Customer Reviews

The West Wing: The Complete First Season

5 star:		(171)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I don't watch many telly series anymore. They come, they go and by the time you get interested, they are cancelled. I enjoy movies, but series often just do not have the quality that I seek.

I resisted this series. I am not fond of politics; the process
often is more PR than real substance. It frustrates me, so why would I seek out a series about a subject that makes me want to toss a brick at the screen? Due to my husband getting hooked on it, I ended up catching bits and pieces as I would pass by. I found myself captured by the incisive writing, the amazing insight into the different characters, the humour, the pathos, the drama. The acting is top drawer, the casting amazing.

The show is simply addictive.

Season one of my favorite TV series is a 5 star hit on Region 2 DVD. The best show imaginable without the commercials! The first part of season two is due out in April. The reason WHY The West Wing is not available on DVD in the US is because the producers have sold syndication rights to the Bravo cable channel for a reputed 1 million an episode. Bravo only broadcasts in the US and will begin the series at the beginning. Once Bravo feels they've got their moneys worth, THEN a region one West Wing will appear. This will probably take several years. It's all about money! Code free DVD players are available through several sources on the net, but most require a world system tv. Get one with a built in video convertor that will let you play DVD's from anywhere on your American NTSC tv and then buy the DVDs from amazon.uk.co. Why wait for the best? Of course you could always get a DVD recorder and edit out the commercials, but the quality just isn't the same.

This review refers to the Region 2 (PAL) versions of the DVD. The UK market gets a headstart in seeing the release of Season 1 of The West Wing in 2 DVD box sets (Set 1-Episodes 1-11 & Set 2-Episodes 12-22). The show itself is fast paced and brimming with intelligent dialogue. Once you put it in your DVD player, you wouldn't want to stop until you get to the end of it. Special features for Set 1 include TV spot & short interviews with major cast members and Aaron Sorkin, the creator of the show & DVD-ROM enhanced features. Set 2 extras include several TV spots and 'Making of' featurette for all TWW fans & DVD-ROM features. Extremely satisfying TV viewing. Can't wait for the new seasons to come out on DVD.

This DVD has the first eleven episodes with a bonus of interviews with the writer Sorkin and most of the cast.

West Wing is one of the better ensemble dramas ever screened on television. However it was only after seeing the interviews of Sorkin and the cast members that one realised how it was done. Sorkin is clearly highly intelligent and his scripts are powerful and the basis of the show. This becomes clear when you hear the cast members talk. They lack the presence of their on screen personalities and although they are talented actors one realises that it is the structure of the plot and their lines which creates the characters.

Sorkin also indicates how in reality the plots have a high level of sentimental resolutions. One doesn?t pick this up in watching it. Sorkin explains how he uses humour to break up the flow of the story and to prevent the material becoming mawkish. He also indicates that although the White House portrayed is a Democrat one, he interplays conservative and liberal story lines. On first viewing the show it appeared to be moderately liberal but on re-watching the episodes on the CD Sorkin is right. The second episode is highly nationalistic and the last scene is the character played by Martin Sheen regretting that Americans cannot walk the earth with the same protection that was afforded the ancient romans. In other episodes the character Donna argues strongly the Republican line on taxation.

Watching these eleven episodes after watching them on TV some years ago, one is still struck by the strength of the characters, the frantic pace of the action and the fact that the scenes are seldom static. Even though one begins to see that there is a sentimentality which initially slips by you, one can still be moved when Toby arranges the funeral and honour guard for the homeless war veteran. It is however the humour and intelligence which is the driving force of the series and what makes it so watchable.

As a UK resident you would think that I would not be interested in American politics. You would have been right, that was until I began whatching The West Wing on UK TV. A soon as the DVD was avaialble I had to have it, I now have Season One and Two. In Season One we get to meet the characters that form a close community who strive to provide us with an insight to the everyday goings-on in the White House. You immediately begin to warm to people whom you have never met before yet feel you could hold a conversation with if you met them. Season 1 leaves you with needing to know more, Season Two will not be issued quick enough for you. Season One starts well and finishes even better, well worth buying even if you are not a political fan but someone who enjoys strong story lines about people, places and events that surround one of the most talked about residences in the world.

I never watched "The West Wing" when it aired on broadcast TV simply because I wanted to enjoy the show from season one, and more importantly....in ORDER. Each of first season's 22 episodes are only 42 minutes commercial free minutes long and not one dog in the bunch! This show defines creative writing at its finest. It matters not what political persuasion you happen to be to enjoy this show for what it is, but for dramatic purposes the show's writers naturally had to pick a political party and run with it. So, like the proverbial coin toss, "The West Wing" happens to depict a fictional Democratic administration. Thanks to excellence in writing and acting, you may even learn some arcane details about our political process in a highly entertaining ways. The writers constantly challenge your intellect with amusing asides such as the President saying " Four words in the English language begin with the letters dw. What are they?" The rapid fire delivery of dialog by this superior ensemble cast is verbal poetry taking a brisk walk. This show is broadcast television striving hard to reach its finest potential. All the Emmys it has garnered speak for themselves. Highly recommended.

Last night, I punished myself by watching the episode called "In Excelsis Deo" from the first season of "The West Wing." Now I am beside myself that I missed "American Idol." Oh, the humanity!

Watching the character, Toby Ziegler get caught up in a funeral for a homeless ex-marine veteran of the Korean Conflict was poignant and thrilling. Add the character of Mrs. Landingham and her story of what happened to her many Christmas Eves ago, and you have a classic. It reveals how you would like our government to treat and support, and I mean really support the veterans of our conflicts that is so sadly missing today.

As usual, "The West Wing" knows how to deliver a Christmas episode with a message of peace and caring for others who are simply our fellow Americans. No one sought to find out the dead marine's politics or beliefs. He was just accorded the honor that should be given to all our veterans. And this was just one episode. Wait until you get to Lord Marbury!

If I had to tell you which year of The West Wing to buy, I'd tell you only to buy one through five. I'm not sure that six has come out yet.

This season, as others, won every award in the book. Watch, and you will know why.

Watching the first season of "The West Wing" again from the perspective of fifth it is interesting to reconsider how the show began, especially now that creator Aaron Sorkin is gone. When watching the pilot episode you have to remember that originally that President Jed Bartlett (Martin Sheen) was going to be a minor, recurring character, and that the series was really going to be about the staff in the West Wing: the authoritative Chief of Staff, Leo McGarry (John Spenser), the wunderkind Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), the cranky Communications Director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), debonair Deupty Communications Director Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe), and Press Secretary C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney). However, getting Martin Sheen to play the President was just too good of an actor in too good of a role to ignore, and "The West Wing" became something else.

One of the best ways of noting how the series took off in a direction that was not originally anticipated would be to note how Public Relations Consultant Mandy Hampton (Moira Kelly) never became part of the family, while the role Donna Moss (Janel Moloney) became increasingly more significance, and she was added to the main cast for Season 2. That was mainly because of her comic relationship with Josh Lyman, although I have to add that Marlee Matlin as Joey Lucas was a much better fit for the group as well. Ironically, the Josh and Donna tag-team combined with the additon of Charlie Young (Dulé Hill) as the personal aide to the President, derailed the idea that Josh was the son that Jed Barlette never had (the idea was to bring a person of color into the mix of the main cast). The President refers to Josh as his son in the second season in his rant to God at the National Cathedral after the death of Mrs. Landingham (Kathryn Joosten), but clearly Charlie assumes that role, even without taking into account his dating Zoey Barlett (Elizabeth Moss).

All of this underscores the fact that the supporting cast is as good as the main roles. Not only Donna and Mrs. Landingham that first season, but John Amos as Admiral Fitzwallace, Timothy Busfield as Danny Concannon, Roger Rees as Lord John Marbury, Tim Matheson as Vice President John Hoynes, and, of course, Stockard Channing as as First Lady Abbey Bartlet M.D. That is without starting to check off the impressive list of guest stars like Karl Malden, Ken Howard, Edward James Olmos, and CHH Pounder.

The biggest flaw in the first season is the idea that the Vice President would be so out of the loop. Even with the history lesson of the animosity that existed between JFK and LBJ, no New England intellectual elected to the White House is going to waste having a powerful former Senator from Texas in his administration. Every since Jimmy Carter thoroughly vetted the cream of the Democratic party for his Vice President it has been an imperative that the spot be picked by somebody qualified to be president from day one, and other that Dan Quayle that has certainly been the case. Gary Cole is a nice addition to the supporting cast, but Bartlett being 0 for 2 on Veeps is not a good thing.

That is why the idea this season that the Republicans would force some junior Congressman into the position is so offensive. The key historical precedent would be the selection of Nelson Rockerfeller: qualified to be President and approved with the caveat this would be his final government job (i.e., he would not be on the ticket when Ford ran in 1976). But if the show was intended to not be about the President but his staff, then the Vice President is a minor concern. So it is interesting to be revisiting that idea this fifth season, just as it is watching Josh get into and out of the doghouse the same way C.J. does in a minor story arc in the first season.

Best Moments from Season One: the first appearance of the President, quoting the First Commandment in the "Pilot," Danny bringing C.J. a goldfish on the advice of Josh, Charlie coming to Zoey's defense in "Mr. Willis of Ohio," the President getting a gift from the one Cabinet Secretary who will not be attending the State of the Union address in "He Shall, From Time to Time...", and the prophetic father's worst nightmare that Bartlett lays out for Zoey in "Six Meetings Before Lunch" (which also has the classic fight between Sam and Mallory on school vouchers).

Final Thought: It would be interesting if when Barlett's second is up if the show continued with a Republican Administration. It will not happen, but it would certainly be interesting.

Rumor is that Bravo recently bought the US rights to the first season for $1 Million an episode. So, to us here in the US, that means not only will NBC most likely not be replaying any episodes from the first season over the summer hiatus, but also that until that Bravo contract wears out, we wont be seeing any DVDs. The only way to get them now is to reinvest in a region free DVD player and purchase them through the UK. On the other hand, if we do ever get them, they'll probably be better (more features) than the ones they are seeing now. Small consolation, I know.

This is the big one: certainly the best writing, acting, character development, execution, continuity, directing - just the best in ten years.

If you're bored by politics, you'll like this series anyway. Operating in a cynical system, the people of the senior White House staff are portrayed as fundamentally decent and idealistic people, above all incredibly intelligent. At times they're shown as falling victim to their own vanity, arrogance or insecurity. My favorite moments:

When press secretary learns her Secret Service code name.
When the president greets children for Christmas.
When a senior staffer arranges a veteran's burial in Arlington (you'll cry just like we did).
When we meet The First Lady for the first time (I've always been a sucker for Stockard Channing).
When the team pulls together and maximizes their incredible talent and wit.

The show refuses to apologize for being unsentimental and intelligent. That alone makes you so proud to have people like this leading our country.

I don't like politics, really. But I loved this show.