After the Niles/Daphne drama that dominated the eighth year, year nine feels like a letdown. Much like when Sam and Diane finally got together on Cheers, it feels like the best years of Frasier were gone once Miles finally got the girl. I was by far not the biggest fan of the show, but Miles was always my favorite character. David Hyde Pierce played him with such a dry wit and clueless sincerity that it was hard not to giggle at almost everything he said. Jane Leeves (Daphne) was Pierce’s perfect sidekick, always ready with the perfect comeback to one of his lines. Actually putting Niles and Daphne together took away some of the spark and originality between the two and made them seem like an old married couple.
The rivalry between brothers Frasier and Niles seemed to lose some of its edge in season nine as well. It just doesn’t appear that Kelsey Grammer and Pierce were enjoying their onscreen sniping as much as they had in earlier years. At times, their performances seemed mailed in, at others I wondered if the death of David Angell just cast a dark shadow over much of the season for everyone involved.
Frasier was one of the shows that is what it is. Over the course of eleven seasons on the air, things pretty much stayed the same — Frasier hosted a radio show, couldn’t find love, and struggled with having his elderly father living in his house. The entire show was built around the humor to be found in these issues. That’s pretty amazing when you think about it, and speaks volumes to the talent of Kelsey Grammer and his cast mates to pull off such a consistently fumy show year after year.
While season nine of Frasier fails to pack some of the comedic punch of previous years, the show still provided some laughs. Twenty-three episodes are included on the Complete Ninth Season DVD set. Among the highlights: “Don Juan in Hell” in which Frasier dumps Claire because he’s having sexual dreams about Lana, the obnoxious woman he knew in high school, with visits from Lilith, Diane, his mother, and every woman he’s ever dated. (Any guest shot from Lillith is a good thing!) In “The Proposal,” Niles wants the perfect proposal, but predictably that’s not how it turns out and in “Mother Load,” parts one and two, Daphne’s mother and crude brother come to visit just as Niles and Daphne have decided to live together.
As with previous releases of Frasier, the DVD set has no extras. Since the show filmed its 200th episode during the ninth season, it’s a little surprising that something wasn’t included on the set to celebrate that occasion. Despite the lack of extras, Frasier fans will be happy to add another season of this comedy favorite to their collections.
