Product Details

• Actors: Mary McCormack, John Slattery, Roger Guenveur Smith, James Carville, Mary Matalin
• Writers: Henry Bean
• Producers: Mike Fountain
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Hbo Home Video
• DVD Release Date: July 20, 2004
• Run Time: 300 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00020HB3W
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #30,114 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
What a weird and wonderful creature is this thing called K Street. Named after Washington, D.C.'s "fourth wing" of political power and coproduced by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh, this beguiling, problematic HBO series ran for only 10 half-hour episodes, each aired immediately after blistering five-day production schedules during which Soderbergh, as director, editor, and videographer (under his nom de camera, Peter Andrews) combined fact and fiction within Washington's corridors of power, casting savvy actors alongside real-life D.C. power brokers, journalists, lobbyists, and political consultants. The result is one of the most unusual hybrids in television history, in which top-drawer consultants (and bipartisan celebrity couple) James Carville and Mary Matalin work for a fictional firm run by a reclusive billionaire (Elliott Gould), where they must endure FBI scrutiny for doing business with a Saudi organization that might be a front for terrorists. As this crisis approaches meltdown, Soderbergh's fly-on-the-wall approach (first tested in Traffic) grows increasingly fascinating (especially for Beltway insiders, many appearing as themselves) and potentially mystifying for less-informed viewers. There's no hand-holding here, no back-story, no glossary or who's-who, and (most regrettably) no DVD supplements to guide the political layperson. What you get instead is a privileged glimpse of backroom politics in action, quasi-factual, semi-fictional, and never less than riveting. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description
K STREET is an experimental fusion of reality and fiction--an entertaining, fly-on-the-wall look at government, filmed in and around the corridors of power in Washington. The series ventures inside the world of powerful political consultants--a world that few people ever experience first-hand. Produced on location in Washington, D.C., the largely improvised ten-episode series combines fictional characters with appearances by real-life political figures, all centered around the biggest political news of the week.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute treat for political junkies and dynamic artists, May 27, 2004

By	Christopher (Denver, Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

It's hard to decide which aspect of K Street was the most satisfying...

* The ending was positively brilliant. For all those who would, confidentially, love to stick it to Saudi Arabia, watching the "bad guy" walk away with the loot just pulled my grin from ear to ear.

* The first two episodes verily lifted me out of my chair, mouth agape, asking, "How are they doing this?" Now that time has passed, you'll have to appreciate that these topics were *peaking* as news stories -right as K Street was wrapping production for the week-. For those 'tuned in' to politics and world news, it was a thrill that is indescribable. Carville actually interacting, on camera, live (as in -real life-!) with Howard Dean and Phili mayor Street at the height of their news cycles? You could actually watch C-SPAN (and FOX News! remember the debate?) to see a true-to-life angle of a K Street episode! Beat that!

* There were more cameos than I could enumerate... all A-list Washington insiders. Real senators, real journalists, playing full-blown _parts_ in the week's story. And how brilliant each one was! Never did you feel that they were phoning it in for air time. No, these cameos furthered the pulse of the story.

* There is no way that the season could have been planned as it was... It must have been decided around the 3rd or 4th week that it would be the CIA-informant-leak story that would bring the Carville-Matalin office down. I'm almost certain that the writers could have allowed a much brighter, upbeat story to carry through, but they _abided_ by their dynamic philosophy... as Washington goes, so goes the show. Bravo.

* The cinematography was fantastic. Even when the dialogue faltered, the low off-angle shots kept the tempo steady. And so many extended shots, with only one chance to make it work! I can't remember a failed scene.

* Who could have shone brighter than Carville and Matalin? This was their vehicle, and there is no K Street -concept- without them. Certainly Soderbergh's story took center stage in the second half of the series, leaving Mary and James to simply wonder outloud what the hell was happening... But if you care about politics, you care about the story, because you care about these two people.

* Roger Guenveur Smith (playing Francisco Dupre) is a -star-. His aura is undeniable, his character is the heart of the mystery. He was given these lines, probably sometimes in mid-shot (probably some improvised, on his own), and he *stuck* _every single one_. The actors in the room must have been left breathless.

For all those out there who've ever said or thought, "Now -that's- television." and want to experience that once again, you can't pass this show up. Judge the experiment for yourself... I came in with no expectations and was floored. Regardless, you'll have a better grasp of what works and what doesn't work in dynamic art after one viewing of K St.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A surprisingly good, complicated series; so-so DVD, August 31, 2004

By	Clare Quilty (a little pad in hawaii) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Practically everything about HBO's "K Street" and its run was a little odd.

Produced by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh, it was a television series that debuted in fall 2003 and centered around a political consulting firm in Washington, D.C.

The cast was a mixture of actors and political figures - James Carville and Mary Matalin played fictionalized versions of themselves interacting with real congressmen, senators, lobbyists and journalists. Howard Dean, Tom Daschle, Orrin Hatch, Joe Klein and lots of others had cameos.

Episodes were semi-improvised and shot quickly with a handheld camera, by Soderbergh, just a few days before the shows aired so they could incorporate current events into the plots.

Cool idea. Sounds like one heck of a lot of work. And, overall, the basic idea just didn't play. The main characters often had to jump through hoops to integrate themselves into the topics and most of the politicians on-camera were uneasy and distracting. Rather than seeming "ripped from today's headlines," "K Street" kind of felt Scotch taped to the day-before-yesterday's.

But then the show started getting bizarre, and bizarre in a good way.

Most TV shows have been in the can for weeks or even months by the time their reviews and ratings come out, but Soderbergh was still shooting the show as it was being panned by critics and ignored by viewers. In apparent response, the series abruptly went from being a minimalist, more cynical "West Wing" to behaving like a long lost Alan Pakula thriller from the '70s.

The characters got creepy: Maggie (Mary McCormack) met a suitor (Talia Balsam) who came on strong and then suddenly accused her of stalking; the robotic Francisco (Roger G. Smith) deepened his secret ties to his Howard Hughesian boss (Elliott Gould), who was making deals with the Saudis; and kinky, hallucination-prone Tommy (John Slattery) slept with his father's much-younger fiance, who then killed herself in his hotel room.

At the peak of all this trouble, suddenly and with no real explanation, the show ended, yanked after two-and-a-half months, supposedly by mutual agreement between HBO and Soderbergh (who, according to HBO's Web site, is still on the hook for 10 episodes of another, similar series).

Good or at least interesting shows get canceled in mid-sentence all the time - c'est la vie - but now suddenly all 10 episodes of "K Street" have been released on DVD. This would've been a great way for Soderbergh, who does extremely funny and interesting director commentaries on most of his DVDs, to
explain the show - how and why they did it, who all the cameos are and how he convinced them to appear and, most of all, what happened in the end. It's bound to be an equally engaging story.

Unfortunately, like the series itself, the DVD is incomplete and comes with no extras at all, just 10 episodes followed by a sudden stop.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect "training" video for campaign management, November 9, 2004

By	Erin Esposito "esposito" (Rochester, New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Political consultants, students of politics, and those involved in campaigning, look no further for tips/strategies in mastering the essential skills needed to be an effective campaign manager! K Street is THE thing to watch! James Carville, Mary Matalin, Paul Begala and countless other key players in the political arena are in K Street and demonstrate, even if it is in an acting mode, the ways of political consulting and campaigning.

It is an incredibly awesome collection - very riveting and full of many lessons to learn from. Since purchasing this DVD, I've done nothing but watch these episodes over and over, taking notes each time and studying the modus operandi of the skilled individuals in the profession.

Very intriguing, very informative, very enjoyable! Do not pass this one up!!