Customer Reviews

Sex and the City - The Complete First Four Seasons

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First off, let me say I am a hardcore Sex and the City fan. If there was a game show based on the series, I would win! However, the DVD set has several flaws and lack extras.

The menus are cumbersome and there is no Play All feature. Each episode is only 30 minutes. If I am going to sit down and watch several episodes or even the entire season all at once, I don't want to keep scambling with the remote every 30 minutes when an episode is over.
In addition, when you select an episode and press play, another menu pops up that has a synapsis of the the episode you're trying to watch. You have to press Play (or Enter)again in order to watch the episode. This is extremely annoying after a while because most people that buy these dvds are hardcore fans that already knows what the episode is about based on the title alone. And if you don't, after a while you will, and you will get annoyed that this menu opens up when you already know what the episode is about, and you want to see the show already--but you have to press Play once again to get the show started!!!

In addition, the opening credits of the show is not constructed in a way that it can easily be skipped over from the show so if you want to by pass the opening, don't press forward on you remote, you will just go to the main menu screen and then have to go throuh the annoying menu dance that I was complaining about before.

There is a lack of extras. I have seen so many documentaries and interviews about the show, but you will not find them on these dvds. I can't believe they didn't take the time out to put these extra features on the dvds.

Finally, the covers for the dvd box set series are so flimsy. I used to carry season one in my book bag because I have a portable dvd player, and the the covers tore off by the creases that folds the dvd like a form that has a dotted section on it that allows you to easily tear it apart...Urgh!!!
I have carried several dvds with me, and the boxes are much more durable. It reminds me of Ikea furniture, it looks good, but don't expect it to last.
Although the DVDs are a dissapointment, the show is great and I do like seeing the clarity of the show on dvd--mostly season 3 and 4; season 1 and 2 look slightly grainy (thats another thing).

I also love the writer's commentary on some of the episodes becuase you get the behind the scenes look on what motivated the characters and what the scenes were trying to portray.

I love Sex and the City but they need to add a Play All feature, get rid of some of the menus and put them in the special features section (or even give them a seperate selection such as "episode synapsis"), and make the boxes more durable.
Hopefully by the time Season 5 and 6 come out, the DVD producers would have read this review, made the correction, and get on the ball.

If you are a sex and the city fan, you cannot help but love the fourth season as much as the first three.
Amazingly you can see the difference and the direction this show is taking if you start watching in from Season 1.
Although I must note that when the show first started out it was more of a comedy and now it is more of a drama.
The show in the beginning made me laugh with all it's sexual slurs and comments, and now it makes you misty thinking about their loves and lives and it seems it almost always ends on a sad note, as these girls move on and explore love and loss and breakup and heartaches, and you can't help but go through the emotional trauma along with them.
They say that the 4 characters - Carrie Brandshaw, Charlotte York, Miranda Hobbs, Samantha Jones are supposed to represent all women out there, and sure enough you can see a little bit of yourself in one of the 4 girls.
As a HUGE fan of Carrie and Mr. Big, I love their relationship and the course of events that happen to them in this season.
Season 3 really made Chris Noth - AKA Mr. Big - seem more unlikable to viewers, and he comes back this season as his regular, sauve, handsome, charming self.

One feature I love about the DVD's featured in 3rd and 4th season is the view with Comentary portion. You might want to view all the episodes and then go back to the episodes with Comentary and view those because the writers talk over the show, but it's amazing how much more you can learn about the show and how much attention and detail is put into every single second of this show that you won't even notice half the time unless it is pointed out to you.

A little bit about the characters:

*CARRIE BRADSHAW - It was said that Carrie was supposed to be the forever single girl, and I wish I didn't know that about here because we went through the emotional rollercoaster of her and Mr. Big hoping somehow they would make things work and now her and Aiden, aka the perfect guy, and all along almost knowing that this one will work. But sure enough, she is meant to be single forever. Carrie and Aiden are amazing together, you watch them and it's like you're right there in their living room or in the diner with them, they have an amazing connection together and somehow they just seem to be talking to eachother and not really reading any lines. Carrie goes through another heartache and we wonder how she can do it, her strength is an example to women. A lot of this season is really based on her, and she takes us through a lot of emotions, but as always, it's wonderful!

*CHARLOTTE YORK - After her marriage to Tray McDougal, she really develops more and more of a character and I think she learns a lot about herself. This season is all based on her marriage and struggles with Tray as they somehow try to make things work. But one wonders if they can ever be happy with the many problems that they face, it seems as they tumble over one hurdle another one is just right there again. Again with this relationship as Charlotte and Tray pass hurdle after hurdle, we are sitting there cheering them on, hoping this too will work. Although Charlotte is not meant to be single forever and proves it with her marriage - in sheer haste and desperation - we wonder if she will ever find someone again.

*MIRANDA HOBBS - Another character which learns more and more about herself and realizes she can work and have a personal and life too. With Miranda's pregnancy, she comes into the loop more as well, although her case is not as emotional as Carrie's and Charlotte's, its a definate nice twist to her endless dating. Another relationshion that I think everyone rooted for was that of Miranda and Steve's. After Aiden, Steve seems to be the next perfect guy, that although he has his problems, how he acts with Miranda and treats her is most desirable to almost any women, and the added twist is their baby and trying to maintain a life of seperate-togetherness.

*SAMANTHA JONES - As Miranda put it in one episode 'I think we have to skate home because Hell just froze over' which is how we all felt when Samantha falls in love. We know on many levels that he will be all wrong for her from little things he does and from how careful Samantha is as she predicts the same thing, but against all odds, she finally gives in. Her relationship with Richard is another refreshing twist to her endless dates and sexual 'excursions'. As a viewer, I was getting a little tired of her role in sleeping with every man there is, although I think this was the perfect time to take her into mangomy as the first three seasons the show really explored almost every sexual issue out there by pinning them on the guys she dated. They do a wonderful job in this transition.

If you have seen the episodes on HBO like I have and wonder why bother buying the DVD, trust me if you are a great fan, you will find yourself watching these episodes over and over again.
It's an addicting show which never goes out of style and which true fans can never get tired of!
I personally cannot wait until the 5th season DVD gets released, to all those who are anxious like myself, don't forget to sign up on Amazon.com for the release of season five, if you search season 5 on amazon.com they will tell you that to enter your email address and they will send all the email addresses submitted to the producers to show the demand for the release of the 5th season.

DON'T MISS SEASON SIX ON HBO ONE JUNE 22/2003!

When I first encountered my first episode of SATC I never knew that before my eyes was a obession. A obession with wanting to watch four women with four totally different lives, and four totally different personalities come together and create a life lession in each episode that every single one of us can relate too, rater it be Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, or Samantha or all four of them. Each one of these lady brings something that we all either went through or know someone that went through it and that's a rear thing to find in television now. That's why I recommend the Sex and the City DVD collection for all women and MEN because even men can relate too some of the things that these four ladies go through and if not them you can relate to the men in the show who may not have the main roles but they get their roles across. If you buy just one Sex and the City season on DVD I guarantee you'll be buying all seasons afterward like myself.

This is easily the best show on TV and well worth the investment!

HBO's Sex and the City shoes, oops, I mean SHOWS, just how incredible television can be. These characters are flawed, but we find them endearing just the same. The series features four sexy, sassy Manhattan women with wardrobes, jobs, and boyfriends almost any woman would envy. Samantha's the ultra-libidoed PR executive, Charlotte is a romantic at heart, Miranda is the woman in a man's world, and Carrie is the tortured artist with the shoes to match. The four of them make quite an impressive comedic ensemble.

What makes this DVD collection a must is that you can pour yourself a glass of wine each evening for weeks and watch these over and over again. You get the full picture of why these characters behave the way they do. It's like reading an epic novel!

I recommend this series for anyone looking for television with a bite. Never before has a series hooked me the way Sex and the City has, and I look forward to the upcoming season.

This is a great series and it's wonderful that the show is available on DVD. However, the packaging of these DVD sets is horrible. I don't understand why HBO came up with great packaging for "The Sopranos" and "Six feet Under" and stuck "Sex and the City" fans with this plastic garbage. The DVD covers are made out of paper-thin plastic. I actually ripped the cover on my Season 1 DVD set just by opening the package for the first time. Enjoy watching Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda whenever you want to, but treat these DVDs like glass because they are INCREDIBLY fragile!

I love sex in the city. Almost every episode I think is she talking about my life? LOL
You all need to get sex in the city.My husband calls it woman's porn! LOL
You will enjoy it and wont be disappointed.

The show itself is great, I imagine most people buying the collection are already fans of the show. The setup is terrible!!! Buyer beware! You can't play the entire DVD straight through, and you end up having to press play a few times to get each episode going. Also, there's no title or synopsis on the cover, so if you're looking for a particular episode, you either have to put each DVD in, or have a great memory. Very disappointing!!!!

I really, really, really love this show. IT is so smart and funny, poignantly realistic, yet altogether a fairytale drama that manages to actually make me laugh, a rare feat for TV these days with out resorting to low-brow humor. I HIGHLY reccommend these dvds to anyone, guy or girl, interested in any sort of genre. Everyone that I've gotten to watch an episode of has fallen in love with the show, and genuinely laughs or thinks about what each episode has to offer.

Quicky recap of the characters and plot: 4 30-something friends deal with being singles in New York. Carrie Bradshaw is the principle character, who writes a high profile Sex Column in the New York Star. Known for her love of shoes and questioning of what makes a relationship work or fail. Miranda Hobbes is the slightly bitter, pessimistic, sarcastic, yet clever and sharp-witted lawyer of the bunch, who often ends up with men that have too-weird quirks for her clean-cut life. Charlotte York is the innocent dreamer who has grown up with a cookie cutter dream of marriage and kids. An art gallery owner, she usually ends up getting hurt looking for that perfect man. Samantha Jones is the sassy, slightly older Public Relations sex goddess, who loves to use men and has done just about everything to do with sex, "I'm try-sexual, as in, I'll try anything once."

The first season is the shortest of these 4 (although the 5th season was only 8 episodes), and basically introduces you to the four women and their lives. The storylines aren't quite as interconnected as in later seasons, but you get your first glimpse of the ever-complicated love story between Carrie and Mr.Big, a suave big business man that has a stronghold on Carrie for the rest of the show.

The second season starts to experiment with really developing the characters and shaping their lives to mold and rub up against each other. More hilarious storylines are thought up, but defining moments just start to peek through. Miranda's great love of the show, Steve, is introduced as the adorable bartender this season. Carrie stangles herself with Big some more, until he finally (or so you'd think) ends it by moving away, and then getting engaged. Charlotte and Samantha still are used as characters to prove points.

The third seasons is probably my favorite, as its so changeable and breaks one of the big sins of Television: It gets you to hate the hero, Carrie. Charlotte's quest for a husband leads her to Trey, which is her defining relationship for the show. Hints that Samantha might be willing to give up her super-single life also appear here and there. Miranda re-visits things with Steve, and Carrie meets Aidan. The best thing that could happen to Carrie post-Big, they have a lovely relationship until, well, Big comes back to haunt her, leading to a beautiful 6 episode story arc that really really shows the talent of the producers of the show.

Season four is about re-inventing things. The humor is still there in many ways, but the characters are much more real and understandable. Carrie and Aidan are back in the spotlight, and she even manages to arrange Platonic happenings with her and Big. Charlotte gives her marriage a second try with a variety of outcomes throughout the season. Miranda re-invents her realtionship with Steve, and is forced to change it yet again as the season draws to a close. Samantha is finally given a "love" with Richard Wright, hotel Magnate and Male Equivalent to Samantha.

Altogether, this show is amazingly put together and incredibly smart. You can relate to many of their situations, and the ones yo ucan't, you are able to enjoy and laugh at. Get these DVD's! (They have some cool special features as well, like seeing the previews for each episode, cast and crew bios, awards, and commentary).

Let me start off by saying that I am a total addict for Sex and the City! The story lines are so interesting and SO true to life. These girls, especially Carrie, represent so many women, including myself. The topics of their discussions are 100% realistic. This is how it is when girlfriends get together.