing a fresh start, enters the chaotic field of emergency medicine alongside first responders who are half his age.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6]
The premise draws on the actual experiences of Ed Levien, a man from Maryland who, following a long and prosperous advertising career, chose to serve as a volunteer EMT starting in his sixties. Younger crew members gave him the nickname Pops. He remained in that emergency medical role for a dozen years, stepping away last autumn when he was 76.[S1]
A familiar midlife-career premise
Pops shares a premise with ABC's The Rookie, which follows the oldest rookie in the LAPD and is also based on a real person who changed careers in midlife. It also has similarities to the CBS sitcom Carol's Second Act, in which Patricia Heaton, Grammer's former Back to You co-star, played a divorced mother with adult children who becomes a medical intern in her 50s. Grammer appeared as a guest star on that show.[S1]
Weiss and Levien will executive produce Pops with Grammer and Jordan McMahon through Grammer's Grammnet NH Productions and 3 Arts Entertainment. Universal Television, part of Universal Studio Group, is the studio behind the project.[S1]
Grammer's career across comedy and drama
Over the years Grammer has alternated between comedic and dramatic roles, appearing in hourlong programs such as Starz's Boss and Amazon's The Last Tycoon. His return to NBC will also put him back on the same network as David Hyde Pierce, his former Frasier colleague, who is attached to a multi-camera comedy currently being developed there.[S1]
For more than two decades, Grammer was a fixture on NBC as psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane across three series: Cheers, its spinoff Frasier, and Wings. He recently returned to the role for Paramount+'s Frasier revival. The part earned him four of his five Emmy Awards. Grammer will also appear in the upcoming film Avengers: Doomsday, due in December, reprising his Marvel Cinematic Universe role as Dr. Henry 'Hank' McCoy. His Grammnet company has produced series including Medium and The Game. He is represented by UTA and Vault Entertainment.[S1]
Weiss served in the US Marine Corps before logging ten seasons with NBC/Universal TV's Chicago Med, where he advanced from staff writer to co-executive producer. His background in medical storytelling extends to a freelance script for Fox/Universal TV's House, M.D., on which he also worked four seasons as the in-house medical researcher. Echo Lake Entertainment and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz represent him.[S1]
