Product Details

• Actors: Bill Paxton, Jean Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny, Ginnifer Goodwin
• Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Spanish, English, French
• Dubbed: French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 19
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Hbo Home Video
• DVD Release Date: December 6, 2011
• Run Time: 3180 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B004U6GWZM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,157 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Big Love: The Complete Series" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Big Love: The Complete First Season-Big Love, HBO's newest buzzworthy series, recalls Groucho Marx's blithe proposal to two women in Animal Crackers. "Why, that's bigamy," one of the women exclaims. Groucho responds, "Yes, and it's big of me, too." But Bill Henrickson's (Bill Paxton) situation is hardly a laughing matter. Bill is a modern-day polygamist who lives in suburban Salt Lake City with his seven children and three "sister-wives": Barbara (Jeanne Tripplehorn, never better), the more mature anchor of the household; Nicki (Chloe Sevigny), who spitefully refers to her as "Boss Lady"; and recent addition Margene (charming Ginnifer Goodwin), insecure and childlike. A series that puts a human face on polygamy is brimming with prurient possibilities. Big Love's first two episodes are veritable commercials for Viagra, as Bill struggles to keep up with the demands of his spouses, with whom the sleeping arrangements are strictly scheduled. But once this more sensational aspect of "plural marriage" is dealt with, Big Love moves on to focus on the emotional, spiritual and financial pressures that beset Bill and his families. As the dreamlike opening credit sequence (scored to the Beach Boys' ethereal "God Only Knows") illustrates, Bill is a man on thin ice. He is carrying mortgages on three adjoining homes. A home-improvement store entrepreneur, he has just cut the ribbon on his second store and is planning a third. His wives, not immune to jealousies, vie for dominant position. And then there's Roman (Harry Dean Stanton; and any series that puts this venerable character actor and hipster saint in our homes on a weekly basis deserves our big love), the sinister leader of an outlaw fundamentalist compound, who has an escalating disagreement with Bill over the repayment of his loan that helped Bill build his fledgling empire ("There's man's law," he states ominously, "and there's God's law").

There are further complications that make Big Love so compelling. Bill suspects that his raw-nerved mother (Grace Zabriskie) may be poisoning his father (Bruce Dern). Nicki is a shopaholic accruing nearly $60,000 in credit-card debt. Overtures by new neighbors threaten to expose Bill's unorthodox and illicit living arrangements. The polygamy factor puts a subversive spin on traditional matrimonial melodrama. When Nicki plans her son's disastrous birthday party, her list of "immediate family" tops 150. When Roman, who is Nicki's father, arrives, Bill proclaims he is not welcome in his "homes." As with Rome, Big Love may require a little patience. But this fascinating portrayal of a shadowy subculture, the intelligent writing, and the estimable ensemble will soon make you feel like part of the families. --Donald Liebenson

Big Love: The Complete Second Season-Early on in Big Love's second season, closeted polygamist Bill Henrickson's kids come to him with a broken toy. "I can fix anything," he reassures them. If only his chaotic life were as easy to mend. Among the crises vying for his attention this season are finding out who was responsible for outing his wife, Barbara (Jeanne Tripplehorn), at the Mother of the Year ceremony; the investigation into the poisoning of his brother-in-law, Alby, for which he could be implicated in a cover-up; negotiating a deal to purchase a gaming company coveted by Roman (Harry Dean Stanton); and, in a "holy spirit sucker punch," meeting Ana (Branca Katic), a Serbian waitress who just could be wife No. 4. A Golden Globe nominee for Best Drama, Big Love further draws viewers into the polygamists' shadow world. "If they could show just one normal plural family for a change," someone remarks at one point. Grounded in "the principle," the Henrickson households are about as normal as you can get with the sister wives at once fiercely protective of the family, while at the same jockeying for position and influence. Nicki (Chloe Svigny) is beholden to her father, the prophet Roman (whom Bill aptly calls "venal, corrupt, the face of evil"), and duty-bound mother, Adaleen (Mary Kay Place). Margene (Ginnifer Goodwin), the third and youngest wife, has absolutely no boundaries, and initiates a friendship with Ana, and agrees to be a surrogate mother for her unwitting neighbor. "Boss Lady" Barbara must come to terms with the sacrifices she made for her marriage. Meanwhile, Barbara's teenage son and daughter are at their own crossroads on deciding whether to follow their parents' path. Complicating matters even further are Rhonda (Daveigh Chase, the voice of Lilo in Disney's Lilo & Stitch), the lying and manipulative child bride who runs away from Roman and the compound, Alby's sinister ascendancy, and Hollis Green, a rival polygamist patriarch and fierce fundamentalist with a penchant for branding those who cross him.

Season 2 further fleshes out television's most unconventional family drama. This set also includes three "prequels" that peek in on the Henricksons up to five years before the events of the first season. In one, Nicki suffers post-partum depression following the birth of her first son. In the second, Margene makes an indelible first impression in "Meet the Baby-Sitter." The third shows how Bill's three wives compel a move to the suburbs and into their three-home compound. This series has emerged from The Sopranos' shadow to earn some Big Love of its own. What happens next? As the Beach Boys sing during the haunting and etheral opening credits, "God only knows." --Donald Liebenson

Big Love: The Complete Third Season-Three seasons in, the popular HBO series Big Love remains a highly entertaining and rewarding viewing experience. The cast is enormous and the storylines are numerous, with each of these ten 60-minute episodes adding new wrinkles to the plotlines already being pursued. This is business as usual for those who've been on board from the start, but while newcomers may need a couple of episodes to get up to speed, viewers of all stripes will be inexorably pulled in by the show's tangled combination of drama and black humor, personal peccadilloes and internecine strife, and big time social and religious issues. There really is nothing else like this on the television landscape, and that's entirely a good thing.

As usual, the series centers on the anything-but-normal life of Salt Lake City businessman Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton). Bill’s a study in contrasts: while he has plenty of objections to modern Mormon mores (he and his family are no longer active members of the church), he’s committed to the practice of polygamy, which remains the single most controversial aspect of Mormonism despite having been officially banned. Bill, his three wives, Barb (Jeanne Tripplehorn), Nicki (Chloë Sevigny), and Margene (Ginnifer Goodwin), and their various children find themselves waging constant skirmishes on several fronts: with their nosy, judgmental neighbors, with the splinter Mormon clan headed by the evil, self-proclaimed holy man Roman Grant (Harry Dean Stanton), and with the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. But the Henricksons' most pitched battles, and they are legion, tend to be amongst themselves. Though the wives generally get along with one another, the jockeying for position is endless, and Bill's desire for a fourth spouse this season definitely doesn’t make things any calmer. Other ongoing storylines include Grant’s trial for rape (similarities to the real-life prosecution of Mormon fundamentalist Warren Jeffs are no coincidence), which presents a serious conflict for Nicki, who happens to be Grant’s daughter; Bill and his partner’s ongoing efforts to open a Mormon-friendly casino on Indian land; and sub-plots involving teen pregnancy, kidnapping, adultery, and a host of other lurid behaviors. And while there’s a certain amount of what may be perceived as Mormon bashing going on, the edifying sixth episode, "Come, Ye Saints," in which the family visits Mormon landmarks from Utah to New York, features several of the season’s most moving scenes. --Sam Graham

Big Love: The Complete Fifth Season-There are doses of both good and bad news accompanying this release of the 10 episodes comprising the fifth season of the HBO series Big Love. The bad news is that the fifth season is also the last hurrah for a show that's rarely been anything less than entertaining. But the good news is that cocreators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer and their cast and crew are bowing out with one of their strongest outings; at the very least, this season is consistently better than the somewhat haphazard one that preceded it. It's also the least amusing and most serious, as family patriarch Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton), his three wives (Jeanne Tripplehorn as Barb, Chloë Sevigny as Nicki, and Ginnifer Goodwin as Margene), their kids, and even their friends and business associates face their sternest trials yet. Much of that is self-inflicted by the idealistic and stubborn Bill, who, having previously won a seat in the Utah state senate, has decided not only to reveal that his is a family of polygamists (or, as they put it, observers of "the principle of plural marriage") but also to fight a very uphill battle for public acceptance of them and their kind. The consequences are many: since Bill neglected to reveal that little lifestyle tidbit before, many of those who voted for him, including employees at his Home Plus store, feel betrayed; he may be impeached as soon as he takes office; his kids are bullied; the mainstream Mormon church (a.k.a. the LDS, or Latter Day Saints) actively shuns the Henricksons; and archenemy Alby Grant (Matt Ross), Nicki's brother and heir apparent to the late, evil prophet Roman Grant, has revenge on his agenda. Meanwhile, Marge loses her gig pitching products on TV, Barb considers joining a reform sect that opposes polygamy, and Nicki, never a very appealing character in the first place ("spiteful, jealous, and mean" is her own description), becomes nastier than ever. Add to that the specter of jail time for a crime Bill didn't even know he committed, and you're looking at a tower of tribulation that's too tall not to fall.

As always, there is a lot going on here, and while each episode can theoretically stand on its own, newcomers to the series may have a tough time keeping up, at least at first. But it's worth the effort. Big Love is beautifully written, acted (others in the outstanding cast include veterans Bruce Dern, Mary Kay Place, Grace Zabriskie, and Ellen Burstyn), and realized. It will be missed. --Sam Graham

Product Description

Over the course of five seasons, Bill Henrickson and his three wives (Barb, Nicki, and Margene) struggle to overcome a myriad of challenges they’re faced with while living a modern-day polygamist lifestyle. Bill is an independent businessman who runs a growing chain of hardware stores (Home Plus); the family later goes on to expand their business ventures to a Mormon-friendly casino in the middle of an Indian reservation; the family contemplates taking on a fourth wife; and as if that wasn’t enough on their plates, Bill decides to run for public office. In one of the most shocking moments of the series, on election night, new state Senator Bill Henrickson shook Utah to its core by outing his family as polygamists. Now, instead of being embraced for their honesty, the Henrickson family is engulfed by hostility from neighbors, Home Plus employees, casino partners, students at their kids’ schools and even fellow polygamists hoping to keep their personal lives private.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Big Seasons, One Great Show: A Great Box Set For Newbies, But Nothing New If You Own Individual Seasons September 23, 2011

By K. Harris HALL OF FAMETOP 10 REVIEWER

Format:DVD

Quick take: If you own the other four seasons on DVD, just buy the fifth independently.

Long take: For five glorious (and sometimes frustrating) seasons, HBO's "Big Love" took polygamy family drama to new heights. While not always perfect, this show boasted some of the strongest and most underrated performances that you're likely to encounter and challenged the conventions of familial obligations and acceptance. As a long time fan, I recognize that the show could be uneven. I'm not one of those people who think that as long as you like or watch a show, it automatically ranks as five stars. Different seasons can vary in quality, and while "Big Love" had its share of growing pains--it never lacked heart or conviction. Playing with diverse elements including family drama, comedy, suspense, politics, religion, and everything in between--the show became benchmark must-see television as a savvy and sophisticated adult soap opera.

I'm not going to dissect the plot of "Big Love" over five years from 2006 through 2011. At its core, however, it is the tale of Bill Henrickson and his three wives Barb, Nicki, and Margene dealing with the trials and tribulations inherent in living a polygamist lifestyle in contemporary America. Played by Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny, and Ginnifer Goodwin respectively--this primary quartet is reason enough to accord the show the highest rating possible. The fact that none of these stars was EVER nominated for an Emmy Award is perhaps the biggest mystery in "Big Love" history. Tripplehorn in early seasons, Sevigny in middle seasons, and Paxton in later seasons all easily deserved nominations. Heck, while I'm no great fan of Sevigny, her Nicki is an unforgettable character creation and was two years running my favorite performance on TV (she won a 2010 Golden Globe). Also inexplicably excluded from Emmy competition was the great Harry Dean Stanton as one of the best villains in modern television. The only Emmy acting nominations the show received were in the Guest category where Bruce Dern (as Bill's ne'r-do-well father), Mary Kay Place (as Nicki's manipulative mother), Sissy Spacek (as an unscrupulous political lobbyist), and Ellen Burstyn (as Barb's disapproving mother) got nods through the years. Also invaluable to the show was Grace Zabriskie as Bill's mom. I could go on all day about the extended cast, but there's not enough time for everyone.

If I were to break down the seasons to my personal perspective, they would look something like this:

Season One (12 episodes): 4 Stars. A provocative beginning that was finding its footing. Had yet to capitalize on the family dynamic that would prove so irresistible in following seasons.

Season Two (12 episodes) and Season Three (10 episodes): 5 Stars. Returning, in my opinion, as the year's most improved drama for its second season--these two years were a fine balance of storylines and big ideas. The central relationships are solidified in perfect harmony and the performances are among the best on television.

Season Four (9 episodes): 3 Stars. A cluttered and overstuffed year in which far too much was going on. I call it everything-but-the-kitchen-sink plotting. Some realistic, some outrageous--it is easily the series weakest year, but it is still eminently watchable.

Season Five (10 episodes): 4 1/2 stars. A fitting and powerful end that brings the clan together in defiance. Eliminating many of the extraneous plot threads of the previous season, this brought the focus back to family. A solid and memorable ending to a landmark series.

The Complete Series DVD is bringing all the previous years together into one set, of course. All of the original extras included on individual seasons will be provided with NO additional supplements. Season Five (which is being released separately on the same day) will have a Special Feature called "Inside The Episode" which will have insight from the show's creators about each episode in this season. If you already own the other four seasons of "Big Love," there is no particular reason to invest in the set--just buy the last year. If, however, you are a newbie to the show--it receives my wholehearted recommendation. Bye, Bye Henricksons--you will be missed! KGHarris, 9/11.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Plygamous Addiction January 2, 2013

By krisnicole

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I love this show, the boxed set contains the complete series, all 5 seasons and if you've never seen the show before because you weren't interested, didn't have the time, or didn't have HBO (like me), you should youtube clips and see that this show is awesome. Funny, dramatic, happy, chaotic and brings real life into a fictitious storyline. Mothers juggling work, school, children and a husband. Bickering couples and the ups and down we women face. Times of happiness, depression, questions of faith and the afterlife, religion. Politics, religion, and state where do they seperate and draw the line? It's a lovely chaotic crazy life, Big Love <3 I have lots of love for this show.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars High quality box set, but no new DVD material December 31, 2011

By JMM TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Length: 0:20 Mins

This review is for the Complete Series; this box set includes all five seasons of the show.

Each season has between four and six discs (20 DVDs in total), and the discs are stored inside five standard clear DVD-sized cases (one per season). The five cases are stored inside a very thick and sturdy box. Also included is a slipcover that wraps around the outer box.

Overall, this set is very high-quality box set that fans of the show will love. However, in terms of actual DVD content, there is nothing exclusive to the complete series set. So if you already own each season separately then there really is no reason to upgrade (unless you really like the outer box).