War of the Words

A Bi-Polar Season.
Season 9 of Frasier saw Dan O'Shannon become the sole `Showrunner' following Mark Reisman's departure from the staff, and it could hardly have been in more tragic circumstances. David Angell, the co-creator of the show and a major creative force died, as so many did, in the September 11th atrocities of 2001. It's difficult to assess how this tragedy affected the show creatively, as the series was already in a period of re-adjustment following the Season 7 finale and the whole dynamic of the show had changed. Taken as a whole, the season is a marginal improvement on the more serious and thoughtful season 8. There are a greater number of funny episodes, but the poor episodes really stand out. Here's a rundown of the season:

Don Juan In Hell Part 1 - A continuation of the season 8 finale in which Frasier has to choose between two women, Claire and Lana. On the whole it's a pretty dull re-tread, with only the appearance of `Island Niles' providing some mild amusement...

Season 9 - The renaissance after season 8
Frasier is one of the all time great shows. Season 9 is one of the better seasons of this eleven seasons series.

During this season, Frasier, on a getaway at a rustic cabin, has a hallucination of his three previous girlfriends/wives. He also manages to accidentally destroy the arm chair of Martin. The reconstructed arm chair ironically is the most expensive item in his exquisitely assembled drawing room - oh the irony! Niles and Daphne plans to move in together and their plans are thwarted by the arrival of Daphne's mother. Frasier tries to un-mask Lilith's (his ex-wife) brother, a con-artist. In one memorable episode, Cliff's (a character from Cheers) farewell party introduces Niles to Frasier's past exploits at Cheers. During the season finale, Roz and Frasier sleep together, forever immortalized by the comment from Martin ("Big story about how Roz's purse spent the night on the coffee table"). And Niles is off to England to try and convince the alcoholic father of...

Great but not the greatest
Some people talk about the dip in quality of Frasier in some of the latter seasons, and while it's true that some of the episodes were a little less fresh in season 9, it's hard to complain about a show that overall is so great. Some of the episodes in this season seemed a little clunky or forced like the one where Frasier is haunted by his ex-wives' memories or the one where he attends a retirement party for Cliff of Cheers. However, there are some really good episodes too. I think part of the issue the show faced in seasons 8 and 9 was the partial resolution of the Daphne-Niles relationship and how that affected the story lines. However, the final scene of the final episode is a highly emotional and effective hook based on these two characters that makes you want to rush out and buy season 10. All in all, if you are a fan of Frasier, you will enjoy watching this season.

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