Peter Krause has appeared in a staggering amount of television since he caught his big break on Carol Burnett’s sketch comedy show “Carol & Company” in 1990, replacing Jeremy Piven. In 2007 he told New York Magazine his thoughts on how that door opened for him. “[Piven] was the original ‘young guy’ on the show,” Krause said. “I guess they chose to go in a more apple-pie direction, in terms of looks.”
Krause honed his skills over the years — his stint on “Carol & Company” segued into guest and recurring roles on shows including “Seinfeld” and “Beverly Hills, 90210” — and by the 2010s, he was an established TV leading man known for characters with conflicted emotional lives underneath his nonthreatening “apple-pie” exterior.
Dax Shepard, who played Krause’s character’s younger brother on NBC’s “Parenthood,” had his onetime co-star on his “Armchair Expert” podcast in 2019, and complimented him on his ability to elevate other actors. “You sucked me into your jetwash, and you infected me with a little bit of your skill, and I thank you and I credit you for a huge transition in my acting,” Shepard told Krause.
Here are Krause’s five best shows, chosen for a combination of longevity, public acclaim, and aggregated viewer ratings.
5. Dirty Sexy Money
In “Dirty Sexy Money,” — which ran from 2007 to 2009 — Peter Krause starred alongside Donald Sutherland, William Baldwin, Jill Clayburgh, and Blair Underwood. Krause played Nick George, an attorney who manages the affairs of a rich family after his father dies in a suspicious plane crash. Nick’s moral fiber is stretched to its limit by the Darlings from the moment he agrees to work for them, and that tension is played to its cringeworthy best by the deep, talented cast.
The Darling family members are cartoonishly entertaining but largely insufferable, so Krause and Underwood’s Simon Elder are left to shoulder the “good guy” load. Krause’s ability to meld elite attorney sharpness with Labrador-amongst-wolverines vulnerability makes Nick the most compelling character on “Dirty Sexy Money,” and his strategy sessions with Sutherland’s Tripp Darling are magnificent. There are plenty of familiar faces in supporting roles, too: Lucy Liu, Sofia Vergara, and John Schneider each appear in several episodes.
The Guardian warmly compared “Dirty Sexy Money” to wealthy-people-in-crisis shows of yore like “Dynasty” and “Dallas,” while IGN praised Krause as the chaotic drama’s center of normalcy. But despite some encouraging press, the series failed to hold on to the audience of 10 million who watched the premiere. Viewership declined steadily, and ABC decided not to bring it back for a third season.
4. 9-1-1
Peter Krause starred on “9-1-1” from the 2018 pilot episode through Season 8, teaming with some top-tier co-stars to make it Fox’s top-rated scripted show in its sixth season. The first-responder drama set in Los Angeles moved to ABC in 2023. Throughout the 143 episodes as of this writing, “9-1-1” has consistently delivered compelling storylines, sometimes based on real-life emergency calls.
Krause’s Captain Bobby Nash dies a heroic death in Season 8, sacrificing himself to give the last vaccine for a fatal virus to Kenneth Choi’s character. Co-star Angela Bassett praised Krause’s handling of Bobby’s exit in a chat with Variety, but admitted she was nervous about the show going forward. “He made you feel as okay with it as he could,” Bassett said, “but it was difficult for both of us … It’s going to be alright. Well, we’re going to be alright, we’ll see how the audience feels.”
Viewership decreased about 10% after Krause left, but according to IMDb ratings, Season 9 was hardly a disappointment for fans who stuck around. The 13th episode’s 9.3/10 average score is tops for any episode of “9-1-1,” and the season average of 7.5/10 isn’t far from the series overall benchmark of 7.9/10. Krause took his character’s death as an opportunity to recognize real-world first responders in a statement, saying, “Bobby Nash was written in sacrifice and he was built for this. First responders risk their lives on the job so that others can see another day. His story arc honors them.”
3. Parenthood
The NBC series “Parenthood” that premiered in 2010 was loosely based on Ron Howard’s 1989 film of the same name starring Steve Martin and Diane Wiest, as was a 1990 adaptation with Ed Begley, Jr. The more recent and more successful TV series starred Krause, Lauren Graham, Craig T. Nelson, Dax Shepard, Bonnie Bedelia, and Xolo Maridueña in his first major acting role. Krause’s Adam Braverman is awash in the generational turmoil of “Parenthood” as he manages the needs of his father Zeek (Nelson) and three kids while he and his wife Kristina (Monica Potter) navigate major mid-life transitions.
Krause brings Adam to life with an abundance of nerdy exhaustion, and the cast is entirely believable as a family. More than a third of the series IMDb ratings for “Parenthood” are perfect 10s, and the per-episode average score is an impressive 8.3. “Parenthood” ended in 2015 with an emotional final episode. “It’s tough to say goodbye to everybody,” said Krause that year in an interview with WTHR. “It was a really nice TV family, so it was a really good experience.”
The only regular-category Emmy nomination for “Parenthood” went to guest star Jason Ritter in 2012, but the Television Academy gave the series Honors recognition in 2010 and 2013. The organization hands out these awards separately from the annual Emmys to shows that thoughtfully examine social issues, and “Parenthood” earned its Honors awards with storylines about autism, major medical issues, loss, and important life transitions at various stages of life.
2. Sports Night
Aaron Sorkin created the show-within-a show that is “Sports Night” in 1998, with Peter Krause and Josh Charles in lead roles as TV sports anchors Casey McCall and Dan Rydell. Their nightly news and highlight program is based on ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” which made stars out of hosts Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick. “Sports Night” is a classic buddy comedy set in an environment most people don’t get to experience and paints a relatively accurate picture of what it’s like to produce a live TV show. The closer-than-family relationship between Dan and Casey is at the show’s heart, and Charles and Krause deliver Sorkin’s clever back-and-forth with just the right mix of sugar and vinegar.
TV insiders liked “Sports Night,” but it ranked as the 53rd-most watched show in 2000, and ABC dropped the series after 45 episodes. “Sports Night” looks better in hindsight, though. The series now enjoys an average episode rating of 8.3/10 at IMDb, and a 2020 New York Times feature quoted Olbermann saying it might have been too sophisticated for its day.
“Nobody knew what [Sorkin] was going for,” Olbermann said. “Whether that was supposed to be serious or politically what we would now call ‘woke’ or if it was supposed to be about sports or if it was supposed to be about the relationships of people there. Nobody knew what the hell it was. Now [in 2020] that would be a selling point.” “Sports Night” won three Emmy awards from eight nominations in its short run.
1. Six Feet Under
“Six Feet Under” is Peter Krause’s best series by several important metrics. Krause and Michael C. Hall starred on the HBO hit as Nate and David Fisher, brothers working together in their family-owned funeral home. The series won nine Emmy awards from 53 nominations; Krause earned three of those nods for playing Nate. The character is a multifaceted enigma with heightened empathy for grieving customers, questionable romantic ethics, a fondness for jogging, a deadly cerebrovascular disorder, and his generation’s signature “slacker” tendencies.
In 2003, Krause told The Gainesville Sun how the role benefitted his off-screen life. “Psychologically, I trade a lot of my wants and needs and troubles for this fictional character,” he said. “In a way, it’s turned into an opportunity for me to reclaim myself.” Frances Conroy and Richard Jenkins play Nate and David’s parents, Ruth and the deceased Nathaniel, and Lauren Ambrose co-starred as their moody sister Claire. Rachel Griffiths, Freddy Rodríguez, and Mathew St. Patrick rounded out the main cast.
“Six Feet Under” is among the top 100 series of all time with an average episode rating of 8.7/10 at IMDb. The very last episode has a 9.9/10 average from 19,000 ratings as of this writing and is widely cited as the best series finale of all time.