Customer Reviews

Ally McBeal: The Complete First Season

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When the series first came out I remember thinking how creative the writers all were and being pleasantly surprised by the unexpected complexity and depth of the characters, at least for a sitcom. A decade later it's still funny and at times, even thought provoking. Even though the ground they broke then has since been thoroughly tilled by the many series that followed, the topics and issues are still relevant. My wife and I are enjoying it!!

I guess only time will tell if the U.S. will ever see the glory that several other countries currently can. According to Wikipedia on 2/09/08, "Due to music rights issues, the first complete season of Ally McBeal has not been made available on DVD in the United States (only 6 random episodes can be found on the R1 edition, Ally McBeal - Ally on Sex and the Single Life)"

I know this doesn't really help matters, but at least there is a reason we haven't seen it around yet.

This series is hilarious and intends to be. Lawyers and lawyers and lawyers in all their antics to win cases every time they can, even more than they should. It is first of all a serious criticism of that kind of jury justice that essentially manipulates the members of the jury and at the same time surprises the judge and the various counselors and even the accused, the defendant and the accuser, and everyone in the case. Justice appears then like and as a farce, because it is a farce, the farce of a purely conventional and opportunistic institution for whom freedom and truth are absolutely unheard of as rules, and are at the most circumstantial elements. The series though is a lot more interesting if we forget about this justice. The people are mostly neurotic, if not psychotic, and they cultivate those characteristics to create some kind of funny, strange and bizarre and ah-ah of not oh-my-god plot and intrigue and never mind what else. Love in all directions and the impossibility to love in just the same number of directions. Love turned into exhibitionism or pure violence if not sadism. Fetishism turned into a fine art and hunting into a parlor activity if not a court distraction and entertainment. You laugh for sure but there is little depth in all that and it only aims at making you laugh. In the end we could even say that we are laughing at justice which is a sham, lawyers who are clowns and men and women in all their ages, colors and personalities who are all disposable pawns on the social board.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID

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

I had forgotten that the early episodes of this series were a bit creaky. and at first Ally seemed
so young, goofy and nervous that she felt more like a teenager than a smart 27 year old lawyer.

But by episode 5 or so the show and the character finds it's stride. And if it doesn't quite measure
up to the best 'grown up' TV of today, it still deserves praise for being one of the series that broke
the mold of what a TV show was supposed to be.

It had an openness to complicated tones that seamlessly mixed wild, sometimes surreal humor,
more subtle humor and drama, to long story arcs and not easily solved once a week problems,
and to being more about character than event, making TV a more novelistic and sometimes
cinematic medium in the process.

Certainly Ally McBeal wasn't the first show to do any of these things, but it was one of the first
shows that was a big success with these new approaches, and that helped paved the way for
many of the best dramas dramadies and comedies on TV in the years since.

I'll admit, with years of even braver shows since, Ally McBeal no longer feels quite as special, and
in fact now feels a little limited. Especially with DVDs allowing more than once a week viewing,
a certain sameness to Ally's constantly fearful, broken heart and her funny/sad attempts to overcome
it starts to plague the show.

But there's still a lot to enjoy here. The performances are terrific from top to bottom, and every
'silly' character is given their serious and moving moments, and every 'serious' character is allowed
to be laugh-out-loud funny at times. Special mention has to be made of Peter MacNichol's 'The Biscuit',
one of the oddest, funniest characters to actually work brilliantly in any series.

The writing is sharp and full of wit and pathos. The music is integrated in a way that was rare for
TV before, but much imitated since, with montages to songs played and sung by Vonda Shepard
(a great voice) who often also appears in the series as a singer at the lead characters favorite after
hours watering hole.

I do have to say, some of the music now feels, in retrospect, too on the nose. The songs chosen (or written) almost
always have lyrics that are too spot on, too obvious a commentary on the action, That good and bad
side to the music sort of sums up my perspective on the series looking at it again in 2011. I appreciate and admire
it for what it gave us and TV, I still enjoy it, but I'm no longer just blown away by it. Not in a world of Breaking Bad,
Weeds, Mad Men, Nurse Jackie, Arrested Development, etc. etc.

What a great show at such a great price; used but in new condition is my favorite new phrase! It delivered promptly and is in great shape. A very entertaining show!

This series broke ground in every area possible and each week went to a new place with a new idea. It never grew old and always entertained. I have waited too many years for this to come out on DVD and bought the full set the day it did.

I have been waiting since the show went off the air for the box set. It is SO RIDICULOUS that other shows that have been on the air a year or less are getting released on DVD, but this FABULOUS show with lots of loyal viewers is not available in the US. I am afraid to buy an import for fear that I'd waste $100-$200 and not be able to play it on my player. PLEASE RELEASE A US VERSION!! WE WILL BUY IT! Come on FOX, PARAMOUNT, whoever! Get on the ball...... the fans have been WAITING for years!!!!

This is in my top 3 favorite shows. I don't own any TV series yet, but I would definately buy this one. Why hasn't it been released yet?????

Music licensing issues are holding back the release of the DVD for the Ally McBeal series. The cost of implementing the episodes as is - with all the music intact - would be astronomical just because of the ridiculously expensive song rights they'd have to pay for. So, rather than service the fans, the network is trying to keep its costs down since I'm sure they've done a cost-profit analysis and found it wanting. Which is fine and practical for them, but very, very unpleasant for viewers. Sure, a couple episodes are available... but that only feeds the rage at not being able to watch the WHOLE season. There's this gut feeling that the network doesn't love its viewers much - or at all.