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Kelsey Grammer Lands Lead (Human) Villain In ‘Transformers’ Sequel

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday May 1, 2013 @ 1:16pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Kelsey Grammer, Michael Bay, Paramount Pictures, Transformers
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Forget the affable Frasier Crane; Kelsey Grammer is embracing his inner bad guy. After his Golden Globe turn as the ruthless politician in Boss, Grammer has just landed the key villain role in Michael Bay‘s next Transformers film, which also stars Mark Wahlberg and Stanley Tucci. I’m told that Grammer will play Harold Attinger, a counter intelligence guy. Now, Grammer has been in big films before–he played The Beast in X-Men: The Last Stand–but he moved to UTA a couple of months ago, hoping to get more feature opportunities and the agency certainly came through. He’s also managed by Brian Sher. The film begins production in July, from a script by Ehren Kruger. Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Ian Bryce, Tom DeSanto and Don Murphy are the producers.

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UPDATE: Kelsey Grammer Heads To UTA

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday March 6, 2013 @ 1:20pm PSTTags: Kelsey Grammer
Nellie Andreeva

2ND UPDATE, WEDNESDAY 1 PM: UTA has confirmed that it has signed Kelsey Grammer and will rep the actor for film and television as well as his Grammnet production company.

UPDATE, TUESDAY 7 PM: I’ve learned that Kelsey Grammer has indeed signed with UTA, returning to the … Read More »

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Kelsey Grammer & Martin Lawrence Eye Starring In Lionsgate TV Comedy Series

By NIKKI FINKE AND NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday January 3, 2013 @ 2:14pm PSTTags: Big Deals TV, Debmar-Mercury, Kelsey Grammer, Lionsgate TV, Martin Lawrence

Martin Lawrence Comedy Series Kelsey GrammerKelsey Grammer Comedy Series LionsgateEXCLUSIVE: It would be the biggest star pairing on a TV series in a long long time. Kelsey Grammer and Martin Lawrence are considering pairing up to star in and produce a multi-camera comedy together for Lionsgate TV and its subsidiary Debmar-Mercury. We hear it started with a November meeting right before Thanksgiving between Grammer, Lawrence and Lionsgate where the two actors showed great chemistry. The pair are repped by different agencies: Grammer by WME, and Lawrence by UTA. But Grammer’s financial settlement with recently divorced wife Camille wasn’t yet finalized and he ordered everybody not to discuss the project until it was. (We hear the concern was that Camille might try to lay claim to the project. She reportedly owned half of Grammnet Productions with its television shows including Girlfriends, Medium, and The Game and worked as a creator, writer, and executive producer within the production company.) That financial settlement finalized right before Christmas and now the project is on a fast track. In the past few weeks, the studio has quietly sent out feelers to writers. In coming weeks, the studio will start meeting with potential creators/showrunners to pin down a concept for the buddy series which sources say may have an “odd couple” feel. Read More »

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‘Boss’ Won’t Return To Starz For Season 3, May Wrap Story With Two-Hour Movie

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday November 20, 2012 @ 9:00am PSTTags: Big Deals TV, Boss, Kelsey Grammer, Lionsgate TV, Starz
Nellie Andreeva

Boss Cancelled StarzThere won’t be a third season of Starz‘s acclaimed drama Boss starring Kelsey Grammer and created by Farhad Safinia. However, I’ve learned exclusively that there are discussions between the pay cable network and Boss producer Lionsgate TV about possibly doing a two-hour movie that would wrap up the story of Chicago Mayor Tom Kane, played by Grammer. “After much deliberation, we have made the difficult decision to not proceed with (a third season of) Boss,” said Starz in a statement Tuesday. “We remain proud of this award-winning show, its exceptional cast and writers, and are grateful to Kelsey Grammer, Farhad Safinia and our partners at Lionsgate TV.”

Ratings-wise, Boss was soft but relatively steady. The series premiered to 659,000 viewers in October 2011. Season 2, which was ordered before Boss‘ series debut, opened with 317,000 viewers this past August, down 52% from Season 1, but subsequently recovered. It averaged 937,000 viewers over its weekend premiere airings on the Starz flagship channel and around 2.4 million across all platforms per episode. That was down slightly from Season 1 (1.1 million, 3 million). But Boss brought cachet to Starz, earning critical praise. It earned the first major awards nominations for the pay cable network, winning a Golden Globe for star Grammer who probably delivered the strongest performance of his career in Boss. Additionally, the show developed strong following by a small but devoted fan base. Its ratings performance was probably hampered by the fact it didn’t have a strong lead-in as Starz doesn’t have enough original series to go around, and that it aired on low-trafficked Friday night. (Though the network puts emphasis on a series’ cumed weekend viewership). Going into Season 2, the show beefed up the cast with new additions Sanaa Lathan, Jonathan Groff and T.I. while keeping its status as one of the less expensive Starz series. However, unlike Magic City, whose first season did only marginally better than Season 1 of Boss, the Grammer-starring drama was not owned by Starz, with Lionsgate TV controlling international and DVD rights. Read More »

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MTV Buys Mystery Drama Produced By Kelsey Grammer

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday November 16, 2012 @ 4:42pm PSTTags: Kelsey Grammer, MTV
Nellie Andreeva

MTV has put in development Blackwood, a drama from Lionsgate Television and Kelsey Grammer’s Grammnet Prods. It is based on the young adult book of the same name by Gwenda Bond, which was published this past September on the Strange Chemistry YA imprint of UK-based science fiction publisher Angry Robot Books. DC Comic book and television writer Peter Calloway (Brothers & Sisters) will write the adaptation. Blackwood centers on 19-year-old Miranda Blackwood who, when 114 people, including her father, suddenly vanish off Roanoke Island, begins to investigate the mass disappearance, teaming with her high school sweetheart. But she makes a chilling discovery when she uncovers that she’s at the center of not only this mystery, but one that traces back to the first American mystery: the disappearance of 114 people at what would be called The Lost Colony. Read More »

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Kelsey Grammer & Kyra Sedgwick Join ‘Reach Me’

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Thursday November 15, 2012 @ 1:25pm PSTTags: Kelsey Grammer, Kevin Connolly, Kyra Sedgwick, Movie Casting

EXCLUSIVE: Boss star Kelsey Grammer and former Closer star Kyra Sedgwick have been added to the ensemble cast of Reach Me. Entourage’s Kevin Connolly, former Hung star … Read More »

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NBC Buys ‘Freakonomics’-Inspired Drama Procedural Produced By Kelsey Grammer

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday August 7, 2012 @ 5:52pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Kelsey Grammer, Lionsgate Television, Pariah
Nellie Andreeva

NBC has bought Pariah, a drama project from Lionsgate Television and Kelsey Grammer’s Grammnet Prods. Written by Kevin Fox (The Negotiator, Law & Order: SVU), the police procedural features characters inspired by the economic theory ‘Freakonomics’ made … Read More »

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Kelsey Grammer On ‘Boss’ And Ratings Woes: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday August 2, 2012 @ 12:23pm PDTTags: Boss, Kelsey Grammer, Starz, TCA

Ray Richmond contributes to Deadline’s TV coverage.

A first unfolded this morning during the TCA session promoting the Starz political drama Boss, which has its second season premiere on Aug. 17. Star Kelsey Grammer took a phone call on his cell phone during the panel. And it wasn’t a case of his cellphone ringing and him shutting it off in embarrassment. No, he took the call and spent some 90 seconds speaking with, as it turned out, his wife. “Wait, let me get this, one second”, Grammer began. “Hello? Oh hi honey…I’m onstage right now but go ahead…Oh, that sounds great…Huh? Oh sure, OK…” On in went, with Grammer making plans and reciting for his wife a phone number. The reporters and critics had a good laugh. But one closed the panel by asking, in all seriousness, why Grammer took the call. “Well, some things are more important than others”, he pointed out. “The well being of my wife sits atop the charts.” That drew some scattered applause. Read More »

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EMMYS: Kelsey Grammer Of ‘Boss’

By PETE HAMMOND | Saturday June 9, 2012 @ 12:59pm PDTTags: Awardsline, Boss, Emmys, Kelsey Grammer
Pete Hammond

Boardwalk EmpireKelsey Grammer is no stranger to the Emmy Awards. He’s won four for his career-defining role of Frasier Crane in the long-running sitcom Frasier. He won another for his moonlighting job of voicing Sideshow Bob on an even longer-running sitcom, The Simpsons. But the actor/producer/director – he’s received Emmy and/or DGA Awards nominations in all three fields – got his start in acting by performing Shakespeare. And he shows he’s much more than simply a comedy star by playing powerful, doomed Chicago mayor Tom Kane in Boss, the very serious drama series on Starz that earned him a surprise Golden Globe earlier this year. As Grammer reveals here, Shakespeare was indeed part of the source material for Boss.

AWARDSLINE: Tom Kane is an extraordinary character, really different from anything that I’ve seen on TV in recent years. He’s really quite Shakespearean.
KELSEY GRAMMER: Well he was a Shakespeare-based kind of character. We wanted to build him a world, at least a minor fiefdom. A kingdom of sorts. A feudal, violent and seething kingdom. That was the kind of guy we wanted to explore. Read More »

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Fox Anniversary Special: Ryan Seacrest Tapped As Host, Nod To ‘Back To You’?

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday April 13, 2012 @ 4:27pm PDTTags: Back To You, Kelsey Grammer, Ryan Seacrest
Nellie Andreeva

American Idol host Ryan Seacrest was already scheduled to appear on Fox’s upcoming 25th Anniversary special. Now the network announced he will host the two-hour special, slated to air Next Sunday, April 22. In a more surprising part of the … Read More »

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Kelsey Grammer To Host DGA Awards

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday December 19, 2011 @ 11:40am PSTTags: DGA Awards, Directors Guild Of America, Kelsey Grammer

Los Angeles – Directors Guild of America President Taylor Hackford today announced that director/actor/producer Kelsey Grammer will host the 64th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday, January 28, 2012 in the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles.

… Read More »

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Starz’s ‘Boss’ Off To Soft Ratings Start

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday October 24, 2011 @ 1:44pm PDTTags: Boss, Cable Ratings, Kelsey Grammer, Starz
Nellie Andreeva

Starz Renews New Series ‘Boss’ For Second Season Before Premiere

Starz’s new drama series Boss, which has already been renewed for a second season, premiered with a so-so 659,000 viewers at 10 PM on Friday. That was below recent Starz … Read More »

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‘Boss’ Co-Showrunners Exit Starz Series

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Saturday October 22, 2011 @ 12:22pm PDTTags: Boss, Farhad Safinia, Kelsey Grammer, Starz
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Boss executive producers/co-showrunners Richard Levine and Lyn Greene are exiting Starz’ new drama series, which was renewed for a second season last month ahead of its premiere last night. The former Nip/Tuck executive producers shepherded the 8-episode first … Read More »

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Starz Offers Full-Episode Previews of Kelsey Grammer’s ‘Boss’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday October 13, 2011 @ 6:59pm PDTTags: Boss, Gus Van Sant, Kelsey Grammer, Starz

In a strategy to build interest in the new Kelsey Grammer series Boss, Starz beginning today is making the premiere episode available for sampling to 76 million households across multiple platforms in the runup to the October 21 debut. Grammer plays Tom Kane, hardened Machiavellian mayor of Chicago who finds himself struggling with a potentially debilitating medical problem he desperately wants to keep secret. Connie Nielsen plays his wife and Martin Donovan plays his political advisor. Viewers can watch the full debut episode directed by Gus Van Sant on www.starz.com/boss and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/boss.starz and on-demand or online via multiple cable or telco and satellite outlets. Read More »

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Starz Renews New Series ‘Boss’ For Second Season Before Premiere

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday September 27, 2011 @ 11:15am PDTTags: Boss, Kelsey Grammer, Lionsgate TV, Starz, TV Renewal
Nellie Andreeva

Starz has ordered a second 10-episode season of upcoming drama Boss ahead of the series’ October 21 premiere. A couple of years ago, the network did the same with its flagship series Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Boss, from Lionsgate TV, … Read More »

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TV TEASER: Starz’s New Drama ‘Boss’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday September 6, 2011 @ 2:15pm PDTTags: Boss, Kelsey Grammer, Starz, TV Teaser
Nellie Andreeva

Starz today released a trailer for its new drama series Boss. It stars Kelsey Grammer as the ruthless mayor of Chicago who is diagnosed with a degenerative mental condition that only he and his doctor know about. Observers describe the show as the former Frasier … Read More »

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TCA: Kelsey Grammer On His Dramatic Transformation In Starz’s ‘Boss’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday July 29, 2011 @ 6:00pm PDTTags: Boss, Kelsey Grammer, Starz, TCA Press Tour, Television Critics Association
Nellie Andreeva

Kelsey Grammer is taking a dark turn in his first drama series, Starz’s upcoming Boss, in which he stars as the ruthless mayor of Chicago who is diagnosed with a degenerative mental condition that only he and … Read More »

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USA Network Developing Half-Hour Comedy From Kelsey Grammer

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday April 29, 2011 @ 5:30am PDTTags: Kelsey Grammer, USA Network
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: TV Land successfully jump-started its half-hour comedy business with a sitcom from a former NBC comedy star, Sean Hayes’ Hot In Cleveland. Now USA Network is looking to do the same with Kelsey Grammer. As part of USA’s push … Read More »

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Starz Sets Production Start And Remaining Cast For Kelsey Grammer Series ‘Boss’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday April 20, 2011 @ 11:16am PDTTags: Boss, Chicago, Gus Van Sant, Kelsey Grammer, Lionsgate Television, Starz
Nellie Andreeva

Deadline told you about the Kelsey Grammer Starz series Boss last fall, and now the network has confirmed everything, with Gus Van Sant set to make his TV directing debut. Not included in the release is that Troy Garity will join the series for a key story arc as … Read More »

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