Starring: Kelsey Grammer, John Mahoney, David Hyde Pierce, Peri Gilpin
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
Video: 4:3 Fullscreen
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: English Closed Captions
Length: 540 minutes total
Rating: ****
Achieving an Emmy Award record for most consecutive wins (5) for an
Outstanding Comedy Series, Frasier is a spin-off of the popular
television show Cheers. Set in Seattle, Frasier follows the lives
of radio show psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane, his high-strung
psychiatrist brother Niles, their gruff, ex-cop father Martin, Martin’s
live-in home-care provider Daphne, and Frasier’s radio show producer
Roz. The entire 24 episodes from the 1997-1998 season are
contained on four discs. Memorable episodes from the Fifth Season
include: “Frasier’s Imaginary Friend” where after returning from
Acapulco and a steamy affair with a supermodel who has sworn him to
secrecy regarding her identity, no one believes Frasier when he finally
divulges the name of his mystery woman; “The Gift Horse” in which
Frasier and Niles try to outdo the other in buying their dad the best
birthday gift; and “My Fair Frasier” where Frasier has a relationship
with a high-profile lawyer and finds himself in the more submissive
role much to his dismay. (Disc One: Frasier’s Imaginary Friend;
The Gift Horse; Halloween; The Kid; The 1,000th Show; Voyage of the
Damned. Disc Two: My Fair Frasier; Desperately Seeking Closure;
Perspectives on Christmas; Where Every Bloke Knows Your Name; Ain’t
Nobody’s Business If “I Do”; The Zoo Story. Disc Three: The Maris
Counselor; The Ski Lodge; Room Service; Beware of Greeks; The Perfect
Guy; Bad Dog. Disc Four: Frasier Gotta Have It; First Date;
Roz and the Schnoz; The Life of the Party; Party, Party; Sweet Dreams).
The overall video quality for this DVD set is very good. Images
have a somewhat soft appearance but are otherwise clean with nice
detail. Colors are warm and accurate with saturated hues.
Black levels are uniformly dark. Picture defect mastering is
commendable with no major flaws or compression artifacts. The
overall audio quality is good with the English Dolby Digital 2.0 track
serving as the basis for this review. The soundtrack mix heavily
favors the forward soundstage. Dialogue is natural sounding and
properly positioned in the center channel. Surround activity is
limited to the audience laugh track and opening theme song.
Reference equipment: [Video monitor- NetTV DTV-34XRT;
Video scaler- Silicon Image iScan Pro; DVD player- Philips Q35AT; A/V
Receiver- Sherwood Newcastle R-963T; Speakers- Acoustech 5.1 channel
speaker system; Tactile Transducer- Clark Synthesis TST 329 Gold;
Cables and Wires- Bettercables.com ]
