Customer Reviews

Frasier: The Complete Second Season

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

For a 14 year old, you wouldn't expect me to be into this show. But I find it to be hilarious! My mom is a huge Frasier fan and now she's made me one. Once she bought Season 1 on DVD, I watched all the episodes crying with laughter. And when she bought Season 2, I laughed even harder. This season is definitley worth your cash. It's even better than the first season. And has some great bonus material. If you love Frasier and want to watch something that will leave you in tears, then get this. Some of my favorite episodes on this season that will leave you laughing so hard are:
Daphne's Room - I had to watch it over and over again because it was just so damn funny.
The Inkeepers - Niles and Frasier buy a restaraunt. And total chaos rises!
Flour Child - Niles is thinking about having a child w/ Marice but isn't sure. So he gets a bag of flour and treats it like a baby!
There are so many more episodes on this season that are great and hilarious. Now stop reading this and go buy it now!!!!!!

I tell you, I am so positively excited about the upcoming release of Frasier's second season. I really enjoyed getting hooked by the first season with all of the cute and wacky storylines, and I recall looking forward to the second season when it came out in '94. Like I said, the first season got me hooked, but the second...well, let's just say the second got me running back for more every single season, all ten or so years now. Indeed, the Daphne + Niles storylines kicked up a notch in the second season, we got to see more of the life outside of Frasier's radio station (aka 'The Matchmaker', one of the best half-hour episodes of any show ever), and there was a lot more exploration into Frasier's past, with episodes including Lilith and I believe dear old Sam from Cheers (another of my favorite sitcoms of all time). But in general, "Frasier"'s second season provided equal if not more belly laughs than the first, and led this show to the greatness that it has achieved. And I am especially thrilled that Paramount shall be releasing season after season of this wonderful show, and I encourage everyone to buy not only season 2, but all those still yet to come.

When this show premiered, I lived in Seattle, and the local hype was just too much. I never watched, because I couldn't believe a show with the psychiatrist from "Cheers" could ever work. Cheers was the greatest, so this had to be inferior! So I thought. This show is the greatest that has ever been. Rich, developed characters, believable and hilarious episodes, and premises. So extremely imaginative and of top quality always. As a writer, I am so jealous of this program and will miss it when it leaves the air. I bought the first and will buy this one. You should too! It's great!

No sophomore season slump here! Season Two kept the laughs coming week after week. All killer, no filler.

There are some priceless slapstick moments throughout, but the standouts include Niles having his words translated from English to Spanish to German to his wife's Bavarian fencing instructor (Niles' rival for Maris' affections in a late-in-the-season episode), and the kitchen distasters in the episode where the Crane brothers open a restaurant. That premise is certainly not an original one in sitcom history, but it gets pulled off with such wit and style that it seems fresh and new.

Every episode is delightfully funny. A must-buy!

Frasier is without a doubt the funniest, most well written comedy series that ever graced the small screen. I know there are quite a few Seinfield fans out there but this show, in my opinion, has something for everyone. The DVD series brings the life of Dr. Crane home so that we can now relive our favorite episodes and laugh all over again. The appeal of the show has everything to do with the spoken word. It's one thing for a writer to pen a show but it's an entirely different thing to get the right actor to speak those lines and create some magic. Many people have said that this is the best spinoff because of the casting and I couldn't agree more. There are no lapses or boring moments in the dialogue and that is something one can no longer find on TV.

"Frasier: The Complete Second Season" is the companion DVD box set to Season One. It stars Kelsey Grammer as the imminent psychiatrist and radio personality, Dr. Frasier Crane, David Hyde Pierce as his even more neurotic and insecure younger brother, Niles, John Mahoney as their curmudgeon father, Martin, Jane Leeves as scatterbrain physical therapist Daphne Moon and Peri Gilpin as Frasier's calculating hard knock radio programmer, Roz.

If you thought season one was a riot, just wait till you get a load of season two: an inspired potpourri of hilarity beginning with a tell-all book about Frasier's secret affair with his piano teacher while he was still a teenager. Also highlighted in this bunch of episodes is Eddie gets fixed, Martin's favorite bar, Duke's, gets demolished by an investment that Frasier and Niles make, Niles attempts to bond with a bag of flour in order to discover whether or not he's ready to be a father, and, a governor's candidate that Frasier endorses turns out to be a nut job who believes that aliens abducted him in the past. Inspired and gifted performances, shoot-from-the-hip writing and hilarious cameos make season two one of the great television highlights of any series ever put on the small screen.

Paramount's new DVD, "Frasier: The Complete Second Season" aptly delivers all 24 episodes of this trend setting comedy in a deluxe four disc box set. Unfortunately, Paramount's DVD quality seems to be lagging behind Season One. Though colors are accurately presented with a subtle muted palette and good contrast levels, and blacks are deep and solid, there is an excessive amount of edge enhancement and shimmering of fine details throughout many of the episodes (more than half) that is distracting to say the least. Fine details become hard edged and highly unstable. Many of the vertical and horizontal lines in Frasier's apartment are in a constant state of mobility, flickering in and out of each frame and thoroughly distracting from the performances. As with Season One, certain episodes continue to have a slightly hazy look to them. Several episodes suffer from color imbalance in which tonal quality and brightness seem to shift - not only from scene to scene but shot to shot. Overall, these imperfections are inexcusable. The audio is stereo and very nicely balanced. Extras include a brief but succinct featurette on the inspiration for season two, a benign "Roz's Dating Tips" sort of game that one has to access by toggling on the remote, short snippets that illustrate all the guest star cameo voice overs used as call-in guests and audio commentaries on selected episodes. If you're a fan of this television series you may want to snag this box set. But the image quality is far below par for a series of this vintage!

I have watched Cheers series before but could not find it as funny as what Frasier is. It doesn't take long to get into the series at all. The seasons just keep getting better and better as they go. This season two is mainly pointed towards Niles, Frasier and their father martin. Which I can't ruin this season for you so its a must buy for sure!