Frasier: Season 5

This year represented the last year in Frasier's then-unprecedented and still-unequalled five-year Emmy streak for best comedic series. Although it's not quite the equal of its predecessor season, if only because the show never produced a funnier episode than "Ham Radio", this season comes darned close with "The Ski Lodge", which has the main characters changing scenery to a remote snow-packed location and finding love--just not with the people they wanted. The show's farcical humor is played here superlatively, with great result. The season also brings the final resolution to the Niles-Maris Marriage, in "The Maris Counselor", and it is resolved, of course, in the most embarassing way possible. The romantic unluckiness continued with Martin's breakup with Sherry, and the unfortunate exit of Marsha Mason from her Emmy-nominated role. Finally, the season ends with Frasier losing his job to Latino musicians. All in all, this season brought great tribulation to all the characters, but their misery translated into plenty of laughs.

I hope that this time around, Paramount includes at least some special features in the Frasier DVD set. Since I can't get Frasier on TV where I live, I'll probably end up buying it anyway, but I would really appreciate something more. Regardless, Frasier is a comic gem, and its fifth season is great entertainment.

Season five is clever, warm, and funny. I'm so glad it's been released. My husband I excitedly put in the first disk. We were forced to sit through a long ad for Happy Days, and the disk is set up so the viewer cannot fast forward or jump to the main menu. We shrugged and waited.

Following the long ad for Happy Days were ads for Laverne and Shirley, Mork and Mindy, McGyver, Charmed, and if you can believe it . . . The Brady Bunch. These are not brief missives, and you cannot fast forward. We were stunned and more than a little annoyed.

My advice is to leave the TV off, and put the disk in the DVD player at least ten minutes before you're ready to watch it.

Along with Friends and Seinfeld, Kelsey Grammer's Cheers spin-off, Frasier, dominated the prime time television landscape during the 1990's. Grammer plays the role of Dr. Frasier Crane who, fresh off of his divorce from Lilith, moves back to his hometown of Seattle where he lands a gig as a radio psychiatrist. Frasier's father, Marty Crane (John Mahoney), a Seattle cop recently shot in an attempted convenience store robbery is in need of physical therapy. Frasier and his brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce) make an effort to mend their relationship with Marty whose plaid shirts and penchant for sports and beer strikes a dramatic contrast with their wine club, opera house culture. After a little prodding, Marty and his dog Eddie (Moose) move into Frasier's upscale apartment, and Frasier hires Daphne Moon (Jane Leeves), a housekeeper and physical therapist to look after the two cranes.

The entirety of the show takes place in mostly three places - Frasier's radio station where he works with show producer Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin), Frasier's apartment, and the favorite hangout of Niles and Frasier, Café Nervosa. A witty comedic exploration of the nation's clash of cultures (also illustrated by Frasier's run-ins with sports guy Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe), Frasier stands alone as one of the best-written shows in television history. Not a single episode can be considered a dud.

The Frasier (Season 5) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the season premiere "Frasier's Imaginary Friend" in which Frasier returns to Seattle from Acapulco where he enjoyed a blissful affair with a supermodel zoologist who, for personal reasons, asks him to keep their relationship a secret. But constant near-miss run-ins between Frasier's family and the woman lead them to question whether Frasier is involved in a relationship at all. Exasperated, he spills the beans - an action with profoundly negative consequences... Other notable episodes from Season 5 include "My Fair Frasier" in which Frasier finds himself as "the woman" in a relationship with a hard-nosed defense attorney, and "The Ski Lodge" in which the Crane family, Daphne, and her friend take a weekend trip to a ski lodge where romantic misunderstandings abound...

Below is a list of episodes included on the Frasier (Season 5) DVD:

Episode 97 (Frasier's Imaginary Friend)

Episode 98 (The Gift Horse)

Episode 99 (Halloween)

Episode 100 (The Kid)

Episode 101 (The 1000th Show)

Episode 102 (Voyage of the Damned)

Episode 103 (My Fair Frasier)

Episode 104 (Desperately Seeking Closure)

Episode 105 (Perspectives on Christmas)

Episode 106 (Where Every Bloke Knows Your Name)

Episode 107 (Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do)

Episode 108 (The Zoo Story)

Episode 109 (The Maris Counselor)

Episode 110 (The Ski Lodge)

Episode 111 (Room Service)

Episode 112 (Beware of Greeks)

Episode 113 (The Perfect Guy)

Episode 114 (Bad Dog)

Episode 115 (Frasier Gotta Have It)

Episode 116 (First Date)

Episode 117 (Roz and the Schnoz)

Episode 118 (The Life of the Party)

Episode 119 (Party, Party)

Episode 120 (Sweet Dreams)

The DVD Report