The 24-episode sixth season of Frasier aired during the 1998/1999 TV season. All of the primary cast members return for the sixth season, as do several of the "regular" recurring cast members. The notable guest stars this season include Teri Hatcher, Amy Brenneman, Eva Marie Saint, Virginia Madsen, Christine Baranski, and Piper Laurie. This season would also mark early roles for Timothy Omundson (who would later star in the great series, Psych) and Erika Christenson. This season's tie to the parent series Cheers includes a guest appearance by Woody Harrelson, returning to the franchise as Woody Boyd, who contacts Frasier during a trip to Seattle. The guest callers this season include Ron Howard, William H. Macey, Phil Donahue, Beverly D'Angelo, Gillian Anderson, and Yo-Yo Ma.
This season, the series continues to blend the story-of-the-week procedural format with longer story arcs. The beginning of the season centers on the fallout from the radio station employees being fired at the end of season five, as everyone tries to find new jobs. It is not spoiling anything to say that the radio station eventually switches back to the old format and everyone gets their job back, but the writers do a good job of drawing out the storyline for a handful of episodes. The other big storyline this season involves Niles and the still-unseen Maris finalizing their divorce, and the writers were still teasing a Niles-and-Daphne romance.
The Blu-ray set is, as of this writing, still only available as a complete series release, with individual seasons available only on DVD. In the blu-ray set, the season is a three-disc set packaged in its own keep case. The DVD set is a four-disc set. There are no bonus features this season, but the episodes can be played with English captions. The A/V quality of the blu-ray is very good. While it did not get a "reference quality" HD transfer, the blu-rays are a significant upgrade from the DVDs.
The show continues to be very funny this season, with many laugh-out-loud moments. As he has for most of the series, David Hyde Pierce steals nearly every scene he is in as Niles, but all of the cast members have great moments throughout the season. Christine Baranski's episode was one of the best of the season, as she made a great foil for Fraiser, dispensing "tough love" advice to callers. Ultimately, if you liked the first five seasons, the sixth season is absolutely worth watching.
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