Customer Reviews

Ally McBeal: The Complete Series

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Finally it's available and in the proper format.
Fox studios has confirmed that all original music will be included in the release in addition to a CD with the best music from the show and The Practice cross-over episode "Axe Murderer". This is all that I wanted and more from the release of one of my favorite shows!

I love this show. I love it so much that when it was released on DVD in the UK I got copies imported to me and bought myself a region free player. It has been so wonderful having these shows when no one else in America does at the moment. It feels like my little secret. But I am worried over the state of the DVD's.

This set will be 32 discs. Originally I thought they'd just be rencoded versions of the British DVDs... That would have been more comforting. But here we get 5 seasons on 30 discs. The first season is full frame and the rest widescreen. Then disc 31 has a new retrospective featurette, and 5 or 6 vintage featurettes. Also an episode of "The Practice" when Ally crossed over and a music video.

The 32nd disc is curious. Fox has announced the set but has not stated if the music has been left intact. I can't see it being changed as a majority of the stories Need the specific songs chosen. They are not random. Also the characters mostly sing them live. It be practically impossible to change the music. Yet I am still concerned as this is fox and you would think they'd advertise the fact no music was changed... But disc 32 offers hope as it is a "Best of Ally McBeal" soundtrack. I am hoping these will be new songs not incorporated on the previous 4 albums released for the show.

The album included seems to be Fox's way of saying they too believe that the music was pivotal too the show. Quite recently Fox confirmed- that Yes= ALL OF THE MUSIC IS INTACT!This makes this a most have for anyone who loved this neurotic, short skirt wearing lawyer and her zany friends.

The soundtrack is the gigantic let down of this set. The press release led us to believe there would be previously unreleased music on this album. Bull****! For those of you who already have the other albums you will notice there is only one un- released song and that is "I Know Better." They had a huge opportunity to do something really great here and they blew it. Beyond that I will still buy this for the bonus material. The soundtrack listing is as follows.

1. Searchin' My Soul
2. Something About You
3. Chances Are
4. The Wildest Times Of The World
5. Home Again (Live)
6. Sweet Inspiration
7. I Know Better
8. You Belong To Me
9. Hooked On a Feeling
10. I Only Want To Be With You
11. It's In His Kiss (The Shoop Shoop Song)
12. Tell Him
13. Baby, Don't You Break My Heart Slow
14. Maryland

...not the product since that relies entirely upon the issue of the music that originally aired with the episodes. Special excerpts and clip collections are all we in the U.S.A. have seen of Ally McBeal on DVD up to now due to the large incorporation of popular music in the show. Many episodes of Ally had the closing ten minutes or so set in the bar where Vonda Shepard and guests such as Barry White would belt out popular, and unfortunately, copyrighted music. Also, the various characters would express themselves by dancing to popular tunes in a way that I just don't think would come across with muzak.

This has made DVD sets of entire seasons a licensing nightmare. Since Ally was in production from 1997 until 2002, just prior and a little bit after the advent of TV on DVD, this probably did not figure into the calculation of Fox as to how this would turn into a legal quagmire that could not be overcome. The same was true for "WKRP in Cincinatti" - the original masters of those shows with the music have been destroyed from what I hear - and then there also is "Daria".

Fox has been very tight-lipped about the status of the music that was woven irreplaceably into this show. Do you really think we could get this show for this price if the music was there? Based on Fox's past record of deleting music from TV shows and not telling anyone until after they collected their money, and given the state of the economy and the DVD market right now, I'd think they'd be telling the world if the music was intact. I also think they'd be telling noone if it was missing. So far their silence has been deafening. My opinion is to either wait until some definitive word comes out on the condition of these sets or maybe a compromise would be to buy Ally McBeal: The Complete First Season and see what was done there as indication of what was done with the other four seasons.

At $99 this was an unbelieveable deal! It's great to have the seasons intact in their own cases, with the box simply acting as a storage for them. Love how it pulls out easily and the seasons sit in the 'envelope'. I kind of think the box construction itself could be better and the quality of the cover art on the seasons isn't that great. I'm also disappointed there is no episode guide or booklet. But really....these are picky things . What matters is that the episodes are unedited, original music....and an amazing price. Great strategy. At this price, more people can buy it...supporting the efforts that Fox put into getting this set out to us. I've been loving every minute of catching up with this show once again! It is as relevant as when it first aired.

While I will say that the show is just as good as it was before, the review is mainly about the packaging.

Unlike some sets that repackage the same season discs in less resilient cardboard or paper sleeves that cause easy scratches, this set is simply the 5 single season release cases with a 6th case containing the bonus DVD and CD to even out the box. I, for one, am a fan of this. I bought it and was fearful of the insides of the box based on many other reviews I'd read of complete series sets arriving with unplayable discs. The single season cases are very sturdy and what seems to be the standard now based on my recent purchases of Fringe, Supernatural, etc.

If you like or are curious about the series, you can buy this confident that the discs will arrive in excellent condition.

FINALLY! Ally McBeal fans - this DVD set was WORTH the WAIT! Thank you FOX for taking the time to do it right. This set is AWESOME! All five seasons with original music - we were all so worried that it would not be done this way, but I was not disappointed at all. I've only watched the first few episodes so far, but I can tell that it's just as I remember it...so funny and so quirky! I am thrilled to have the entire series on DVD for Region 1. I considered buying a bootleg copy online because I wanted it so badly! If it takes 7 years to do it right, then 7 YEARS IT IS! Thank you Thank you Thank you FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT.
Also thank you to Amazon.com for the AWESOME pre-order deal and pricing. I ordered the set when I first heard about it in July and ended up paying so much less than I expected for it(though I would have gladly paid more). I was even given a refund due to the price being lowered before the release. GREAT BUSINESS PRACTICES!

We all know Allie and her friends and coworkers are great. Who wouldn't want to own the Biscuit, Fish, Allie, and company?

If you're buying this to watch in a machine with a slot-type DVD drive (such as a laptop, i.e. a drive without a drawer), think twice. The disks must be thicker than most, or improperly balanced. They jam repeatedly in our laptops and require extreme measures (forced shutdown) to extract.

On the other hand, they work perfectly in a standard DVD player with a drawer-type drive.

I pre-ordered the Ally McBeal complete series set as soon as it became available, with the best hopes that the series would not be butchered. I was surprised to receive it Tuesday, the official day of release, and surprised that it came in the sturdiest, best packaging of any series I've purchased. Even more pleasant to see was the label, right on the packaging, that the original music is all intact. Just to top it off, I got a large refund due to the significant difference between the price I ordered the series at (almost $180) and the Amazon price at the time of release (under $100). I haven't, obviously, had time to go through the discs to confirm the claim that the original music is all there -- but I think the worst fears of the series' fans have been allayed and the best hopes have been met. Thanks, 20th Century Fox, for doing this on right! Please do Hill Street Blues like this next.

"Ally McBeal" is hands-down my favorite show of all time. I've literally been waiting more than a decade for the series to come out on DVD. I'm so thrilled to finally own this amazing boxed set, which is every bit as fabulous as I hoped it would be.

The best thing about the set is obviously the episodes themselves. They're completely unedited in any way, and yes, they do contain all the original music from the show, which is something fans were worried about. Let me tell you, watching Ally McBeal on my big flat-screen TV is absolutely fantastic! The boxed set itself is very nicely designed and encased in high-quality packaging, which I really appreciate. Best of all, the set comes with a bunch of extras, like a new "Ally McBeal" CD, the crossover episode from "The Practice," featurettes, and more.

The only slight letdown is the soundtrack CD, which only contains one previously unreleased song. I own all the other "Ally McBeal" CDs, so this album really doesn't offer anything new, but I can live with that because I NOW OWN "ALLY MCBEAL: THE COMPLETE SERIES" ON DVD!!! WOO-HOO!!!!

This was one of those quirky little shows set in a law firm. It uses its cases to set the mood for each episode but also relies on the peccadillos of its main characters to anchor the show. We have the wattle man, the Barbie doll, the nose noise man; even the unisex bathroom almost becomes a character.

Ally had once dated one of the other lawyers who works at the firm with his current wife which sets the mood for a lot of sexual tension. Ally is supposedly still in love with him though she manages to fall in love with most other hunky men who walk through her door.

As we move through the subsequent seasons we follow the loves and losses of most all of the Firms oddball ensemble cast. I can understand how the feminist movement pointed to this series with disdain. Ally was not an "I can do" female. In fact she was kind of an "I'm falling apart" type of gal. Sort of like me. Maybe that's why I'm so fascinated by this series.

It's too bad the music licensing issue keep this funny show out of the market for so long. There is a large current group of the purchasing public who will probably not buy this series because it's now just too old. I'm giving the same review to each year of the series because they're pretty much alike with interchangeable boyfriends and co-workers - but they're all good.....bg