Product Description

Movie DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2991 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2004-01-06
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 553 minutes

Amazon.com
Frasier picked up its second season with another round of comedy as intelligent as its pompous title character. Fortunately, the sniping between Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and his father, Marty (John Mahoney), that took up a lot of the first season is mostly past, and the crack ensemble was ready to roll in a number of memorable episodes. Frasier tries to set up Daphne (Jane Leeves) with the new station manager in "The Matchmaker," Frasier, Niles (David Hyde Pierce), and Marty go fishing in "Breaking the Ice," Frasier and Niles jump into politics in "The Candidate," the team of Frasier and Roz (Peri Gilpin) breaks up ("Roz in the Doghouse"), and Frasier and Niles open a restaurant in "The Innkeepers." It was Pierce's Niles who emerged as a star in the second season, lusting after Daphne, learning about parenthood in "Flour Child," and challenging a Bavarian fencer for the hand of his ever-absent wife, Maris, in the comic tour de force "An Affair to Forget." Pierce picked up a well-deserved first Emmy, and the show repeated its first-season Emmys for comedy series and lead actor. Frasier's dates included Jobeth Williams (whom he takes on a disastrous getaway to Bora Bora), Shannon Tweed, and Tea Leoni, and other guest stars were Nathan Lane and, from his original show, Cheers, Bebe Neuwirth and Ted Danson. --David Horiuchi

From the Back Cover
Emmy Award-winner Kelsey Grammer is Frasier--the hilarious psychiatrist first seen on TV's "Cheers" and subsequently the start of this smash-hit comedy series. And the gang's all here for the complete second season of this wry and witty sitcom--and what a season it is! Frasier Crane (Grammer) infuriates the entire city of Seattle when he complains about its rainy climate during his radio talk show. Meanwhile, his father Martin (John Maloney) finds his favorite bar is slated for the wrecker's ball--and could it be that Frasier and Niles (David Hyde Pierce) are behind its demise? Roz (Peri Gilpin) considers a new job offer...Daphne (Jane Leeves) finds her privacy invaded...and Frasier's romantic island getaway with a new girlfriend is ruined when his ex-wife Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) is discovered happily ensconced in an adjacent cottage! It's all 24 episodes of Frasier's riotous second season, presented in one highly-entertaining four-disc collection.

Customer Reviews

I hope you're just pulling my giggle chain...
I zipped right through this DVD set. Frasier's second season is just as strong as the first, and in many respects stronger. The Niles/Frasier dynamic is played out to great result, the writing is sharp, the acting perfect, there are guest appearances by Lilith and Sam Malone, and the season is nearly perfect, without even one clunker or filler episode. The result is some of the richest situational comedy ever to appear on TV.

Some of the highlights include the gay/straight farce "The Matchmaker", "The Botched Language of Cranes" is classic Frasier, where everything goes wrong, then gets even worse, after Frasier makes a comment about Seattle that pits the city against him. There is also an episode where Roz leaves to produce Bulldog's show (Roz in the Doghouse), "An Affair to Forget" has Frasier suspecting Maris of cheating on Niles and won an Emmy for writing. There's also a visit from the nefarious agent Bebe (Agents in America, Part III), as well as a great episode that has Niles and Frasier trying to run a restaurant, which predictably goes haywire. These are but a few highlights of this fantastic season of television.

In short, this is as close to perfection as television gets. Highly recommended.

Funny show, good DVD. Recommended.
I have always enjoyed "Frasier". The first season tended to be about Frasier's relationship with his father and adjusting to living together. Season Two was more focused on Frasier's and his brother Niles' relationship. Niles' growing attraction to Daphne, his father's physical therapist, is also highlighted. Season Two was consistently funny and deserved the best comedy Emmy that it won that year (one of a record-breaking five Emmys in a row for Best Comedy.)

I loved the episode, "The Botched Language of the Cranes", where psychiatrist Frasier tells a depressed caller on his radio show to move out of Seattle to a sunnier place where it doesn't rain so much. Of course, the whole city of Seattle reacts to this, and Frasier has to figure out what to do about it!

Five extras shorts:
"Marching On To Season Two"
"The Mystery of Maris Continues"
"Roz's Dating Tips"
"The Niles and Daphne Attraction"
"And Then There Was Eddie"
are pretty short (about 20 minutes total) and not as interesting as they sound. I did enjoy them, but I probably won't watch them again. The feature commentary track on "The Matchmaker" episode was worth watching. I was pleased to see a list of the celebrity callers! These were not always listed in the credits, and I always want to know who the callers are.

The video quality is much better than the cable television signal that I get. On my big screen TV there is some graininess, but not terrible. The mode is full screen rather than widescreen. The audio is Dolby Digital 2.0, which I find adequate for a sit-com. The voices are clear and easy to understand. Overall, the video and audio quality were very acceptable for a televison show of this type. I was pleased with this DVD set, and recommend it.

Best Season Ever.
In my honest opinion, this is the finest season of "Frasier" ever, in fact, one of the best seasons in tv sitcom history.

From the first episode "Slow Tango in Seattle" (where Frasier's dallience with his piano teacher is the subject of a popular book) to the last "Dark Victory" (where Marty's birthday suffers from a city-wide blackout) there isn't a clunker in the bunch.

Disc #1 features the trifecta of "The Unkindest Cut of All" where Eddie's park activities have produced a litter of puppies. "The Matchmaker" (an instant classic) where Frasier's new boss thinks that Frasier is making a date with him instead of Daphne. The scene where Marty laughs may be one of the funniest in series history. "Flour Child" has Niles carrying around a 10pd flour bag to simulate what it would be like to care for a baby. It also has a riotus scene where Niles relates his dream of kidnappers stealing his "baby" and sending muffins in the mail.

Disc #2 is another winner, the highlight for me was "Roz in the Doghouse" with Bulldog at his absolute finest. JoBeth Williams turns in a nice performance in "Adventures in Paradise". And "Burying a Grudge" has Marty coming to terms with his long-time police partner who's in the hospital.

Disc #3 brings back Sam (a still on-target Ted Dansen) and his soon-to-be wife played by Tia Leone. And the sumptuous Shannon Tweed gets into the act in "You Scratch My Book...". Even a seeminly minor episode like "Daphne's Room" contains huge laughs when Frasier somehow keeps winding up in her room without permission. Look carefully at the picture Frasier picks up, it's a real gutbuster of a revalation.

Disc #4 has the killer combination of "An Affair to Forget" (which won an Emmy for writing) with an unforgetable fencing match between Niles and Maris' fencing instructor. The oddly titled "Agents in America, Part III" brings Bebe (Frasier's agent) back into the fold. Her "suicide" attempt is absolutely hysterical. And finally "The Innkeepers" (another instant classic) where the Brothers Crane foolishly buy a restaurant and disaster awaits.

Extras:
There is a commentary track for "The Matchmaker" with writer Joe Keenan & director David Lee. It is informative and rather fun, especially when they point out some of the missed dialogue and scenes that were ment to be included.

Also included are the typical run of edited scenes from different episodes under a theme, like "Roz's Dating Tips", "The Mystery of Maris", & "The Niles and Daphne Dating Attraction" are perfunctory and not necessary. But exceptions include "And Then There Was Eddie" which features a nice intro of "Eddie" on the beach & "Marching On Season 2" where Peter Casey & David Lee extoll the virtues of that particular season (Peter Casey declares that in his 23 years of tv experience, no season ever matched Frasier's Season 2, which is a bold statement for sure). The interviews were shot at the same time as the ones presented on the Season One DVD.

Overall, this collection is a must for Frasier fans. If you fell in love with the show in the later years, you owe it to yourself to get this DVD set.


Tidbits:

"Adventures in Paradise" is the first two-part episode of the Frasier series.

Although her appearence lasts about 2 seconds, "Adventures in Paradise (Part II)" is the first time we see Diane Chambers (Shelly Long) on "Frasier".

There is a blooper of sorts that happens in "Adventures in Paradise (Part I)". Both Frasier & Roz look at the picture of Madeline (in Seattle Style magazine) on the "left" page. When Bulldog looks at the picture, he looks at the "right" page.

Bulldog also seems to have gained some weight during Season 2. Compare his state of fitness between "Roz in the Doghouse" and the stinger of "The Innkeepers".

Look for Diedrich Bader (Oswald on the "Drew Carey Show") as Roz's date in "The Innkeepers".

In "Roz in the Doghouse", the song "Mr. Pitiful" is played over a montage of Frasier's new producers. I believe this is the first time in series history that a publish song was used in such a fashion.