Kelsey Grammer’s Frasier gets a visit from Roz, his radio partner whom Peri Gilpin played for 11 seasons on the original “Frasier,” in the teaser shared on Dec. 1. The reunion, which was nearly 20 years in the making, happens thanks to Frasier’s son, who called Roz asking if she could visit his father.
The clip begins with Roz greeting her old friend in vintage fashion when he opens the door and is surprised to see her there.
“You look like crap,” she says during Episode 10 of the Paramount+ reboot.
Gilpin and Grammer last appeared together on screen in 2004 in the final season of the original “Frasier.” In the new version, Frasier relocates his psychiatry practice from Seattle to his native Boston, where he was originally a character on the legendary sitcom “Cheers,” to be closer to his son.
In the season finale of the reboot, Frasier struggles to cope with the absence of Martin, his lovably cantankerous father. It was revealed in the pilot episode of the reboot that Martin, who was played by John Mahoney in the original, had died. Mahoney died in 2018 at the age of 77.
Roz says in the teaser clip from the finale that Frasier’s son Freddy, played by Jack Cutmore-Scott, called her to cheer up her old friend when he was feeling down during the holidays.
After the two share an emotional hug, Frasier asks her if she wants a drink. She obliges, only to hear a weird animal sound come from another part of Frasier’s home.
“Can I take you to a bar?” Frasier asks.
“Yeah,” she responds.
Gilpin is the latest star of the original to make an appearance in the reboot, following Bebe Neuwirth, who plays Frasier’s ex-wife, Lilith. The two engage in their usual sparring in an episode where she shows up to celebrate Freddy’s birthday.
During its 11 seasons, “Frasier” earned 107 Emmy nominations and won 37, the most ever for a sitcom series, making the “Cheers” spinoff the most successful spinoff in history.
Two of the original’s primary stars, David Hyde Pierce (Niles Crane) and Jane Leeves (Daphne Moon), did not make a return in the reboot. For her part, Gilpin was excited for the reunion.
“I just loved getting to do it,” Gilpin told Entertainment Weekly about returning to play Roz. “It was a fantasy come true to play that part again and to go back into that world. And there’s bittersweet things because it makes me so sad when I think about John. I miss him. He was a great friend, but I feel like they dealt with that.”
“It felt very comfortable there and wonderful and it was really funny. It’s like a comfort when you watch it. You’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I get to see this again. It’s new, it’s fresh, but I am getting the same feelings I got from watching it the first time.’”
She added that she’s open to returning in a regular role as Roz “if that’s a possibility.”
The season finale of the “Frasier” reboot will be available to stream on Thursday, Dec. 7 on Paramount+.