Frasier Just Brought Back One Of The Best Recurring Characters From The Original Series

Even while the "Frasier" revival has struggled to match the original series, which ran from 1993 to 2004, the show is punctuated by moments of real charm. Most of those come as the result of pure jolts of nostalgia: the show is at its best when it brings in elements of its unimpeachably great predecessor.

Episode three of the "Frasier" revival was bittersweet for this very reason, bringing back Peri Gilpin as Frasier's former producer Roz Doyle and delivering one of the best installments of the reboot yet. Now, the revival has proven once again that all we really want to see is Frasier back with the characters we know and love. But this time, it isn't a main character that's restoring the charm to "Frasier."

It's not just that the original ensemble cast of "Frasier" provided the perfect support to Kelsey Grammer's fussy psychiatrist. The show also had some of the best recurring characters, too. From Edward Hibbert's Gil Chesterton and Patrick Kerr's Noel Shempsky to Bebe Neuwirth's Lilith Sternin, "Frasier" was remarkable for having not just a standout central cast, but some of the best recurring characters and guest stars on TV. Now, the revival has brought back one of the finest of these frequent guests to once again take the new series up a notch.

The "Frasier" revival has featured an impressive array of guest stars so far, bringing back such beloved figures as the aforementioned Bebe Neuwirth as Lilith Sternin and Peri Gilpin's Roz. But "Frasier" had so many great guest stars and recurring characters that there are plenty more actors the revival can call upon. Episode 5 of the new series did just that with one of the very best: Harriet Sansom Harris' Bebe Glazer. 

Bebe was Frasier's agent on the original series, and was constantly tempting the doctor with high-paying but soulless media jobs that compromised the psychiatrist's integrity. Across the original show's 11 seasons, Bebe appeared in 11 episodes, showing up roughly once per season (though she was absent from seasons 6 and 8) to tempt Frasier with yet another offer that threatened to undermine his ethics. The pair's dynamic made for some of the best episodes in the series' run, with Bebe's unscrupulous nature clashing with Frasier's high-minded view of himself in hilarious fashion.

Now, Bebe has returned to Frasier's world, visiting the doctor on the east coast and attempting to revive his TV talk show, which he presented during the 20 years between the original "Frasier" and the revival series. As with every other time the new show has revisited its predecessor, the result is undeniably charming, with Sansom Harris fully inhabiting the character as if she never stopped playing her. Much like star Kelsey Grammer, Sansom Harris has clearly never lost a step and the revival series gained one of its best episodes as a result.

In the "Frasier" revival episode entitled "The Squash Courtship of Freddy's Father," Frasier is delighted to see his agent show up in Boston, before she admits to being there to entice the doctor back to his talk show. In past episodes, Bebe always had some elaborate and frankly unhinged scheme to get what she wanted. Take for instance the time she climbed out on the ledge of Frasier's radio station during a contract negotiation and threatened to jump simply as a bargaining tactic to get her client a better deal; or, the season 7 episode "Morning Becomes Entertainment," where Bebe did manage to tempt Frasier to TV, convincing him to host a morning talk show while his contract negotiations were ongoing, before ultimately swooping in to become the star herself.

The best thing about Bebe's return in the revival series is that she remains almost entirely unchanged. The years don't seem to have dulled her conniving spirit, and Harriet Sansom Harris is just as delightfully hammy as ever, gleefully chewing scenery and reminding us all why Bebe was one of the best recurring characters on the original series. By the end of the episode, her latest hairbrained scheme is revealed, with the agent convincing Frasier that her own daughter is also his, before admitting that it was all part of a ruse to tempt her client back to his talk show — essentially a parody of "Dr. Phil."

In the end, though Bebe and her Faustian cunning make her a fundamentally selfish character, she is arguably good for Frasier in small doses. She's so unscrupulous and commercially-minded that she actually balances out Dr. Crane's stuffiness and reticence to open up. Though it might lead to some bad choices on the doctor's part, ultimately it has made for some great episodes of "Frasier," and one of the original sitcom's most enjoyable dynamics. Which is why it's nice to know that, 20 years after "Frasier" wrapped up for the first time, the titular psychiatrist and Bebe haven't changed a bit.