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Frasier NBC, 2000-2001 Windbag Frasier Crane (Kesley Grammer) develops a sudden case of lockjaw when he bumps into a former high school classmate and campus queen (guest star Jean Smart), but after summoning the courage to step out on a date with his dream girl, he is horrified to witness her hairtrigger temper in all its fury. "I can't remember the last time I'd done a guest spot," Jean recalls. "I guess way before I'd ever done a series. But Frasier is by far the best sitcom on television, so when they said they had this great guest part, I said, 'Tell me about it.' And the writer called me and told me basically what the plot was and I just thought it was hilarious. It was fun to play someone who's a lunatic. It was very therapeutic." "I loved Kelsey's line where he's talking to Roz and he says 'I went to bed with the prom queen and I woke up with Carrie.' Of course my husband said, 'I don't get it. I live with this every day.' " It was written as a one-shot role, the characters' relationship effectively over with their mutual admissions that they were using each other. But executive producers David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee apparently still had a crush on Lorna themselves, so Jean returned to the Paramount set to shoot five more episodes. The producers weren't the only ones who loved her -- Jean's appearances on Frasier struck a cord with both critics and audiences and earned her two Emmy Awards. Episodes: Big Crane on Campus -2/15/00 Semi-Decent Proposal/A Passing Fancy-5/15/01 A Day In May -5/22/01 Cranes Go Caribbean -5/22/01 Don Juan In Hell -9/25/01
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