"Back To You" Brings Grammer, Heaton Back To Sitcoms

Ask a star a leading question and you can see a whole press conference going south right before your eyes. That seemed about to happen at this summer's press tour session for "Back To You," the new Fox sitcom that debuts Wednesday night, with Kelsey Grammer of "Frasier" and Patricia Heaton of "Everybody Loves Raymond" as bickering local news anchors.

A reporter listed shows like "Seinfeld" and "Friends," where the stars had washed their hands of sitcoms afterward, then asked, "If you could explain to us why you guys seem to have a different perspective, where you say, 'Well, we're happy to come back to (sitcoms) even though we've been on these classic shows that were so successful'?"

Grammer looked down from the stage with an expression of disdain familiar to anyone who'd ever seen him as Frasier Crane. "That's what you're writing?"

"That's what I'm asking," replied the reporter. "It depends on what you say."

"They've left saying they've done it all, is that what you're saying? They've done everything they possibly could?" Grammer looked bemused, but you could almost hear a punchline forming in his head. "I think it might be actually accurate that they've done all they possibly could. In this case, you're looking at people who haven't."

Rimshot! The tension dissipated in laughter. "Thank you for a quote that will make my story," said the reporter, cleaning up the extra point.

"I am thrilled to be back doing something I'm good at," Grammer said. "I like this. I've also been thrilled to be a father and a husband. I've had a wonderful time the past few years. Life deals us different challenges. This is a new one. What would be wrong with doing three of the greatest television shows in history?"

Grammer's Chuck Darling and Heaton's Kelly Carr were Pittsburgh's number-one anchor team back in the '90s, before Chuck went on to bigger and better things. As "Back To You" opens, Chuck's back at the station after 10 years in the big city, having finally melted down in L.A. He's hoping to reestablish their on-camera relationship and salvage his career.

There's a little unfinished business in their private lives as well, but the producers would prefer I not spoil that for you - although Heaton's "Raymond" co-star tried during Sunday's Emmycast with a one-liner that got bleeped.

Grammer said he's not basing his work on any particular anchor or even any feeling about local news anchors.

"I took this part not because he's a news anchor, but because he was a guy who was going through something that, he was living through something that would take him to a different place than where he started," Grammer said. "It's a story. I'm good at storytelling. That's what I do and why I'm here."

"I used to edit news film at NBC Channel 5 in Cleveland, in college during the summers," said Heaton, "which shows you in the 1970s the caliber of the news there."

During her time in local news, she said, the station had music that sounded a lot like the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" theme. "I loved all the people there. I saw a lot of stuff that went on there. There were affairs going on and people vying for power and stuff ... that's all very interesting to me.

"I think these poor newscasters, they have to be entertainment now," Heaton continued. "There's no line anymore, really. They have to promote shows that are coming on, and they have to dress up and do goofy stuff and they have these graphics that come through. It's tough for them, I think, to try to - theyw ant to maintain their journalistic integrity, but you have to get those ratings. I think that's a cool thing to show people struggling with."

The show actually came to life from creator Steve Levitan's brief experience in and continuing fascination with local news.

"There was an anchorman in Madison, Wisconsin...when we were trying to come up with, well, what's a good idea for Kelsey, this guy sort of popped into my head," Levitan said. "It was the night that John Lennon was shot, and it was very sad. They went to footage around the Dakota and people crying. It was very sad. You know, it was a big moment for (the anchor). They came back to him, and he went, very dramatically, 'Lennon is survived by his wife, Topo Gigio.'

"That has always stayed with me," Levitan said as the reporters laughed. "What's so funny to me about local news is there's this great narcissim pretending to be altruism. It's just a wonderful place for a larger-than-life character to be a big fish in a small pond."

That's Grammer all right. But another reporter said, "Can I get back to (the) question about you guys coming back? I mean, you guys have been on very successful shows. I have to think you don't really need to work, and a lot of us -"

"Why do you work?" Grammer interrupted.

"Well, I'm trying to buy a house, actually."

"Is it just for money? Is that why you work? I don't work just for money," Grammer said.

"Have you ever been to a newspaper," the reporter asked to the laughter of his colleagues. "Absolutely. ... (But) I guess that's the question. How much of this is joy for you guys?"

"Joy is a great word," said Heaton, "when you're talking about acting and you find a great part. When we did this pilot, we were together for eight days, more or less, and just the ease of working with every cast member and the producers, just to come in an laugh and find things and find bits. It's a great gig to have."