Starring: Kelsey Grammer, John Mahoney, David Hyde Pierce, Peri Gilpin, Jane Leeves
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
Video: 4:3 Fullscreen
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: English Closed Captions
Length: 521 minutes total
Rating: ****
Achieving an Emmy Award record for most consecutive wins (five) 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 2000-2001 season are contained on four discs.
Memorable episodes from the eighth season include: “The Show Must Go Off” where Frasier and Niles try to convince a Shakespearean actor, now only known for his sci-fi television role, to make a return to classical acting; “Hooping Cranes” in which Niles makes a half-court basketball shot during halftime at a Seattle Supersonics’ basketball game thereby causing Frasier to become extremely jealous; and “Forgotten but not Gone” wherein Frasier starts a wine discussion radio show only after he loses out to Niles for the position of Corkmaster in their local wine club. (Disc One: And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon Parts 1 and 2; The Bad Son; The Great Crane Robbery; Taking Liberties; Legal Tender, Love and Care. Disc Two: The New Friend; Mary Christmas; Frasier’s Edge, Cranes Unplugged; Motor Skills, The Show Must Go Off. Disc Three: Sliding Frasiers; Hungry Heart; Hooping Cranes; Docu.drama; It Takes Two to Tangle; Forgotten but not Gone. Disc Four: Daphne Returns; The Wizard and Roz; Semi-Decent Proposal; A Passing Fancy; A Day in May; The Cranes Go Caribbean).
The overall video quality for this DVD set is very good. Images are clean with nice detail. Colors are warm and rich with well-saturated hues. Black levels are uniformly dark. Mastering is solid with no major flaws or compression artifacts. The overall audio quality is good. Dialogue is crisp and intelligible. The LFE channel is mellow but sparingly used.
— Calvin Harding Jr.
