Back when "Frasier" was first conceived, the creators weren't even planning on having a brother. It wasn't until the casting director came in with clips of the short-lived sitcom "The Powers That Be" -- clips of David Hyde Pierce as a morose, suicidal congressman.
The show starred John Forsythe as a rather dimwitted, Reagan-esque U.S. senator, William Powers, with presidential ambitions. Holland Taylor was his ambitious wife; Valerie Mahaffey his prissy daughter (the wife of Pierce's character); and Joseph Gordon-Levitt ("3rd Rock from the Sun") was his grandson.The cast also included Robin Bartlett ("Mad About You") as the senator's illegitimate daughter; Eve Gordon as his chief of staff/mistress; Elizabeth Berridge as the much put-upon maid; and Peter MacNicol ("Ally MacBeal") as his press secretary.
"Powers" didn't succeed, but it should have. It was funny, outragous stuff -- produced by Norman Lear ("All in the Family") and created by Marta Kauffman and David Crane ("Friends"). But, at the time, NBC was struggling.
"I was talking to an executive at NBC the other day and he was talking about what their programming would be and I said, `You could do worse than go back and dig those up and run them,' " Pierce said of "The Powers That Be." And, some seven years after it was canceled, the show still works. Perhaps, in light of the capital's recent scandals, it works even better.
"I think, probably, Washington hasn't changed since the time of George Washington," Pierce said. "I think the basic pattern has been the same for years.
"Maybe when you get enough of the real politics on television, people would rather get away from them when you're watching sitcoms. But, certainly, I think Norman's show still has a great deal to say to us."
TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING: Being a famous television star obviously has its advantages -- fame, fortune and the privileges they bring.
But it can also be full of some unexpected pitfalls -- at least if you're a polite TV star. Like when Pierce went to the Napa Valley on vacation over the Christmas holidays with some friends "and ate and drank a great deal." So, by the time the vacation was winding down and they stopped by a restaurant, he had decided to just get a salad and some water.
"So we go into a restaurant and the chef recognizes me and starts sending out food. And, of course, you can't stop with the complimentary food and say, `Well, thanks.' So then you have to order dinner," he said. "So it was a really nice thing, but I gained like 150 pounds."
ON THE OTHER HAND: The fame and fortune that comes with being a TV star does, of course, offer celebrities a chance to do no small amount of good in the world.
"As a result of the exposure and being known, you can help out a lot of charitable organizations," Pierce said. "Which is nice, especially in television where you feel like, compared to almost everyone else on the planet, you're being way overpaid. One way to pay back is to take advantage of that ridiculous celebrity and support things that you believe in."
He's involved in a number of organizations but makes the Alzheimer's Association his focus. He's the national chairman for the organization and has testified before Congress on the need for more to be done to battle the disease.
On the personal side, his grandfather and father may both have had Alzheimer's as well as "so many friends of our family.