Kelsey Grammer's Frasier, Peri Gilpin's Roz are back together, maybe until the end

LOS ANGELES ? "Frasier" fans received the ultimate holiday present in last December's Season 1 finale when Peri Gilpin's Roz Doyle, the beloved KACL radio producer from the original NBC series, showed up at Frasier Crane's door in the Paramount+ reboot.

Well, Christmas is coming early this year as Gilpin, 63, brings Roz back for a Season 2 recurring role with Kelsey Grammer and his Boston-based "Frasier" in Episode 3 (now streaming, new episodes arrive on Thursdays). Considering that "Frasier" ended two decades ago ? and the show's possible revival spent years in discussions ? Roz's return is the gift that will keep on giving.

"It was a six-year reboot process, so this was a long time coming," says Grammer, 69, sitting beside his co-star.

"That's a show in itself," adds Gilpin. "But when it finally happened, when (Grammer) opened that door, it was like, 'I can't believe we're doing this again!' He teed it up like it was a present."

Kelsey Grammer: The star discusses the return of 'Frasier' to Seattle for Season 2

Peri Gilpin and Kelsey Grammer started with 'Cheers,' got seriously funny on 'Frasier'

The professional relationship started three decades ago with Gilpin's 1993 guest appearance as a journalist on "Cheers," where she met Grammer playing the first iteration of his pompous Dr. Frasier Crane.

"I noticed that 'Oh, my God, Kelsey is the polar opposite of (Frasier Crane),' " says Gilpin, who subsequently joined NBC's "Frasier" as the sexually liberated and sharp-witted Roz, who perfectly punctured pretentious Frasier and his brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce). "I loved that alter ego."

In "Frasier" Season 5, Gilpin was concerned about the "huge" story twist, which involved freewheeling Roz getting pregnant from a fling and having daughter Alice ? finding herself a single mother by season's end.

"I was very reluctant because I lost what I thought was really fun about Roz," says Gilpin, the mother of 19-year-old twin daughters Ava and Stella. "But I gained something else that women do gain. I felt like I went through that pregnancy. The character changed so much."

That did lead to some memorable comedy in front of a studio audience, including when Roz and Niles met Alice's Schnauzer-loving, significantly schnozzed future grandparents. The famed scene even cracked up the actors while filming.

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"That may have been either the worst or the best moment in our entire history of the first 'Frasier' iteration," says Grammer. "We're somewhat ashamed of it, and yet it was hilarious. It never happened (before) that the entire cast turned upstage and laughed on camera. It was embarrassingly unprofessional."

"It gave us so much," says Gilpin.

Roz spurs the return of 'Frasier' to Seattle and KACL: How long will it last?

Gilpin kept in touch with Grammer after the iconic sitcom ended its 11-season run with 37 Emmy Awards in 2004. Discussions of their "Frasier" reunion started, fittingly, during Grammer's annual New Year's Eve party in 2019. Grammer told fellow reveler Gilpin that the "Frasier" reboot was getting serious. Gilpin said she was ready to board.

"It was that simple," says Grammer. "We have this extraordinary living, breathing relationship that's still going."

Roz's return to "Frasier," where her former radio talk-show host Frasier is now teaching at Harvard, will spur a trip back to Seattle and the still-running station KACL 780 AM. The homecoming will feature Dan Butler as Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe, host of the "Gonzo Sports Show," and Edward Hibbert as Gil Chesterton, host of "Restaurant Beat."

With the passing of two decades, even walking onto the radio station's rebuilt set was surreal and emotional for Gilpin. Grammer, who directed the episode, was fine until he restated Frasier's famous phrase.

"When I sat in the chair in front of the audience and said, 'Hello, Seattle, I'm listening,' " says Grammer, breaking off in emotion. "It was beautiful."

"It gets you, it really does," says Gilpin. "It's melancholy. It's tears of sadness. It's tears of joy. But it's also like, you can't get it back, even if you build it."

The Seattle sojourn is not forever as Roz needs a personal reboot on the other coast.

"I can't let too much of this out, but we realize together that Roz is poised for a new life in Boston," says Grammer, who has dealt with critical barbs over the reboot. "For as long as the show's on, Roz will be there, I hope."

Roz and Frasier will love each other until the end, whatever that is

The season will highlight Roz's grown daughter Alice (played by Grammer's real-life daughter Greer Grammer). And without former frequent target Niles, Roz focuses much of her sharp wit on Frasier. "There are frequent drive-by shootings and verbal smacks," Grammer promises.

There's also solid love between the two characters, even as they both look for various forms of companionship. The duo did end up sleeping together in the original's Season 9 when Frasier consoled Roz following a breakup. Their waking, morning-after cuddles ended in mutual horror when they realized what had happened.

Yet Grammer doesn't dismiss the possibility that these two mismatched characters could end up together one day ? or ending one other.

"One of my favorite moments between Roz and Frasier was always this, this line. They're standing at Frasier's apartment door saying goodbye, and Frazier says to Roz, 'You know, years from now, if it goes a certain way, maybe the two of us just ...' " Grammer recalls. "And then I say, 'Get married.' And Roz says, 'Kill each other.' "

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Frasier' Season 2 brings Peri Gilpin back with Kelsey Grammer