"Director: Philip Charles MacKenzie"

• Frasier: Complete Series 2 | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £21.98   |  Saving you £13.01 (37.20%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Frasier picked up its second series 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 series 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 series, 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-series 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. Other guest stars were Nathan Lane and, from his original show, Cheers, Bebe Neuwirth and Ted Danson. --David Horiuchi

• Frasier - Season 2 | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £10.95   |  Saving you £24.04 (219.54%)   |  RRP £34.99

  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 Synopsis 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.

• Frasier Season 3 | DVD | (06/09/2004) from £5.99   |  Saving you £29.00 (484.14%)   |  RRP £34.99

  With this third season, Frasier scored an impressive hat trick, winning its third successive Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. You don't need too much analysis to get to the bottom of this unprecedented success. The series was a primetime oasis of wit and sophistication, with welcome forays into farce that pricked Frasier's bubble of pomposity. His priceless reactions to the assaults on his dignity are worthy of Jack Benny. Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) can be infuriating, as in "The Focus Group," in which he is obsessed with knowing why a lone focus group participant (guest star Tony Shalhoub) doesn't like him. But he is also endearing in his delusional view of himself as, in the words of one mocking bystander, a "man of the people." Frasier meets his match in new station owner Kate Costas (Oscar-winner Mercedes Ruehl). Their combative relationship turns to lust over the course of the first 10 episodes. But the season's most pivotal story arc is the separation of Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and Maris. "Moon Dance," which marked Grammer's directorial debut, is a series benchmark, as a crestfallen Niles tangos with his unrequited love, Daphne (Jane Leeves), at a high society ball. Not that the Crane family still doesn't have issues to work out. Frasier cannot abide being beaten at chess by Martin (John Mahoney) in "Chess Pains." Frasier and Niles ill-advisedly go into joint practice in "Shrink Rap," and find themselves on the opposite sides of a sanity hearing in "Crane vs. Crane." Lilith is sorely missed, but in this season's blast-from-the-past episode, Shelley Long returns in "The Show Where Diane Comes Back." It is a joy to see Cheers resurrected, if only in Diane's self-absorbed new play, which Frasier agrees to back. And any episode with Frasier's amoral agent Bebe (Harriet Sansom Harris) is must-see television. Frasier's humor was character-based, rather than topical, giving it a longer shelf life. For those who lament the end of one of television's gold standard series, this box set will be excellent therapy. --Donald Liebenson

• Frasier: Complete Series 2 | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £16.98   |  Saving you £18.01 (51.50%)   |  RRP £34.99

  The complete second season sitcom shenanigans featuring psychologist Frasier Crane and his family. Episodes Comprise: 1. Slow Tango In South Seattle 2. The Unkindest Cut Of All 3. The Matchmaker 4. Flour Child 5. Duke's We Hardly Knew You 6. The Botched Language Of Cranes 7. The Candidate 8. Adventures In Paradise (Part 1) 9. Adventures In Paradise (Part 2) 10. Burying A Grudge 11. Seat Of Power 12. Roz In The Doghouse 13. Retirement Is Murder 14. Fool Me Once Shame On You Fool Me Twice... 15. You Scratch My Book... 16. The Show Where Sam Shows Up 17. Daphne's Room 18. The Club 19. Someone To Watch Over Me 20. Breaking The Ice 21. An Affair To Forget 22. Agents In America Part III 23. The Innkeepers 24. Dark Victory