Frasier: The Complete Fifth Season

Frasier's fifth year finds the cast, writers, and directors working brilliantly together as the series reaches its creative summit--a lofty perch from which it won't descend any time soon. Season five gets off to a bang with “Frasier's Imaginary Friend,” in which Our Hero (Kelsey Grammer in peak form) returns from a vacation in Acapulco raving about his torrid affair with a supermodel zoologist (naturally, everybody thinks he's making it all up). The series presents its first major surprise in a two-parter that find Frasier's assistant Roz (Peri Gilpin) telling him that she's pregnant. “The 1000th Show” (which refers to Frasier's daily radio show) is noteworthy as the first Frasier episode actually filmed on location in Seattle, where the series takes place, while “Perspectives on Christmas,” an especially well-written episode, won the entire cast a Screen Actors Guild for Best Ensemble Performance in a Comedy. Bebe Neuwirth, who played Frasier's wife Lilith in Cheers, reprises her character in “Room Service,” a hilarious episode that finds the confused therapist racing back to her ex after her current lover leaves her…for a man. Another rib-tickler is “Life of the Party,” which climaxes with Roz giving birth--quite unexpectedly--at a social gathering. As always, David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney, and Jane Leeves provide terrific support to Grammer, who continues to play the title role with seeming effortlessness. There isn't a weak episode in the bunch; in fact, you'll be hard pressed to find a funnier DVD boxed set all year. Highly recommended. (E. Hulse)