Frasier - Season 11 - DVD (David Hyde Pierce, Jane Leeves, Kelsey Grammer, Peri Gilpin, John Mahoney - Dir: )

Midway through Frasier's redemptive final season (which earned Emmys for Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce), Martin Crane (John Mahoney) reassures his son, "Just when you think that you're in a rut and nothing exciting will ever happen again, pow, that's when it does." The same could have been said of Frasier's redemptive final season. Not that the multi-Emmy-honored series had ever really jumped the couch, but by its 11th season, it had lost some of its sparkle. And then, POW! Veteran Frasier writers Christopher Lloyd and Joe Keenan return to the fold. POW! Wendie Malick joins the seamless ensemble as brash lounge singer Ronee Lawrence, who becomes a love interest for Martin. POW! Daphne (Jane Leeves), underutilised since her marriage to Niles, becomes pregnant. POW! Frasier opens his own private practice. POW! Laura Linney guest stars as Charlotte, who becomes the hapless Frasier's own Miss Right. The series also benefited greatly from a stellar roster of character actors, who rose to the occasion of this gold standard series' final year. Penny Johnson (24), Sarah Silverman (School of Rock), and Dan "Homer Simpson" Castellaneta christen Frasier's couch in the episode, "The Return of Maris." Jennifer Tilly is at her ditzy, delectable best as a pick-up in "Miss Right Now." Laurie Metcalf replaces Emma Thompson as Frasier's first wife, children's entertainer Nanny G, in "Caught in the Act." Always welcome are Bebe Neuwirth as Lilith ("Guns 'N Neuroses") and Harriet Sansom Harris as Frasier's unscrupulous agent Bebe (the series finale, "Goodnight, Seattle").

But Frasier was never about stunt casting. It's the writing, stupid, which, actually, was anything but. Episodes such as "Boo," "The Doctor Is Out," "Coots and Ladders," and "Caught in the Act" recapture Frasier's unique blend of wit and farce. The series finale, in which relationships take a significant turn and Frasier finally breaks out of that rut to follow his heart, is as satisfying as fans could wish. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews of Frasier - Season 11

P. J. Sharp
Marlow
7th October 2008

Well worth watching
I am suprised by the low scores series 11 recieved. We watched all the series but like many got bored arounf series 9 and stopped watching.

Having since enjoyed comedy like Curb Y E and Conchords - We thought this would be embarrassingly bad.

Well blow me over - it is excellent - very funny, just as well written, and once again VERY FUNNY - Nils< Fraise and their Dad play it very well - WELL RECOMMENDED

Roderick
Scotland
29th September 2008

A poor end to a great show!
This has to be the most disappointing series of Frasier. Given that it was explicitly to be the final series it was inevitably going to be about winding up the various relationships and issues that have made this series probably the best sit-com the US has ever produced. However, how was this done? (DON'T READ ON IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW)There is certainly some sense of resolution - Martin gets married to a good new character, Daphne and Niles have their baby, Roz becomes station manager and Frasier flies off to start a new life in Chicago. The baby is hurriedly born at the vets where quickly Martin gets married - why was this so frantic?! Episodes devoted to Niles and Daphne coping with a new born or Martin setting up home elsewhere all could have been excellent and left us with a more real sense of resolution - we could see where these characters were going. Frasier's resolution too is ambiguous - will things work out in Chicago? The previous series are littered with expectations that are not met, why leave the final one on such an expectant note!? One or even two episodes of Frasier adapting to life after Martin would have been fascinating, rather than just the scenes in a single crowded episode.

So, the major characters are not resolved well and the series ends in a great, and not very funny or dignified, splurge! Minor gripes would be the absence of Bulldog or any mention of Bulldog at the end; the unexplained promotion of Roz (we don't even know she has gone for the job); the weak jettisoning of Kenny; absence of Eddie; appalling use of `guests', in particular, Daphne's brothers make you want to hide; no real resolution for Daphne's mother who eventually and after much painful work became a decent character - I could go on.

Some individual episodes are as good as in other series but overall the purpose of the series is not achieved well, it is a very poor and untidy end to a brilliant run.

NK
Lancs. UK
10th September 2008

A great final season
The 11th and final season of Frasier on DVD has arrived. It completes a quite sublime comedy series of a standard that will probably never grace our screens again. This is some achievement given the drop in quality that was evident in seasons 8 and 9, which would normally have prompted the shows demise. However, in a final throw of the dice, the writers and cast have produced some excellent comedy and gone out on a real high.

To summarise - Frasier dumps that awful Julia (a priceless scene) and eventually finds true love, Roz returns to KACL and later becomes station manager, Niles and Daphne have a baby, and Martin also gets lucky in love.

There are some brilliant standout episodes that would be contenders for a Best-Of compilation (with past masterpieces such as 'The Innkeepers', 'The Matchmaker', 'Ham Radio', 'The Two Mrs Cranes', 'The Ski Lodge', 'Three Valentines' and 'Dinner Party'):

Ep.2 'A Man, A Plan and A Gal' - Frasier pledges to commit to Julia but soon regrets his boldness.
Ep.3 'The Doctor is Out' - Frasier is wrongly outed, leading to a new male friend (Patrick Stewart) with hilarious consequences.
Ep.8 'Murder Most Maris' - Niles shows admirable calmness when his crossbow is used as a murder weapon by Maris, until there are no straws left at Cafe Nervosa....
Ep.11 'High Holidays' - Niles tries to rebel by getting high but things backfire.
Ep.15 'Caught in the Act' - Frasier cannot resist his childrens entertainer first ex-wife (played by Laurie Metcalf) and following some badly-timed intimacy ends up on stage dressed as a baby!
Ep.16 'Boo' - To help a patient with a fear of clowns, Frasier dresses up as one!
Ep.23 'Goodnight Seattle' - the final frantic and very moving episode.

Despite my very positive review, I decided to give it 4 stars, rather than 5, because overall I think this season still doesn't reach the heights of seasons 1-7. Back then, Frasier was at its best with all the petty sibling rivalries and of course Niles chasing Daphne. It would also have been nice to actually see Frasier get his gal (Charlotte) at the end rather than assume things work out. In this series, we also get a lot of guest characters played by famous actors, which was never done earlier, or needed. Nonetheless, I recommend it to all fans of witty, often farcical, yet poignant comedy.

M. D. P. Meechan
Glasgow
23rd July 2008

Old faces return for a vintage Frasier finale
The eleventh and final season of 'Frasier' (tying in longevity with parent sitcom 'Cheers') marks the show's true return to form, set in motion by the average season 10. This can be attributed to the return of writers Joe Keenan and Christopher Lloyd who, individually and together, produced some of the all-time classic episodes in season's 1-7. Both writers bring a real creative force to this final season, and quickly set about dealing with some of the show's most recent problems. The grating Julia Wilcox (Felicity Huffman) is dispatched with early in the season, and the tensions between Frasier and Martin (a core theme of the early seasons) are renewed when father and son battle for the attention of Ronee Lawrence, Frasier's former babysitter. We also see more use of Roz; a better dynamic between Daphne and Niles (Daphne gets to be funny and kooky again!); and, the icing on the cake, the 'return' of Niles' oft-talked about, never-seen ex, Maris Crane.

The drama of past seasons is ditched in favour of fun storylines, and amazingly there are some episodes which can rightly be viewed as 'classic Frasier'. The first is the hilarious 'The Doctor Is Out', featuring Patrick Stewart in a superb performance as Frasier's new 'friend', a gay socialite with designs on the good doctor. Another classic episode is 'High Holidays' that makes excellent use of the main cast, especially John Mahoney as Martin. Versatile 'Roseanne' star Laurie Metcalf appears as Frasier's first wife, the children's entertainer Nanette 'Nanny G' Guzman, in 'Caught In The Act' which never lets up its frantic pace. Special mention must also go to the series finale, 'Goodnight Seattle', which - despite a bloated first half - is one of the best 'finales' you'll see. Many of the show's old favourites - Bebe, Noel, Gil, Kenny - get one last chance to shine in this episode but the true focus is on Frasier, who finally realises how he can be truly happy. The last few minutes of the show, when Frasier says goodbye to his family, friends and listeners, is a tear-jerker, and reminds viewers just what they are about to lose: one of the most intelligent, consistently brilliant comedy series ever produced for television. A few episodes in this final season are far from perfect, and everything ties up too neatly in the finale, but those minor niggles aside: don't miss out on this superb swansong for TV's favourite psychiatrist. Goodnight Seattle, we loved you!

Mr. Simon A. Macklin
Northampton, England
17th June 2008

Buy it to complete your collection, but you won`t watch most of it very often!
It`s hard not feel a little shame when writing non-positively about Frasier. I`m such a huge afficianado of the series, and have spent so many hours watching and laughing, that I feel it`s slightly treasonable to grumble about the obvious lack of quality of the last four seasons - and bear in mind that the quality is only lower when compared to the other seasons of Frasier! It was better than anything else.

The problem is, I don`t really know what the writers were up to sometimes in Season 11. There are a couple of episodes that show Frasier, Niles, Martin et al. saying and acting in ways that are not at all in character. Even more annoyingly, the sub-plot with Roz returning to KACL is never resolved properly, just isn`t mentioned anymore. Julia Wilcox is an interesting character in terms of feisty arguments, but it`s almost like the writers panic when she and Frasier sleep together and quickly make her loathesome again...why? So they can introduce Charlotte as a matchmaker and new love interest. But an inferior one, in my opinion. The episodes with her, albeit vital for the culmination of the show, are not especially funny. We didn`t watch Frasier for drama - intelligent comedy, farce at times, psychological insights into relationships etc., yes - but not actual drama without anything amusing happening.

"The Placeholder" is a horrible episode; "Guns N` Neuroses" the only Lilith episode that isn`t top class; "Freudian Sleep" is pretty brainless. I won`t bother to watch them. So the whole season pays for three bad episodes? Not quite. There are a number of sub-standard (as opposed to poor) episodes too. "Coots & Ladders" has a few brief moments of fun, "And Frasier Makes Three" and "Detour" (particularly odd of the writers to introduce new characters only four episodes from the end!) aren`t special, and "Crock Tales" only shines briefly. So, that`s roughly half of the season that I`m not too enamoured about.

There are though some of the best episodes - (or maybe they look better with the company they share?) - too. Unlike other seasons of Frasier, these are generally ones with top guest stars. "Caught In The Act" is close to perfection, a superb performance from Laurie Metcalf as Nanny G, and Frasier is back to his sex-starved best, something we took for granted in the early seasons. "The Doctor Is Out" has Patrick Stewart misunderstanding Frasier`s orientation with "hilarious consequences". Oh, and the little matter of "High Holidays" - the best episode ever? Always good to have Freddie in a season, but this is a new, Goth version. Martin is funnier than ever, Niles is as brilliant as we expect, it`s just wonderful throughout. The final episode is poignant, rather than brilliant, but I can accept that the finale had to tie things up, and this will always mean some sentimentality.

Verdict - some dross, mostly decent, some exceptional. You won`t watch it as much as the first six seasons though. They were worth more than the five stars permitted. This season is a rather indifferent three star performance.