4-disc set includes all 23 clever and witty ninth-season episodesAward-winning season: Kelsey Grammer won the People s Choice Award for Favorite Actor in the Television Comedy SeriesThe most EMMY Award-winning show in historyThe first 8 and final season of FRASIER have generated over $28.9 milllion cosumer spendingStarring: Kelsey Grammer David Hyde Pierce John Mahoney Jane LeevesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 097361225548 Manufacturer No: 122554
After a distinguished run of Emmy-winning seasons, Frasier is, by its ninth season, in something of "a tiny lull" (as Frasier describes the state of his radio talk show career in the episode "Junior Agent") when its guest stars took home more Emmys than the much-decorated ensemble (Anthony LaPlaglia, reprising his role as Daphne's besotted brother, Simon, in the two-parter, "Mother Load"). But Frasier still shows signs of its usual brilliance in balancing farce and sparkling wit. After the hour-long season-opener, in which Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) explores his unhappy love life with the help of subconscious incarnations of Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth), Diane (Shelley Long), and a hippy to whom Frasier was briefly married (who knew?; and where's Nanny G?), the series shakes off the melancholia of the previous season. The world still gets the best of Frasier and assaults his dignity, be it the driver of a Humvee who hems him in his parking space; his neighbor nemesis, Cam Winston (Brian Stokes Mitchell); or Lilith's con-artist brother (Michael Keaton), who, in "Wheel of Fortune," arouses Frasier's worst suspicions when he shows up at his doorstep in a wheelchair. But Frasier at long last emerges triumphant in "Juvenilia," in which he gets the best of three smarmy teen radio hosts subjecting him to a fierce on-air grilling.
Character developments this season include Roz (Peri Gilpin) falling in love with a garbage man (Tony Goldwyn), Niles (David Hyde Pierce) at last proposing to Daphne (Jane Leeves), Martin (John Mahoney) taking a job as a security guard, and Frasier and Roz sharing a one night stand. A series milestone, Frasier's 200th episode, features Adam Arkin as Frasier's most devoted (read "obsessive") fan. "Cheerful Goodbyes" reunites Grammer with Rhea Perlman, George Wendt, John Ratzenberger, and Paul Wilson from Cheers on the occasion of Cliff Claven's retirement. Other memorable guest star appearances include Tony-winner Kristin Chenoweth as "The Junior Agent," the inexperienced, but tenacious former assistant to Frasier's pit bull of an agent, Bebe (the always exquisite Harriet Sansom Harris), and Brian Cox as Daphne's father, whom Niles is determined to reunite with his estranged wife. Frasier's ninth, unlike Beethoven's, hits some off-key notes (happily, the character of Kirby, the slacker with the Sideshow Bob hair, is gone after this season), but when everything is in harmony (as in "Bla-Z-Boy," in which Martin's beloved chair is accidentally (?) destroyed), it's still capable of a classic or two. --Donald Liebenson
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Wonderful service:
Great product, in great shape when I got it and it arrived sooner than expected. Great service!
No. 9 & still going strong...:
Simply the best TV comedy creation ever & this season is just as good as the rest. I think I'm an addict.
Frasier 9th Season:
I received my order in a prompt manner. The DVD collection was in excellent shape. I also enjoyed the sitcom tremendously.
A mixed bag:
Really slow and painfully to watch at the beginning, but luckily it did pick up the pace towards the end. Almost thought that they had different writers. Now it's really witty and intelligent and good fun again and we are on to Season Ten.
