Why Peri Gilpin Replaced Friends Star Lisa Kudrow As Frasier’s Roz Doyle

One of the best parts of the Kelsey Grammer-led sitcom “Frasier,” which began in 1993, was Peri Gilpin’s Roz Doyle. Unlike Frasier, Doyle was a completely new character separated from the show’s parent series, Cheers, so the writers had complete freedom in what to do with her. They made her a cynical radio show producer for Frasier, who gradually became one of his best friends.

Few fans are unhappy with Peri Gilpin’s performance in this role, which makes it hard to imagine that Roz Doyle was originally meant to be played by Lisa Kudrow instead. Kudrow was cast as Doyle, but was fired before filming the pilot, an event the actress described in the film as “devastating.” Recent interviews on the Smartless Podcast. She talked about how during an early run-through of the pilot, director James Burrows told Kudrow, “This isn’t going to work,” and that was that.

Kudrow believed it was all due to a casting mix-up. “They made a casting mistake because I went to the network with Peri Gilpin,” she said. “I think they were just correcting a mistake, because Peri was always supposed to be Roz.”

in 2023 interviewJames Burrows revealed why he fired Kudrow, explaining an early scene in the pilot where he didn’t get along with her:

“The speech before Frasier confronts his father, Lupe Velez’s speech, this is Lupe Velez’s story and what she wanted.” [die by] To commit suicide, she put on a very nice robe and went into the bathroom to get some medicine, slipped and hit her head on the bathtub and died. He had to give her speech, but Kelsey is such a strong character, and Lisa’s greatness was divine, that it just didn’t work in that moment. ”

In the same way that Amanda Walsh’s performance, who played an earlier version of Penny in the original pilot of The Big Bang Theory, didn’t quite work, Kudrow’s performance doesn’t quite fit what a character like Roz Doyle needs. It didn’t fit. It’s easy to imagine Kudrow’s heartbreak at losing such a promising role. Not only did Frasier last for 11 seasons, the show had a pre-built audience from day one thanks to the huge success of Cheers. Kudrow wasn’t a big star at the time, and she knew she might end up like so many unlucky actors who don’t land big, life-changing roles. (For example, Walsh didn’t get a big break after he was fired from The Big Bang Theory.)

Fortunately, Ludlow’s sublime performance turned out to be exactly what the Friends writers were looking for in Phoebe Buffay. Phoebe Buffay is perhaps the silliest and most unpredictable member of the group of six friends. The first season of “Friends” aired in 1994. Thanks in part to its time slot immediately following the hit show “Seinfeld,” and thanks to the uniquely strong chemistry between all the main cast members, “Friends” was an immediate hit and remained a hit for the next 10 days. continued. season. The show’s ratings were so consistently high that by season 9, Kudrow $1 million per episode. Kudrow’s firing from ‘Frasier’ the year before ‘Friends’ must have been heartbreaking, but we can all agree that at least things worked out for her in the end. .