Kelsey Grammer Boards NBC EMT Drama ‘Pops’

Kelsey Grammer could be returning to NBC in a very different kind of leading role. The Frasier star is attached to headline and executive-produce Pops, an emergency medicine drama now in development at the network.

Grammer would play a man pushed out of a successful career who searches for a fresh start among first responders much younger than he is. The project is inspired by Ed Levien, a Maryland resident who left advertising and became a volunteer emergency medical technician in his 60s.

‘Pops’ draws from a real second act

Levien worked as an EMT for 12 years, from age 64 until his retirement at 76, and earned the nickname that gives the proposed series its title. That true-life foundation places the show’s focus on reinvention as much as emergency calls, pairing the physical demands of first-response work with the challenge of beginning again later in life.

Danny Weiss is writing and executive-producing the drama. He brings extensive experience from Chicago Med, where he spent 10 seasons and rose from staff writer to co-executive producer. He also worked on House, M.D., including time as an in-house medical researcher.

Grammer and Jordan McMahon will executive-produce through Grammnet NH Productions. Levien and 3 Arts Entertainment are also executive producers, while Universal Television is the studio behind the project.

A potential NBC homecoming

The development marks a notable possible return for Grammer, whose Dr. Frasier Crane became one of NBC’s defining comedy characters across Cheers, Frasier and a guest appearance on Wings. He won four Emmys for the role and later revisited it in Paramount+’s two-season Frasier revival.

Pops is not yet a series order, so details such as a premiere date, additional cast members and an episode count have not been announced. For now, it is a development project with a star, a writer and a real story at its center. If NBC moves it forward, the show would trade Frasier Crane’s radio booth for ambulances, emergency rooms and a much more physical late-career reset.