Customer Reviews

The Paper Chase: Season One

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Fans of Classic TV shows should rejoice with the release of The Paper Chase on DVD.

Based on an unforgettable 1973 movie, the series focused on the lives of students struggling through law school at a prestigious university.

The series lasted only one season on CBS with 22 episodes, from 1978 to 1979, and this boxed set from Shout!Factory collects those episodes, which revolves around the students' first year of 'trial' and tribulatios.

PBS reran the series then the cable channel Showtime revived the series in 1983, where it lasted for three more seasons.

The series centered around student James T. Hart, a core cast of fellow-students, and one truly dominant force of nature in the form of a legendary law professor, Charles W. Kingsfield Jr., played beyond iconic perfection by the fabulous John Houseman.

Houseman had starred as Kingsfield in the movie version, then unbelievably reprised the role on the small screen to the delight of his fans. Sadly, Houseman died a year after the Showtime incarnation of the series ended.

Hart, played by James Stephens in the series, and by Timothy Bottoms in the movie, is a hard-working student from Minnesota whose background ill prepares him for the rough and tumble of law school.

Hart is utterly terrified and fascinated by Kingsfield, who challenges his students so vigorously that he has become a legend in his own time, and his classes are both loathed and cherished.

The professor, the undisputed authority on contract law, becomes an unwilling and unknowing mentor to Hart, who decides he will do anything he can to meet and exceed the expectations of the master legal-eagle. By the time the series ends on Showtime, Hart graduates.

While the series explores the relationship between Hart and his co-students who form a study group, it is Houseman's Kingsfield that inhabits every inch of the show, even when he is not on screen - a lasting testimony to the actor's skill.

Stephens and Bottoms have devoted fan bases who argue one actor's portrayal is the quintessential Hart. For me, Stephens brings a sensitivity and likeability that Bottoms does not. Of course, Stephens had many episodes to imbue the character with his style.

In the series, Hart's best friend, Franklin Ford III, is played by Tom Fitzsimmons, while actors Willis Bell, James Keane, and Betty Harford, (Kingsfield's secretary) round out the core cast in the first season, which aired on CBS.

The joy of the show was the great scripts which managed to combine humor, tension and incredible stress caused by constant, rigorous study, with friendship and deeper, philosophical issues brought up by the legal topics they were learning. In short, it was one of the best cancelled TV series EVER!

This boxed set includes the 22 episodes from the CBS season: The Paper Chase Pilot; Great Expectations; The Man Who Would Be King; A Day in the Life of...; Voices of Silence; Nancy; Da Da; The Seating Chart; Moot Court; Kingsfield's Daughter; The Sorcerer's Apprentice; Bell and Love; An Act of Desperation; Losing Streak; The Man in the Chair; A Matter of Honor; The Apprentice; Once More With Feeling; The Clay Footed Idol; The Tables Down at Ernie's; A Case of Détente; and Scavenger Hunt.

As others have written, "The Paper Chase" is one of the best, most compelling dramas ever made for television. A critical darling when it first aired, it was really too intelligent and did not find a large enough audience on CBS. However, it was so good that it just would not die quietly. After gaining more kudos in reruns on PBS, Showtime brought it back several years later luring back the key players from the first season to continue in "The Paper Chase - The Second Year" and "The Paper Chase - The Third Year." Showtime finished its run with a final six episodes called "The Paper Chase - The Graduation Year" which was actually a continuation of the third year. It maintained an incredible level of excellence from the first season through its Showtime years.

Based on the novel by John Jay Osborn Jr. The Paper Chase and the motion picture of the book The Paper Chase, the television series far surpasses the quality of its predecessors. It reminds me in some ways of "M*A*S*H," the series, which was far and away better than its original book and movie. Unfortunately, unlike "M*A*S*H," once Showtime finished "The Paper Chase" more than 20 years ago, it has been rarely seen since. It is so well written, so well acted, so compelling and dramatic, that it deserves a chance to find a new audience on DVD.

If you watched it in its day and liked it, please purchase a copy and show the distributor (Shout Factory) that there is a market for the rest of the series. Even if you did not see it when it first aired, but you appreciate intelligent, thought-provoking drama, give it a try and spread the word. You don't have to be a lawyer or law student to identify with the characters and the daily events in which they find themselves. It's a story and television series for all of us.

This has to be one of the most eagerly anticipated debuts to DVD set for those who were devotees of the 1978 CBS-TV show, "The Paper Chase". I have one show that I taped on VHS back in 1979, which I had been watching, hoping and praying for the DVD set to be released. And now it has!! This is simply television drama at its best, the ensemble, headed by the great John Houseman,reprising the character of the fascinatingly brilliant curmudgeon Kingsfield, who both teaches and torments his students to become the best that they can be, is a tour de force acting triumph. His Academy Award was well deserved. His presence in the series gives a bit more humor and interest, building the character as the episodes progress, than that of the motion picture. James Stephens, in my opinion, is the quintessential Hart, giving more sensitivity and naivete than the portrayal by Bottoms, with a bit more of a moral edge. The rest of the students in the study group are also much more effective and likeable than those in the motion picture. I felt the motion picture study group was very one dimensional, we only saw arrogant Harvard kids. But the television series study group is a bit more diverse, allowed to develop into interesting personalities we grew to love, with lots of humor and pathos, especially the character of the luckless Willis Bell --remember "Liberty" Bell?. One of the best episodes in this set is "The Seating Chart" which illustrates the understated and comedic talent of James Keane, who played Bell. All of the actors are excellent and blend well as an ensemble. I can't wait to purchase this set, it is well worth the money. Not hard to understand why this program was voted Outstanding New Series. Of course one knew that it would be cancelled by the network, it was way before its time. Now, it can be appreciated and revered by a whole new set of fans. Kingsfield would be pleased INDEED.

I've long been a big fan of the Paper Chase movie, which I saw shortly after receiving my own law school acceptance letter during my senior year of college. Attending Harvard Law after seeing that movie was a "real trip." But when I moved to NYC after law school and began working, I didn't really have time to watch network TV series, so I didn't see the TV follow-up. Now I'm having a grand time watching the first season of The Paper Chase, from the late 1970s. John Jay Osborne, the author of the novel on which the movie was based, wrote some of the TV scripts and was technical consultant for the series, so the classroom scenes present a reasonably accurate picture of contract law (a subject I've been teaching as a law professor for the past twenty years). Some of the plots are silly, of course, and some of the events would not happen during the first year of law school. The production is done more cheaply than the movie, so the class and classroom is smaller - but having an entire season to flesh out the character gives John Houseman much more to play with as Professor Kingsfield, and James Stephens makes an acceptable leading man as "Hart." The supporting players are fine as well, although it does seem strange that new students are constantly popping up in this class as the guest-star of the week. One puts reality aside a bit for a network TV series. But there are some really good insights into the law student experience, and I've found myself thinking that some of my own 1L's could profit by watching certain episodes. Vastly entertaining.

Television has become a time machine for me like visiting an old friend and you're able to go back to a time and place. The problem with nostalgia is that maybe the friend isn't as you remember them or you discover it was only the time and place that made you friends. The Paper Chase TV series came along at a formative time of my life and I remember it with fond memories.

While the movie The Paper Chase was more of a 60's parable on the absurdities of the chase after the ephemeral materialistic goals of society, the series is much more about the human stories behind the students, behind the discipline of studying the law, a much more late 70's view point or even a new century point of view.

The series follows James Hart, an idealistic student of the law and his study group through the rigors of an unnamed but prestigious east coast law school, where Hart's nemesis is contracts law Professor Kingsfield. The stories examine aspects of life through the prism of contracts law. The series not only presented dramas but all the elements of life love stories such as when Hart falls in love with Logan. There are humorous episodes such as when Bell decides that Kingsfield is picking on him because of a goofy picture on the seating chart and enlists Hart to help him change the picture and they end up trapped for a weekend in Kingsfield's closet. There's a look at what it's like to be a law student, such as the moot court episode, and issue oriented episodes that present both sides of the issue.

The casting is superb, John Houseman seems to have been born to play Kingsfield, the dignified, unbending law Professor. It's hard to imagine that Houseman had once been a firebrand actor and colleague of Orson Welles. James Stephens perfectly embodies the idealistic eagerness of Hart, Tom Fitzsimmons as Ford, the legacy student with a family tradition to uphold, Robert Ginty (who would later go on to the TV series Baa Baa Black Sheep) as Hart's friend, James Keane as Bell the goofy underdog who everybody underestimates. Keane would later be seen in a lot of movies in the 80's usually as a cop. Francine Tacker as Elizabeth Logan feminist student and occasional love interest to Hart, and Jonathon Segal as Brooks the married student who is on the verge of flunking out and unfortunately Segal's character mirrors the character's place in the show a little too closely and is given short shrift in the series except for the episode, An Act of Desperation. And like a lot of TV series you can find actors in bit parts who go on to bigger things, such as Marilou Henner as a waitress in the pilot episode in a role that probably would have been bigger in the series had she not gone to make Grease, Kim Cattrall shows up pre-Porky's and, of course, Sex In The City.

There aren't any bonus features which was initially a little disappointing but as I watched the episodes the overall quality of the show more than makes up for a making of featurette.

The Paper Chase has always been a quality show produced by James L Brooks and a few of the episodes written by the novel's author John Jay Osborn Jr, it received the fate of a lot of quality shows that have been on TV, cancellation. The show was revived by PBS and future seasons found their way on to the air. So whether you're looking to rediscover an old friend, or make a new one, the first season of The Paper Chase is a good start.

Many thanks and cheers to Shout Factory for a long-overdue release of this fantastic series! I've loved "The Paper Chase" since I first saw the series as a teenager in the late `70s and unlike most shows from that era, it holds up remarkably well today. This is due primarily to strong ensemble acting, intelligent writing (for the most part), and of course John Houseman's signature role as tyrannical law professor Charles W. Kingsfield.
Even if you're discovering the series for the first time on this DVD set, it's easy to see why it has remained so highly regarded for the last 30 years. It was written and developed by James Bridges (director of the original film) and John Jay Osborn Jr. (author of the original novel), so it retains the tone of the movie. James Stephens as Minnesotan farm boy James Hart is a much more focused and empathetic character than the one played by Timothy Bottoms in the original film. He's initially naïve, but ingenious enough to overcome his first stumbling encounters with his idol Kingsfield in a way that earns the professor's respect and watchful eye for the rest of the year.

The other four key members of Hart's study group are well cast as very different personalities that click strongly as a team. The best episodes of the season are those that feature all five working as a team, but any combination of the characters is equally well played: Tom Fitzsimmons as privileged Franklin Ford III, who has to live up to the reputation of generations of lawyers in his family; James Keane as Willis Bell, who looks like the stereotypical "lovable lug/mascot" but who is very sharp and dedicated; Robert Ginty as Tom Anderson, the laid-back California type who's sometimes his own worst enemy; and Francine Tacker as Elizabeth Logan, the passionate and outspoken radical. You can actually get a pretty good snapshot of their characters in the opening credits montage. The five make a strong group that is respected by their class and admired by Kingsfield.

For the first half of the season, the last member of the study group is Jonathan Segal as Jonathan Brooks, a married student who has to struggle much harder than the others to keep up with Kingsfield. Brooks is a much weaker character overall, but his final episode where he crashes and burns ("An Act of Desperation") is one of the best of the season. Brooks' wife Asheley, though in the opening credits for the first 13 episodes, only appears in 2 or 3 episodes.

Because the main five student characters are so strong, the episodes that center on them are the best. The season stumbles when the focus shifts to the "guest law student of the week," whose conflict usually reflects some hot-button issue or social concern (the student whose studies are affecting his marriage; the mob boss' daughter (!) who falls for Hart; the handicapped student; the minority student who must fight to prove herself, etc.) And of course, we never again see these "guest students" before or after their showcase episodes, when logically we should be seeing them in the background during every classroom scene. Thankfully there are only a handful of these episodes; I guess the writers had to fill 22 episodes somehow. When the show returned for The Second Year and The Third Year on Showtime, there was far more emphasis on law school life and the main characters.

For the Showtime episodes, only Stevens, Fitzsimmons and Keane return from the student roster. It's never explained what happened to the characters of Anderson and Logan (though Anderson is name-checked in the series finale, "Graduation"), creating a huge unaddressed question in the series as a whole. Neither character would have just left after one year. In that sense, this First Season is the best of the three because even with a fair share of lesser quality episodes, it still has the chemistry of the entire study group.

The writers also deftly manage to humanize Kingsfield without weakening the character - letting us occasionally see the "man behind the curtain" that never takes anything away from the complete authority with which he rules the students and the entire university. This is a testament to Houseman, who was always concerned about maintaining the integrity of the character.

This is evident in the season's big clunker episode, "A Case of Détente." Here, Hart falls for a visiting Russian gymnast (Huh?) and nearly causes an international incident. Houseman reportedly hated this script so much he refused to appear in it, so they had to bring in Pernell Roberts (a few months prior to "Trapper John, M.D.") as a visiting professor. Roberts is good, but the episode is terrible!

Many obvious changes were made after the pilot episode, all for the better. In the pilot, the students are too button-down; Anderson and Bell are way too intense; and Logan isn't there - the female character, played by a different actress, is the prim O'Connor. Logan is a much stronger character. Hart doesn't work in Ernie's Tavern yet, but in a more stereotypical pizza parlor (with a pre-"Taxi" Marilu Henner as a waitress). The tavern has more character, and is more appropriate for the Harvard-esque setting of the series, so that's a good change too.

The season's half-dozen best episodes are:

Scavenger Hunt - The class is assigned a make-or-break final exercise that pits all the study groups against each other.

The Clay-Footed Idol - While researching an old case, Hart's group finds indications that a young Kingsfield might have been paid off to throw the case.

Moot Court - Bell and an overly disciplined "guest student of the week" face Hart and Logan in the annual Moot Court competition.

The Seating Chart - Bell and Hart are accidentally locked in Kingsfield's office closet over a long weekend when Bell tries to replace his goofy picture on the seating chart.

An Act of Desperation - A desperate Jonathan buys the question for Kingsfield's upcoming midterm, putting the rest of the unwitting study group in the position of having cheated too.

The Tables Down at Ernie's - Hart is pitted against Kingsfield when the study group tries to prevent the demolition of Ernie's Tavern.

I almost decided to go to law school just because of this series. Back then, and even more so today, it was great to have a TV series that focused on people devoted to the pursuit of excellence in ANYTHING, without cynicism or selfish motivations...and one that showed how amazing it would be to have someone like Kingsfield in your life who epitomizes everything you admire and want to strive for.

Please go out and buy this great series, whether for nostalgia's sake or even if you've never seen it. If you like it, e-mail Shout Factory and let them know, so they can see that there's enough support to release the rest of the series.

I remember as a naive 13 year old New Zealand boy from a small town being totally captivated by this programme, in fact it would be the first series I was obsessed by. Not only did I find it entertaining but totally educational. I was even obsessed with the theme song (and can't wait to hear it again after all these years)! It was also my first education into understanding the American public and their lack of appreciation for quality TV (that sadly continues to this day). Here's to this release being popular enough for us to enjoy the further episodes in the near future.

This was a show that I saw by accident back in the 1970's on a small 12" b&w television with a coat hangar antenna. For a drama to capture the interest of a junior high student must be a testament to the quality of the series.

The most compelling element in the series is the same as that of the movie, namely John Houseman's Professor Charles W. Kingsfield. It is this character that provides the solidity to the series by towering over all the other actors and providing a focal point.

The stories are well-written and interesting and do not disappoint. Anyone who enjoys a good dramatic series will rapidly become engaged with the series. The only disappointment is that it is one season one that is being released, but time will tell whether the other seasons will follow suit and make their way to DVD.

Kudos to Shout Factory for perhaps taking a small gamble with a lesser-known but still high quality television series.

The Paper Chase: Season One

Finally, our wait is over!! I enjoyed this show when it was on originally and am glad to see that somebody has had the good sense to release it on DVD. I hope that everyone will support this one so that the distributors will be encouraged to release all the episodes, even those from Showtime. All of the characters and the interactions with Professor Kingsfield are worth every moment of your time spent watching. Hooray for those who appreciate the television shows of the past! Hooray for Professor Kingsfield! I can't wait to see him again!!!!

The Paper Chase ran for 3.5 seasons, one on CBS, and 2.5 (the final season being a short one) on the then-young cable network Showtime. This is the inaugural season from CBS. When Showtime picked it up, they advertised it as the show that was "too good for commercial television", and they were right.

This was the era when cheesy sitcoms dominated the airwaves. Dramas were cop shows like Starsky and Hutch and Columbo, "detective" series Charlie's Angels, schmaltzy family series like The Waltons, general idiocy like The Love Boat, and the beginning of the prime-time soap era with Dallas. Some of those had their merits, but the Paper Chase was an oasis in television's "vast wasteland".

The first season is the story of five first year law students at an unnamed law school that was pretty clearly supposed to be Hah-vahd... errrr.... Harvard Law, focusing on the idealistic James Hart, played by James Stephens.

The real star of the show, though, was John Houseman, absolutely brilliant as the intimidating contracts professor, and general deity of The Law (capitalization intentional -- I am certain you can hear the capitals when he says it) Charles W. Kingsfield.

The stories are all compelling, the characters well-written and likable. Even Kingsfield is given a human side, albeit one he rarely if ever displays to his students.

Now, there is a very definite "seventies" feel to the whole thing. The clothing and hairstyles obviously are from that era. A number of the episodes have "very special episode" written all over them, but even then, they're well done.

Since this was from the era when the idea of storylines spanning multiple episodes was pretty much unknown, there's a lack of continuity that will seem a little odd to fans of modern television. For instance, one character develops a gambling problem in one episode. Forty five or so minutes later, its resolved. It gets brief mentions in one or two later episodes, but isn't addressed further. A modern series would probably take several episodes to cover that -- he'd take up playing poker in one episode, wind a few hands in another, start losing later, get into debt even later, etc.

While Shout Factory deserves enormous kudos for releasing such a fine series on DVD, the reproduction of it is weak. They certainly don't have the sharpness expected from a DVD (especially not if you've been spoiled by Blu-Ray). I realize that the masters may not have been in the best of shape, but don't expect this to look as stunning as your Blu-Ray copies of Lost, for instance.

And then there's the ungodly painful Seals and Croft theme song that gives Seventies light rock a (very very) bad name, but that's what fast forward buttons were invented for. (Thankfully, Showtime ditched that for their episodes, replacing with a classical piece -- Bach, I think.)