Kelsey Grammer Returns To Televison Comedy In ‘Partners’


Kelsey Grammer and Martin Lawrence together? It seems a bit unlikely, but FX has teamed the two in a new comedy, Partners, which premiers August 4 at 9 pm EST.

According to Broadway World, the premise of the series it the unlikely partnership of lawyers Allen Braddock (Grammer) and Marcus Jackson (Lawrence). Grammer’s elitist, unethical, greedy character is teamed by a court order with Lawrence’s down home, broke good guy. The series centers on their struggles to work together in keeping their struggling new law firm afloat.

In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, Grammer said the improbable pairing of he and the former Martin star was part of the fun.

“That’s the genesis of it,” he said. “You couldn’t get more disparate worlds and yet it’s comedy gold.” Grammar compares his and Lawrence’s characters to Felix and Oscar of The Odd Couple, but an odd couple that use their brains “in a more vicious way” to win cases. He also adds that his character is “morally challenged on just about every level.”

Grammer told The Times that he has been trying to build buzz about the show by launching a Twitter campaign to correct people’s grammar in tweets like this one aimed at Justin Bieber:

“Honestly,” Kelsey said in the interview, “the show spurred that. What a cute way to step into Twitter and get a little attention for the show?”

FX has ordered ten episodes of the new comedy as a trial-run, and if it meets ratings expectations, will be ordering 90 more episodes. Grammer says that is a different way of working for him, but he likes the fast pace. “You know quickly if something’s working and if something isn’t, “he said.

The fictional characters are not the only ones who are very different, though. Kelsey Grammer and his co-star Martin Lawrence are very different in real life also, and Grammer says that blending their two styles has been “a learning experience.”

Since his long-running, Emmy-winning series Frasier left the air ten years ago, Kelsey Grammer hasn’t had much success with television — two forgettable sitcoms (Back to You and Hank) and an equally forgettable drama Boss. Partners marks his return to comedy, and he is hoping that the unlikely pairing with Lawrence will hold the viewers’ attention. “Together,” he told the News Telegram regarding the two’s characters, “they’re a pretty lethal team.”

[Image courtesy of UPI]

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