Product Details

• Actors: Rob Morrow, David Krumholtz
• Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Dubbed: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: May 30, 2006
• Run Time: 544 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (160 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000ERVJKE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,592 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Numb3rs - The Complete First Season" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"Everything is numbers," states Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz) in the pilot of Numb3rs, a satisfying (and educational!) new crime drama. Executive-produced by brothers/film directors Ridley Scott (Gladiator) and Tony Scott (Top Gun), it's like CSI with algorithms and probabilities instead of blood spatter and DNA swabs, which separates it from the slew of gruesome forensics-centered cop shows currently on the air. In this case, it's a brains-vs.-brawn matchup: a brilliant math professor (Krumholtz) consulting on crimes for an FBI agent (Rob Morrow) who happens to be his older brother. While Don, Morrow's character, busts the baddies with his team of agents, Charlie's scribbling formulas on chalkboards and statistically deducting a rapist's next target by comparing his pattern to a sprinkler system. (Yes, it sounds geekier than it is). As the show progresses, Charlie--not yet desensitized to people's fates relying on his findings--takes it harder and harder when his hypotheses don't always result in justice. It sounds very cerebral, but the cops and robbers concept plus brother-to-brother dynamics make it all go down easy. There's an unpretentious way the premise is executed, which ends up making math--get this--fun.

The DVD set features episode commentary by cast and crew, and a peek at the unaired pilot that starred many different actors (including Anna Deveare Smith and Michael Rooker) who were dropped when the episode was overhauled. Morrow, who wasn't even in the pilot, was cast later with Judd Hirsch as their father to replace the original (blonder) actors because, as producers admitted, casting Krumholtz as Charlie took the family in an "ethnically specific direction." The jokes also abound in a behind-the-scenes featurette, where Morrow defines the series as "Rain Man … plus an extra Jew." --Ellen A. Kim

Product Description

FBI Special Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) recruits his mathematical genius brother Charlie (David Krumholtz) to help the Bureau solve a wide range of challenging crimes in Los Angeles. The two brothers take on the most confounding criminal cases from a very distinctive perspective. Dr. Larry Fleinhardt (Peter MacNicol) is Charlie's friend and colleague who urges Charlie to focus more on his university studies than on FBI business. Don and Charlie's father, Alan Eppes (Judd Hirsch), is pleased to see his two sons working together, but fears their competitive nature will lead to trouble.

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It All Adds Up June 2, 2006

By Crazy Fox

Format:DVD

Yes, this is a great TV show--and I don't say this lightly. I'm not much of a TV watcher generally speaking, but "Numb3rs" has really impressed me as a quality show from the get-go. My spouse and I always make it a point to be home Friday night to catch the latest episode, so we were both pretty excited that season one has been released on DVD. Since we don't have cable, and surrounding high-rise buildings hinder antenna reception (ah, yes, life in the big city), it has been especially nice to see the episodes again, only this time in clear and crisp digital.

So what makes this show so good? Lots of things, I suppose. I particularly like the combination of Charlie and Don as a crime-fighting team, their skills and personalities complimenting each other. With Charlie you get the latest incarnation of the classic figure of the detective who uses reason and logic to solve the crime (going all the way back to Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin in "The Purloined Letter" not to mention Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes), and with Don you of course get the cop with a badge and a gun who saves the day (a mainstay of American TV for decades). That said, both actors flesh these archetypes out really well into individual characters, and their brotherly interaction (with a dash of sibling rivalry) creates just the right dynamic.

The math angle is handled extremely well, too.... My spouse the mathematician assures me that the higher math Charlie spouts is for real (even if it can't quite catch the bad guys quite so efficiently--cue temporary suspension of disbelief here), and yet for a humanities type like me who knows just enough math to unbalance the checkbook the show's writers and producers do a fine job of translating such mathematics into terms that make sense to the non-expert, often using visual asides to illustrate the principles involved in clever, creative ways. In general, too, the atmosphere and character of academia (with Charlie's physicist friend and all) is portrayed pretty accurately and authentically, which is extremely rare for TV shows...and movies, for that matter.

Finally, on the more basic level, there is just the good old-fashioned pure enjoyment of watching the good guys catch the bad guys.

To make a long story short (I know, too late), this is a fine TV show that is well worth having in one's collection of DVDs. Read more ›

52 of 55 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "We All Use Math Everyday" April 16, 2006

By Jeffrey P. Hoyle

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

"We all use math everyday" says Charlie Eppes, the lead character in the CBS mathematical drama NUMB3RS. Trying to convince an 8th grade math class about that became easier with this show on the air. I've enjoyed the show since day one. Crime drama that makes you think.

Teachers out there may not be aware that the show has a web site that offers lessons based on each episode. Upper level middle and high school students can be challenged by these activities created with help from Texas Instruments and The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. I am pleased to say some of the authors also participated in the Rutgers Leadership Program in Discrete Mathematics, a course I had the pleasure of taking way back in 1996. Check out the NUMB3RS website at

[...]

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A cop show with a difference March 13, 2006

By R. Parkins

Format:DVD

I don't watch a lot of TV, but I never miss this one. The scenarios are interesting and fun. I enjoy all of the characters, especially Professor Larry Fleinhardt. Unlike another reviewer whom I disagree with, his part is critical to filling out the story each week. Whoever thought of a show using mathematicians to work with the FBI should be applauded. In a time when mathematics is placed well behind sports in our schools it is great to have a show demonstrating to our children how important math is in our world and what practical applications there are in even the most unlikely places. I love the mathematical models and studies presented each week in a way that is understandable to those of us who are not mathematicians. It almost makes me wish that I were a mathematician. What a dreary sounding job, and yet, it really comes to life in this show.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars thoughtful,entertaining, challenging July 8, 2006

By Susan K. Gushue

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I don't watch much television because I don't find it very compelling. I started watching numbers because I'm a high school math teacher and they have great tie-ins to the classroom. I kept watching it because the characters are engaging, the stories are fascinating and the math is great! I really like the family dynamics, I like the interplay between the characters who see the world so differently. I like that each show leaves you thinking.

I'm 48 and I love it but so do my 20,17 and 14 year olds. It also doesn't have gratuitous sex or violence. It seems like old fashioned story telling. I would compare it to Monk in terms of good family viewing.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Terrible packaging June 9, 2006

By M. Danner

Format:DVD

This 4 disk set of wonderful shows comes in packaging designed to be seriously damaged. The hard, clear plastic case is brittle, and easily damaged in shipping. The disk case slides out of the overcase on the bottom, almost guaranteeing the case will hit the floor every time it's removed from a shelf. The disks overlap inside the case, rubbing against each other. And the disk case is not designed to close (only fold), so the disks fall out almost automatically.

The Amazon vendor I purchased from was very helpful in replacing my damaged disks and case -- but the packaging is a disgrace. Obviously CBS/Paramount took the cheapest option available.

Would recommend you purchase in-person, to avoid some of the damage which can occur in shipping.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Math Comparison March 19, 2006

By Book_Girl

Format:DVD

My father is a math teacher at the local University, so we all sit down on friday night to enjoy a cop show (my favorite kind) and my father will point out all the improbabilities. He actually knows the consultant for this show, who works at CalTech. The Numb3rs people actually get the math right most of the time. This is one of my all time favorite shows