The 24-episode first season of Frasier aired during the 1993/1994 TV season. It stars Kelsey Grammer, Jane Leeves, David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney, and Peri Gilpin. It is the second (and most successful) series directly spun off from the long-running sitcom, Cheers. The first series, the Tortellis, was a short-lived spin-off in 1987 set around the characters of Carla's ex-husband Nick and his new wife Loretta (both of whom made several recurring appearances on Cheers). That one bombed and was canceled after a handful of episodes. The series Wings, which was not a direct spin-off of Cheers, but existed in the same universe as several characters from Cheers, made guest appearances.
Frasier, of course, is set around the character of Frasier Crane, who was originally a secondary recurring character on Cheers and eventually became a series regular, but was still one of the secondary characters. In the pilot, we learn that Frasier's attempted reconciliation with Lilith did not work out, so he moved back to his hometown of Seattle and began hosting a call-in radio show. Gilpin plays Roz, the producer of his show; Pierce plays his brother, Niles, who is an even more nerdy and stuck-up version of Frasier (and also a psychiatrist) and who is married to a woman named Maris, who we never actually see, but hear crazy stories about; Mahoney plays Frasier's dad, Martin, a retired police officer who (along with his dog Eddie) has to move in with Fraiser after becoming disabled when he is shot in the hip; Leaves plays Daphnie Moon, Martin's live-in caregiver and the object of Niles' obsession.
The DVD set is a four-disc set. The bonus features include a commentary track on the pilot episode by two of the series creators, Peter Casey and David Lee, a behind-the-scenes featurette featuring cast interviews (filmed near the end of the series' run), a tour of Frasier's apartment, and clips of some of the various celebrity voices who called the radio show. In season one, they included Linda Hamilton, Christopher Reeeve, Joe Mantegna, Jeff Daniels, Eddie Van Halen, Bruno Kirby, Carl Reiner, Jay Leno, Ben Stiller, Mel Brooks, Eric Stoltz, Rosemary Clooney, Henry Mancini, Elijah Wood, Malcolm McDowell, Reba McEntire, Christine Lahti, Tommy Hillfiger, Mary Tyler, Moore, and Piper Laurie.
The show is set up as a procedural, story-of-the-week sitcom. It has a much different look and feel from Cheers, and the character of Frasier is a bit different than how he was portrayed on Cheers. The writers do a good job separating the show from the parent series, but they do call back to events that happened on Cheers. Bebe Neuwirth is the only character from Cheers to appear during season 1, in a hilarious episode in which she returns to try to get back together with Frasier. It is well-written and very well acted. The writers were not concerned with strict continuity with Cheers. On Cheers, Frasier was portrayed as an only child and stated that his father had passed away. And, Mahoney and Gilpin both appeared in the later seasons of Cheers as entirely different characters. Of course, this is nothing new for TV series (especially sitcoms), as the same actors are often cast in different roles. Grammer, as crazy as he has become in real life (especially when it comes to politics), is excellent as Frasier and picks the role back up with ease. Mahoney and Gilpin do a wonderful job with their respective characters, and Pierce and Leeves compete for stealing every scene they are in. Ultimately, while it is a much different series than Cheers, if you enjoyed Cheers, especially the later years, you will probably like Frasier.
