Ted Danson has made a heart-wrenching admission about his Cheers co-star Kelsey Grammer.
The actor, who played bartender Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom, has said that he has “missed out on the last 30 years” of friendship with the Frasier star due to an argument they had on the set of Cheers.
However, the pair are now putting their troubles behind them, with Danson taking accountability for their “feud”.
Grammer appeared on Where Everybody Knows Your Name , the podcast Danson co-hosts with Woody Harrelson, whom also starred in Cheers.
“I feel like I got stuck a little bit with you during the Cheers years,” Danson told the guest, who is back for a second season of the Frasier reboot. “I have a memory of getting angry at you once.”
Noting that this encounter is “stuck in both of our memories”, Danson continued: “But I feel like I missed out on the last 30 years of Kelsey Grammer and I feel like it’s my bad, my doing.
“I apologise to you. And [to] me that I sat back… I really do apologise.”
Grammer accepted the apology, and told Danson, who guest starred on Frasier a few times during its original run, that he wishes that had “spent some more time together”.
He added: “My love for you has always been as easy as the day. As easy as the sunrise.”
Grammer originated the character of Frasier on Cheers, which he joined in its third season.
Cheers ran for 11 seasons, from 1982 to 1993, which is when Frasier started. It became a successful sitcom in its own right, lasting for 11 seasons also, ending in 2004.
The reboot, which has welcomed back cast members Peri Gilpin (Roz Doyle), Bebe Neuwrith (Lilith) and Harriet Sansom Harris (celebrity agent Bebe Glazer), airs on Paramount+.
The original series originally featured Lisa Kudrow, who recently revealed she was fired after being cast in Gilpin’s role.
In 1993, one year before being cast in Friends, which Kudrow says she can’t watch due to being “mortified” by her performance, the actor won the role of Frasier’s radio producer.
However, before filming the pilot episode, Kudrow was dropped from the role, telling the SmartLess podcast: “I didn’t film it. I got fired from Frasier.”
The actor described this as “devastating”, telling co-hosts Sean Hayes, Jason Bateman and Will Arnett that director James Burrows told her during the episode’s run-through: “This isn’t working.”
Cheers starred Shelley Long, George Wendt, Rhea Perlman and Kirstie Alley.
