Product Details

• Actors: Calista Flockhart, Greg Germann, Jane Krakowski, Vonda Shepard, Peter MacNicol
• Writers: David E. Kelley
• Producers: Bill D'Elia
• Format: Box set, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 3
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: January 11, 2000
• Run Time: 45 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (98 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000035P8M
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #272,702 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

When Ally McBeal premiered on the Fox network in 1997, the series was already riding high on critical praise, with its upscale mix of savvy humor and hot-topic legal drama. Created, produced, and written entirely by the amazingly prolific David E. Kelley, the show immediately found an appreciative audience of women drawn to the title character's frank perspectives on dating, sex, and career objectives, and men lured by a cast full of attractive, outspoken women with vibrant personalities and flattering wardrobes. (If you think that's a sexist observation, you haven't tuned in to the show's brilliant balance of male chauvinism, feminist attitude, and hilariously turbulent office politics.)

This two-disc compilation of episodes from the show's first season is aptly titled, because Ally McBeal--a Boston lawyer played by Calista Flockhart--is defined by her seemingly perpetual singlehood, her sexual and emotional yearnings, her professional passions, and--by one of Kelley's creative masterstrokes--her flights of imagination (often visualized via amusing computer-generated effects) that give the series a constant, unpredictable edge of humor and emotional depth.

These well-chosen episodes offer a comprehensive summary of the first season's major developments, including the emotional history shared by Ally and her now-married colleague Billy (Gil Bellows); the notorious "dancing baby" (in "Cro-Magnon") symbolizing the insistent ticking of Ally's biological clock; the amiable quirks of John "the Biscuit" Cage (Peter MacNicol); and the dubious pearls of wisdom known as "Fishisms." Here we witness the sublime chemistry of the ensemble cast, and each member is given ample time in the spotlight. Regular guest star Dyan Cannon is strongly featured in "Silver Bells," prior to the second-season addition of Nelle (Portia DeRossi) and Ling (Lucy Liu). That leaves plenty of room to establish Ally McBeal as the lively focus of the series--confused, opinionated, sexy, neurotic, frustrated, ecstatic, intelligent, emotional... and never, ever boring. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

252 of 269 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ha Ha!, August 30, 2003

By 

Darryl Williamson (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ally McBeal - Ally on Sex and the Single Life (DVD)

Have to say, I realy feel sorry for all the americans in region 1. Not only are they insulted by Fox with this dismal 6 episode double disc offering, but they have to deal with the knowledge that we europeans in region 2 have had all five seasons of ally released with extras and at reasonably good prices (£15 or US$19 approx. per half season box).

This show is undoubtably one of the best sitcoms to have been released in recent times. It is altogether fresh, neurotic, original, funny and well-written, and both David E. Kelley and Calista should be really proud with their achievements on this show. Although the quality was brought into question in the last season, I believe that it is these early season episodes that display the most genius and originality.

If anyone over there across the pond has multi-region capabilities on their DVD players, I urge them to order the English box sets of the show through Amazon.co.uk (or similar), and sit back and enjoy what is truly one of the most vivacious pieces of TV programming in recent years. It is a shame that the show was cancelled, its true fans will really miss it.

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars FULL SEASONS PLEASE!, December 10, 2004

By 

a Traveler "David" (Tokyo Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ally McBeal - Ally on Sex and the Single Life (DVD)

I live in Japan, where we can RENT every episode of alley mcbeal from the pilot to the series finale-- in English with subtitles, or dubbed over into japanese at almost any rental store.

This teaser set of Ally is a joke. C'mon Fox-- just release the darn things for the US market.

Ally was a great show, and even the weakest season...the dreaded five has some redeeming qualities when watched for the second time.

My wife is Japanese, but speaks english well. To help her practice listening to more natural-- and playful english we started watching ally. It was good practice for her, and a nice break for me-- I dont really like most Japanese TV that much. It soon became a treat to head to the video store for the next video...

I liked the show when it was on TV... but came to appreciate it even more when I could watch the episodes without a week or more in between. Subtle running gags-- like the buzzing bee music that they played with ling buzzing around the office--- became more apparent.

Looking back... I think season 4 was the best-- and Robert Downey Jr.'s "issues" are one problem that hurt season five... I think they had planned on him being a fixture... and then couldnt go that way.

Season Five-- ok the worst-- but in some ways... i feel it was almost a victim of Sept. 11th... The mood of the nation was altered pretty quickly... and for a long time a lot of the zany, quirky, humor that made ally great just wasnt what people wanted. I dont think the writers knew how to handle it... and when things went wrong they panicked...

Downey Jr.'s character was gone... Jackson Dooper... and Mark apparently fell off the planet without explanation... Ling too... she became a judge... then what?

now that Ive watched it again.. its almost like there is a season 5A and a season 5B... 5a is the new characters like jenny, glen, coretta etc... and 5b is the kid and bon jovi..

Its like the writers couldnt decide what to do... They keep teasing at something... finally let it happen... and then the next week... everything was over and they were going another way. Glen and Alley... the law firm losing money.... Alley and Bon Jovi... The kid... (who was around, but not really for awhile)...

But even with all of these problems... even this 5th season was fun to watch. I really enjoyed Cage's speech about the firefighters... And in some ways, it really did seem that Alley had grown up... My wife and I were almost sad when we watched the final episode because it all seemed so rushed (the outcome of a sudden cancellation, not a planned series finale)... and the fact that we could never visit that world for NEW stories...

So as a surprise, I wanted to buy my wife these DVDs for X-mas. ANd this tiny set was such a disappointment. I guess I will have to buy a japanese dvd player...

I think Fox has treated this show pretty poorly considering how popular it was. Its webpage is still fairly pathetic. And if they are concerned about how poorly it did in its final season... that was their fault, not ours.... we loved the show, and deserve the chance to watch it again and again-- just like other people already do... all over the world!

Thanks...

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars where are the others!, February 24, 2003

By 

morgannie (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ally McBeal - Ally on Sex and the Single Life (DVD)

How can they possibly expect an "ally" fan to be happy with a boxed set that contains less than half of the episodes of the season? And when will the other season come out? if they ever will?!