Product Details

• Actors: Amy Brenneman, Tyne Daly
• Format: NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000TGWR7E

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Judging Amy, A Rare Television Jewell., December 30, 2007

By 

Stargazer (St.Kilda, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Judging Amy - The Complete First Season (DVD)

Judging Amy caught my eye all those years ago originally because of the presence of the great Tyne Daly, an actor with an awesome range more than capable of keeping us entranced week after week, as was proved in Cagney and Lacey, numerous films, and now of course as the social worker, and
widowed mother of three grown up off spring, one of whom is Amy,(played so realistically by Amy Brenneman)a childrens court judge and a chip off the old block.
Amy is a divorced mother with a daughter Lauren. She and Lauren move back into the the family home where she once again has to learn to negotiate with her bossy, self opinionated mother, the magnificent Maxine (Tyne Daly),her gentle younger brother Vincent (Dan Futterman) and reconnect with older brother Peter(Marcus Giamatti)who runs the family business,an insurance agency originally belonging to their late father, and his dippy high strung wife Gillian (Jessica Tuck).
The interesting saga about Amy and Maxine, in particular, is that they are both deeply caring human beings, whose working lives are dedicated to making the lives of others (mostly children in both cases) a more hopeful and positive experience than it otherwise would have been. And both are very good at what they do. Maxine is regarded with some awe by her co-workers in the Dept of Corrections, and Amy gradually developes into a fine Children's Court Judge.
Yet it is in their private lives that overall turmoil threatens to unravel them, because despite coming from a close-knit family environment all three of Maxine's children find that negotiating long term successful partnerships seems to be beyond them.
Judging Amy doesn't allow itself to become melodramatic, and there is never a likelihood of the viewer over dosing on sacharine. The scripts are strong, the acting first rate, the storyline never feels it's losing it's edge (an achievement of no mean feat over six series) and flawed though the characters may be, this only adds to the sense of reality and and understanding we feel as we share in their tials and tribulations.
Amy Brenneman deserves full marks for developing an idea she had to write a series about her mother,then produce and star in it.
The casting of Tyne Daly, was a crucial part of Judging Amy's success as a series, and the performances of Richard T Jones as Bruce Van Exel, Tim Omundson as Sean (Maxine's boss) and Jillian Armenante as Amy's court clerk Donna,were consistently outstanding.
Now bring on the DVD Boxed Set.

61 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Please Release The DVDs Already!, January 17, 2008

By 

Morgan Leigh (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Judging Amy - The Complete First Season (DVD)

Rather than reading a series of mostly "rave" reviews, I would rather that the DVDs of this outstanding television drama be released. It simply was one of the best ... cast, performances, writing, courageous subject matter. Just release these! This series is a must for collectors and a not-to-be-missed performance by Tyne Daly.

(I foolishly bought DVDs of Judging Amy, out of desperation, from Canada...DO NOT DO THIS! They were poor quality and had a haze of red on all episodes AND it was expensive. When I tried to return them for poor quality no one answered the phones or responded to emails. I believe this is the "region two" listed here on Amazon.)

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Losing the series was like losing a family., December 5, 2007

By 

Bess Marvin - See all my reviews

This review is from: Judging Amy - The Complete First Season (DVD)

Daniel Futterman, Jillian Armenante and Richard Krenna also added to the diversity of personalities in this cast. Oh, and Richard Jones as Bruce...tv debut of Grey's Anatomy star, Sandra OH, and oh so many others. A socially sensitive show, looking at the juvenile court and foster care system from two viewpoints, Amy's hard edged one, and her mother Maxine's tender lioness one. And Maxine's supervisor, Shawn...can't remember his name. But I mourned the loss of each of their characters.

It was a beautiful run. Lots of failed romances, depression and miscommunication, but always a heart in this show. I long to get it on DVD...truly...ache for it.