Product Details

• Actors: Christopher Farmer
• Directors: Gregory Dark
• Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 4
• Studio: HBO Video / Sunset Home Entertainment (SHE)
• VHS Release Date: March 19, 2002
• Run Time: 480 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (138 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005Y74V
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #124,967 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OZ--The Heat Is Just Getting Started!, March 9, 2003

By 

James McDonald (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oz: The Complete First Season (DVD)

OZ--The Prison Drama that airs on HBO--Home Box Office. If you have never seen OZ, THIS IS FOR ADULTS ONLY. The episodes contain male full frontal nudity, sexual situations, violence and mature themes. The acting is incredible. The situations,the dialogue and the sets are realistic. This drama is gritty. A plus to the cast is Academy Award Winner Rita Moreno. If these episodes in the Season One collection don't get your heart startled. It's only the beginning. Get involved in the storyline. Watch every episode in proper order. And after you are finished with all eight episodes of Season One. Buy Season Two and get ready for a more mature hard-hitting season. And remember, ADULTS ONLY!

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best show on HBO, September 11, 2004

By 

N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oz: The Complete First Season (DVD)

From Homicide: Life on the Street creator Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson, Oz is one of the most compulsively violent and addicting shows to hit HBO. While the Sopranos garnered most of the attention from HBO viewers, the primal nature and sheer unpredictability of Oz made the series the definition of must see TV. Taking place in the Oswald Correctional Facility (known to the inmates as Oz) these eight episodes revolve around Emerald City: a cellblock overseen by prison reform advocate Tim McManus (Terry Kinney) and the warden Leo Glynn (Ernie Hudson) who is desperately trying to keep the peace among the inmates as the governor bans privlages including smoking and conjugal visits. We are introduced to a cast of compelling characters whom be both pity and despise, including meek lawyer Tobias Beecher (Lee Tergesen) whose transformation from frightened new convict to drug raddled madman must be seen to be believed, white supremicist leader Vern Schillinger (J.K. Simmons), backstabbing and double dealing Ryan O'Reilly (Dean Winters), the cocky and self loathing Miguel Alvarez (Kirk Acevedo), wheelchair bound narrator Augustus Hill (Harold Perrineau), and Muslim activist Kareem Said (Eamonn Walker) whose extreme policy of non-violence explodes in the season ending riot that sets the stage for season two. The rest of the cast, including Rita Moreno, the Sopranos' Edie Falco, and John Seda (even though he only appears in the first episode) does brilliant work, all of whom help make Oz unforgettable. If you've never seen Oz, you should definitely check it out and see for yourself one of the best and underrated shows on HBO and maybe even TV history, but do be warned, this series is not for the squeamish.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first season, the best season, February 18, 2002

By 

Charlotte Vale-Allen (CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oz: The Complete First Season (DVD)

Oz is decidedly not for the faint of heart. That said, the first (and best) season's episodes were beautifully constructed, exceptionally well-written, and wonderfully cast. The inside/outside viewpoints offered by the wheelchair-bound narrator provide not only the backgrounds of the inmates but also the philosophical point of each episode. There is much graphic violence, moments of such painful truth (Tergesen in paricular turns in an award-winning performance throughout) and such horror, that one is utterly drained by the emotional turbulence. Next to Six Feet Under, HBO's other brave and clever award-winning show, Oz is one of the best examples of what television can be when the targeted audience is more than eight years old. Most highly recommended.