Frasier: Season 09 (2001)

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The ninth season of Frasier serves up the "payoff" for the setup established at the end of Season Eight. Once again, Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) is stuck at a romantic crossroads, torn between his devoted lover Claire (Patricia Clarkson) and his loose-cannon high school sweetheart Lana (Jean Smart). As he thrashes out this dilemma, the viewer is treated to a fantasy sequence featuring Frasier's ex-wife Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) and his former Cheers vis-à-vis Diane Chambers (welcome back, Shelley Long!) This season features the series' 200th episode, in which Frasier celebrates his 2000th broadcast as radio station KACL's resident phone-in therapist. Later, Kristin Chenoweth guest-stars as Frasier's new agent Portia Sanders, who is even more obnoxious than his former agent Bebe Glazer (Harriet Sansom Harris),if such a thing is possible. Our hero also has a run-in with Lilith's con-artist brother Blane (Michael Keaton), who claims to have turned over a new leaf and "found God". Meanwhile, Frasier's retired-cop dad Martin (John Mahoney) gets a job as night watchman, and soon has cause to regret it. Martin also tries to patch up a feud between Frasier and his neighbor Cam (Brian Stokes Mitchell) by pretending to be in love with Cam's mother Cora (Emily Yancy)--or is he just pretending? In other romantic news, the relationship between Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and Daphne (Jane Leeves) reaches a new plateau when they decide to move in together--only to un-decide when Daphne's overbearing relatives show up en masse. Similarly, Niles' elaborate preparations to propose to Daphne are squelched by the omnipresence of her whining mother (Millicent Martin). Season Nine is distinguished by several of Frasier's most memorable episodes. "Three Blind Dates" features West Wing's Allison Janney as an artist who goes out with Frasier and ends up despising him. In "Deathtrap", Frasier and Niles try to solve what they think is a murder while visiting their childhood home. And best of all, "Cheerful Goodbyes" reunites Frasier with his former Cheers compadres Cliff (John Ratzenberger), Carla (Rhea Perlman) and Norm (George Wendt). The season finale finds Niles trying to reunite Daphne's estranged parents, which causes a rift between himself and Daphne--but not so big a rift that the aren't able to run off and elope rather than go through with the lavish wedding that their families have planned: an elsewhere, longtime verbal scrappers Frasier and Roz (Peri Gilpin) end up sleeping together--much to the surprise of both! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi