Customer Reviews

Ellen - The Complete Season One

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ellen: The Complete Season One might as well be considered completely seperate from the rest of the series. When the first season originally aired, it was titled 'These Friends of Mine' and was much more Seinfeldish than it grew to be by the second, and especially third seasons. In the first season, Ellen has not come out of the closet yet (that is still 3 seasons away). It is kind of weird seeing her dating men, as you can totally see there is no chemistry there at all. Also, later series regulars Joely Fisher and Jeremy Piven have not yet joined the cast. There are two other female friends featured here that are inexplicably gone by the end of these 13 episodes and never return. Joely Fisher is then first introduced in the first episode of Season 2 with no explanation as well.

With that being said, even though there are major differences between this first season and the rest of the series, it is still a great, funny show. Ellen truly is a comedic genius and she works well with this first season cast (though I must say she has much better chemistry with the later casts). Amazon Marketplace has this set for sale pretty cheap; it's definitely worth a look, whether you are a current Ellen fan, or new to the series. The DVDs do not have many special features; there is a commentary or two (with Ellen herself conspicuously absent) and some biographies and that's about it. But you do get 13 pretty darn funny episodes! Highly recommended!

I absolutely love Ellen Degeneres, I think she is so funny and seems so nice and this complete first season of her hit show "ellen" is very funny. Seeing that I was too little to even remmember when "ellen" was on, it is great to see a show that was popular when I was younger on DVD and get to remember what the time was like back then. I only gave this show 4 out 5 because it doesn't really seem like it sticks true to Ellen Degeneres's funny side, but that all changes in the Second season of "ellen" when Ellen Degeneres seems to help write more of her own lines.

I was very disappointed in this DVD. I love Ellen and her sense of humor, but was not able to enjoy it since I am Deaf and this DVD has NO CAPTIONS or Sub-Titles. A waste of my money!

I'm not one for network TV, preferring cable channels or my DVD collection. Ellen was one of the few differences though. This show is so well written and funny, fresh and original, I just love it.
I don't know if the reruns are chopped up, but if you enjoyed the show, but the set and have them. You'll watch them over and over.
The DVDs are great, but I wish they'd had more extras other than some commentaries. Outtakes would have been awesome

It is indisputable that “Ellen” is one of the best, funniest, most important US-sitcoms ever, which makes the policies of releasing it on DVD completely incomprehensible.

First of all it took years for the first two seasons to be released at all (which of course is/was the case with other important sitcoms as well and might have legal reasons, I don’t know).

Then the first two seasons are released in the USA and technically they are a real disappointment: bad picture quality, obviously no re-mastering at all, plain, boringly designed menus, one language track only, no subtitles, almost no additional materiel at all. To say the truth this DVD-set is hardly any better than my old tapes of the episodes from German television, these even having the advantage of both the English and the German language track. All this does no justice at all to this groundbreaking show.

Why is one of the best sitcoms ever being treated so unlovingly? Why hasn’t it been released in Europe yet? Why has there been more than half a year since the release of the second season without any hint of the third or fourth or fifth...??? I just don’t get it!

Why can’t Ellen get the same treatment on DVD as e.g. Seinfeld, the DVD releases of which are superb. Important as Seinfeld might be, I don’t think that it is any funnier, wittier, cleverer or more important for US cultural history than Ellen, in my opinion it often even plays in a much lower league, lacking the spontaneity and wit of Ellen DeGeneres, who is not only a much better actor than Jerry Seinfeld (concerning facial expressions and body language alone Seinfeld seems to be made of wood), but also the better, more sophisticated comedian (just compare “SeinLanguage” to “My Point... And I Do Have One” to see what I mean).

I would just like to stand up and say: Please, release the other seasons of Ellen in a quicker pace, and release them in a quality the sitcom and its fans deserve!

The first series of Ellen is nothing like the others.

This series features different characters. It is also not called Ellen it is called "These Friends of Mine".

Truth be told the first season was a below average show. Without many likeable characters.

If you are like me and love Ellen you will buy this boxset just so you can own the complete collection when the other series are released on DVD.

Spence, Audrey, Paige and Joe are not in this series. Truth be told this is completely different from the other series including the humor.

The only similarity is Ellen Degeneres.

I enjoy this show. The adorable Adam and Page are what make this show so good, and Jeremy Piven does not comeonto the show untill later.. Maybe season two is better, as this is when these characters arrive with the actors we know. .Page is played best by Joely Fischer.. the Desperate Housewives star. .Ari Gross is unreplaceable.. Ellen is also not replaceable, and what a powerful and wonderful person. The shenanigans of these actors make this a classic. No hardcore issues at this point with Lesbianism and whatnot. Easy to watch with your mom. Ellen will always be a genius and the beloved "Lucy" of "I love Lucy" is evoked for inspiration for this series. Ellen will always cheer me up, Vanes

I'm a huge fan of Ellen, but I had never seen any of the sitcom until I bought this DVD. It was well worth it. I love Ellen's sense of humor--it's extremely positive. I also like how she's still true to her sexuality in this season, even though she's playing a straight woman. With all of her potential boyfriends, then something goes wrong. And, again, I really like how positive her sense of humor is. Ellen makes people happy.

Ellen DeGeneres is my hero. I love her in anything she does: movies, stand-up, talk shows, TV series. She is truly spectacular. I'm glad her series is finally being released on TV. It took long enough. Now, my hope is that they don't wait five years to release the third and fourth seasons of Ellen. Keep 'em coming, please!!

I am so happy that season three of Ellen was released to buy on DVD!! I love this show and I hope that the last two seasons are on their way to be released as well!! I want the entire collection, I am a HUGE Ellen fan, she's awesome, one of the funniest people around!! Thanks for providing these DVDs and please keep us informed on the next couple seasons.

RC