Product Description
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All 24 episodes from the ninth season of the US sitcom about the
middle-aged Seattle psychiatrist played by Kelsey Grammer, beset
by problems largely of his own making. In this season, Roz (Peri
Gilpin) starts dating a garbage man, but has problems with his
job. Frazier decides to throw a Halloween party with guests
dressed as their heroes. Frasier, naturally, is Sigmund Freud.
Meanwhile, on Daphne's (Jane Leeves) birthday, Niles's (David
Hyde Pierce) gift is a romantic Hawaiian holiday. Episodes
comprise: 'Don Juan in Hell: Part 1', 'Don Juan in Hell: Part 2',
'The First Temptation of Daphne', 'The Return of Martin Crane',
'Love Stinks', 'Room Full of Heroes', 'Bla-Z-Boy', 'The Two
Hundredth', 'Sharing Kirby', 'Junior Agent', 'Bully for Martin',
'Mother Load: Part 1', 'Mother Load: Part 2', 'Juvenilia', 'The
Proposal', 'Wheels of Fortune', 'Three Blind Dates', 'War of the
Words', 'Deathtrap', 'The Love You Fake', 'Cheerful Goodbyes',
'Frasier Has Spokane', 'The Guilt Trippers' and 'Moons Over
Seattle'.
.co.uk Review
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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 Laglia, 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 neighbour 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 her, 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