Credit: www.amazon.com
The Cast
Kelsey Grammer……….Dr. Frasier Winslow Crane
Jane Leeves……….Daphne Moon/Crane
David Hyde Pierce……….Dr. Niles Crane
Peri Gilpin……….Roz Doyle
John Mahoney……….Martin Crane
Dan Butler……….Bob “Bulldog” Briscoe (1996-1999)
Enzo the Dog……….Eddie (II) (uncredited)
Moose……….Eddie (uncredited)
The Show
The sixth season of NBC’s award winning sitcom Frasier keeps up what Frasier was best known for. The show is an intelligent journey into the absolutely absurd situations without feeling too much like a show that is following a formula. The sixth season manages to advanced the overall lives of the major characters by the end of the season, but is pretty flat to start out which may have been why its streak of Emmy’s ended at five.
The season starts out with Frasier and the rest KACL crew being out of work after the radio station changed its format to salsa. Frasier goes through the stages of denial after everyone is able to get a new job, and then continuously fails at job interviews, and gets caught in various other problems. There are some problems though with this formula. Both Frasier and his younger brother Niles come off as petty rather than ridiculously pretentious. Not only does this drain the core humor of the show, but it also distances the audience from feeling any sympathy for the “perilous” situations that they face in Seattle.
Thankfully, there are more shining spots to this season then there are negatives. Frasier’s father Martin is absolutely hilarious, playing his character to an absolute tee. Martin is also enhanced this season by the sheer volume of new pet trick gags that he and his dog Eddy are in. If there is one continuously shining spot of the season, it is certainly Martin.
The season does pick up after a rather poor beginning when Daphne gets engaged to another man, which absolutely crushes Niles and the entire staff of KACL is hired back. There are some truly funny episodes that go more into Niles and Frasier’s brotherly rivalry, especially when they fight over an IQ test from high school.
The sixth season as a whole though is depressing though. Niles fails time and time again with Daphne and tugs at our heartstrings. I think we’ve all dealt with being in love while never being noticed by the object of our affections. This plotline is what the sixth season should have been about, and not both this and the KACL debacle.
Overall, this is a moderately good season that starts out sluggish, but ends very strong. Much of the genius of the show still seems to be missing this go around. Frasier still has a lot going for it in the sixth season, but its pretty obvious that Frasier is about to jump the shark in quality. Still, this is a very good season for a very good show.
Score: 7 out of 10
The Video:
Another 90s TV show, another transfer not really worth talking that much about. It’s recent enough that the transfer is still pretty clean. There were no noticeable artifacts or any things like that on the set. Overall, its what you would expect from a major TV show from the 90s.
The Audio:
The 6th season of Frasier is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. The audio sounds very balanced especially for a sitcom. Again, this isn’t something you’re going to use to work out the old audio system, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad mix. Audio can only end up being a distraction in a sitcom as far as I’m concerned. Thankfully, it isn’t here.
The Extras:
For a show in its heyday had a lot of awards and critical acclaim, it’s a shame more love wasn’t shown to these discs. If you want Frasier extras, look to the first few releases. These discs are bare excluding the usual trailers from Paramount. Very disappointing.
Score: 1 out of 10
