Starring: Kelsey Grammer, John Mahoney, David Hyde Pierce, Peri Gilpin, Jane Leeves, Dan Butler
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
Video: 4:3 Fullscreen
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: English Closed Captions
Length: 525 minutes
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 23 episodes from the 1999-2000 season are
contained on four discs. Memorable episodes from the seventh
season include: “Dark Side of the Moon” where Daphne’s deadbeat brother
Simon comes to visit and wreaks havoc on the Crane household; “Morning
Becomes Entertainment” in which Frasier’s agent Bebe Glazer co-hosts a
local morning television show with Frasier and then tries to convince
him to quit radio for the TV spotlight; “Out with Dad” where Martin
pretends that he is gay to avoid the advances of an admiring woman and
later introduces Niles as his boyfriend in order to continue the
charade; and “A Tsar is Born” in which Frasier and Niles set out to
prove that they are descendants of the Romanov family.
One: Momma Mia; Father of the Bride; Radio Wars; Everyone’s a Critic;
The Dog That Rocks the Cradle; Rivals. Disc Two: A Tsar is Born;
The Late Dr. Crane; The Apparent Trap, Back Talk; The Fight Before
Christmas, Rdwrer. Disc Three: They’re Playing Our Song; Big
Crane on Campus; Out With Dad; Something About Dr. Mary; Whine Club;
Hot Pursuit. Disc Four: Morning Becomes Entertainment; To
Thine Old Self Be True; The Three Faces of Frasier; Dark Side of the
Moon; Something Borrowed, Someone Blue).
The overall video quality for this DVD set is very good. Images
are clean with sharp detail. Colors are warm and accurate with
saturated hues. Black levels are uniformly dark. Mastering
is commendable with no major flaws or compression artifacts. The
overall audio quality is good, and as usual with TV series, the
soundtrack mix predominantly favors the forward soundstage.
Dialogue is natural sounding and properly positioned in the center
channel. Surround activity is confined to the audience laugh
track and opening theme song.
Reference equipment: [Video projector- Studio Experience
Cinema 17SF; DVD player- Oppo Digital OPDV971H; Video scaler- DVDO
iScan HD+; A/V Receiver- Sherwood Newcastle R-963T; Speakers- Acoustech
5.1 channel speaker system; Tactile Transducer- Clark Synthesis TST 329
Gold; Cables and Wires – Better Cables.com ]
