The West Wing: Season 1 [DVD] [2002]

These are the first 22 episodes of the greatest multi-season drama ever screened on television. Nothing less.The first six episodes alone are worth the price. No TV show in my lifetime has started as confidently, and with this much wit, intelligence and humanity. You will realise, by the time Josh gives up his nuclear attack escape card in episode 5, that this isn't just a heavyweight political drama. It is about beautifully-drawn characters and their relationship to each other.The quality of the writing, by creator Aaron Sorkin, is simply stunning throughout. It is matched by probably the greatest cast assembled for any television show. Then-unknowns like Richard Schiff and Allison Janney deservedly won Emmys for their roles. The show won a record 9 Emmys for this first season.There are many outstanding episodes; even the weakest one would get three stars. Special mention should be made of the Emmy-winning Christmas episode, "In Excelsis Deo", which could make a hardened cynic cry. Episodes 12 through to 15 display a show at the very top of its game, covering a presidential illness, the chief of staff's alcoholism, excruciating moral dilemmas over gay rights and the death penalty, and finally a superb comic episode with a powerful statement to make about race relations.Other major plot lines include a staff member's liaison with a call girl, an inter-racial relationship and the adminsitration's inability to govern effectively. It all builds up to a thrilling climax, which will make you buy season 2 as soon as it's all over.And do you know what? Season 2 is even better...

I live in Eastern Europe, where "West Wing" has not been shown on television, and because I am a political journalist, I find the programme to be absolutely fascinating. It is beautifully written, which is the most important thing -- although the American president is presented as a left-leaning Democrat, there is no pandering to interest groups on issues such as the death penalty and gay rights. The programme is also magnificently acted, particularly by Richard Schiff as Toby, John Spencer as Leo, Bradley Whitford as Josh, and Martin Sheen as the president. I agree with the reviewer who says that the first two series should be bought together, as I did -- there is a whopper of a cliffhanger at the end of the first season, and it was lovely to be able to watch the denouement immediately afterward.The credits of the show list Dee Dee Myers, the former press secretary to President Bill Clinton, as an advisor, and this has obviously helped, because in most cases the story lines ring very true, indeed. One possible quibble is that major plot lines tend to disappear -- in one episode, India and Pakistan are about to nuke each other, and in subsequent episodes this seems to be forgotten. As to the cliffhanger in question (no plot spoiler here!), it is absolutely inconveivable that when the president of the United States is outdoors, someone could stand in a big old window no more than 100 feet away, assemble a gun and fire it repeatedly. I have seen presidential advance teams in action, and there is nobody in surrounding windows except possibly Secret Service sharpshooters -- nobody. But that is a minor quibble. I've watched Series 1, I'm on Series 2, Series 3 and 4 are on their way from Amazon, and I hope to get Series 5, 6 and 7 for Christmas. Perhaps viewers in Britain will not catch the American political in-jokes, but as for me (American expat), it is beyond magnificent!

Television rally does not get much better than this. In a time when we are lucky enough to have a whole host of excellent TV dramas available to us, the West Wing neverthless stands out. What makes it so good?The characterisation is strong and convincing. Unsurprisingly, all the people surrounding the president are extremely bright, very forceful and have egos the size of the Empire State Building. The show manages to convince us that they also have the drive to work the long hours required and to advise, and even contradict the president on matters they believe in. What makes them bearable is their humanity, by which I mean their attachment to certain basic principles and, to an extent, the flaws in their character also. Heading up the team is Leo, the Chief of Staff, an old soldier whose marriage is heading for the rocks ever more swiftly as he devotes himself more and more to the service of the president. There is Sam (arguably the least successul of the main characters) whose intellectual brilliance does not prevent him from being hugely naive in certain respects. Josh and Mandy make a great double act, helped by the fact that they used to be partners, and a certain amount of unresolved sexual tension remains. Toby is a towering success as a character - a very strong sense of personal morality coupled with doubts about his personal self-worth. And CJ is a feisty, intelligent but lovable character who holds all the other together. One of the show's finest achievements is to show how this bunch of over achievers do not overwhelm the President, who, while taking their counsel, always remains resolutely his own man, deserving all their respect.Over and above the characterisation and the acting (also excellent), however, it is the skillful and sensitive writing that makes this show stand out for me. The writers clearly set their stall out as Democrats with Democrat values running through the show like a stick of Brighton rock. They also show the machinations of the White House - one of the most telling lines is "You should never let people see how two things are made - laws and sausages".All in all, an excellent series that I thoroughly recommend.

I loved 'Designated Survivor' so I thought I'd like this. I've managed two episodes so far, and I was bored to tears. Fast, incomprehensible dialogue (had to use subtitles) and constant, frenetic movement: it seems that every character has to be walking fast, in order to speak! And the characters themselves? Cardboard! Oh dear. Going to try two more episodes then, probably, give up; unless it improves a lot.Update:OK... I'm liking it more now. Watched about half Season 1. The characters are beginning to become more real. I still find the frenetic dialogue tiresome, and I wish sometimes they'd just sit down to talk - but... I've added another star. It's better than I thought at first.Update 2:I have to confess... I really got into it! And now I've almost reached the end - just one more season to go! So, don't be like me and judge it from the first two or three episodes: give it a go - it improves. And I love most of the characters now, too! Added a star; but not the full five, as that only goes to excellent things like Breaking Bad.

This has to be one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, pieces of television drama. It has humour, pathos, topicality and absolutely superb dialogue. I have watched this more times than I can count, still get incredibly moved by many of the story lines and - even when I know what's coming - laugh out loud at some of the antics. The dialogue is rapid fire and I often watch it with the sub titles on to make sure I don't miss any of the little gems. It's hard not to be impressed when hilarious one liners - which many a writer would have over exploited - are just dropped in with no pause in the dialogue. Toby is the grand master of the off the cuff quip. Aaron Sorkin is noticeable by his absence in series 5 as, while the story lines are still terrific, there is a drastic reduction in the humour. If I had to choose just one DVD series to take to a desert island, this would definitely be the one. Amazon don't have enough stars to give it the full credit it deserves.

I was expecting great things from The West Wing. The encomiums written by my favourite reviewers made it sound like a treat, a continuous His Girl Friday, so fast and clever, I would be spending half the time rewinding to try to follow the witty dialogue (not that I can with my PC, but anyway).I was disappointed.It's good. Really superior television like only the Americans seem to know how to make. At no moment, did I think, "Oh he's acting." As far as I am concerned, it was shot in the real White House and the real president had to take the day off while they filmed it. The stories are good. I never felt like stopping an episode in the middle. CJ's infectious laugh is a real pleasure which made me immediately want her to be happy and successful. Clever stuff.But, it's sentimental and earnest in that way American television often is. It also astonished me by the way it appears to set out to patronise one group after another; blacks, women, Hispanics, gays... This happens to such an extent that I started to wonder if I had my wires crossed and it only seemed to be patronising but was in fact some new subtle kind of humour which I hadn't heard about.It irritated me by being yet another show where the characters tell each other how clever they are instead of just saying clever things. There is a kind of amusing repartee but no-one seems to me to be actually witty. I was never convinced that these were some of the brightest people in the greatest country in the world.Still, I'm watching the first series again and I'll probably get the next one. Maybe it gets better.

Bought this because I'd heard so much about the series. OK, so you have to get used to American politics, but this is a great introduction. The characters grow on you, and this series is all about characters and great writing. It's got the usual fast-paced American humour and observations, which, when it's done well is second to none, as it is here in The West Wing. You can easily see where the more modern series Borgen got its inspiration from, and the recent Spielberg film 'Lincoln' has West Wing echoes laced through it. Though the occasional scenes of political wrangling might be over your head (if, like me, American politics still seems a little confusing), there's plenty to get you hooked. My only criticism - so easy to criticise, isn't it? - is that some of the meeting and walking in corridors seems too slickly choreographed to be real, and people say OK and yeah, a lot, particularly at the end of sentences. It can sometimes come over as a bit flag waving at times, and there are moments when almost cloyingly patriotic American Dream themes float to the surface and made me wince a little. And we Brits - well, you'll find we're the usual eccentric upper class nerds that Americans must somehow think we all are. Even more of that in season two. But the strange thing is, you can almost feel yourself thinking, yeah, God Bless America! However, its real strength is in its subtle storylines, which range from superb to magnificent. They have, usually, three or more separate stories in each episode, each inevitably linked to a greater episode theme, which are brought together wonderfully and usually made sense of by Jed Bartlett himself - what a president! Sheen excels as the Leader of the Free World. Oh to have someone like him lead our own country, let alone America. So it's a big thumbs up, and we're already almost through the second season, which, incidentally, may be better than the first. Give it a go!

After watching (and loving) The Newsroom I decided to give The West Wing a watch, I was not disappointed.The writing is excellent and the cast do a great job on the acting. The plot is fast moving and the story line is compulsive - after only a few episodes I was hooked. Exactly what you would expect from Aaron Sorkin. Great TV!The only downside I have found with this is that the screen size is 16:9 - obviously because this was made in 1999 before wide screens took off but at that it's a small issue that doesn't put me off. By season 3 the episodes switch to wide screen.Highly recommended

Me recomendaron esta serie y la encontré fácilmente en Amazon.esLa compre a un precio buenísimo aunque sólo esta en inglés con subtítulos en inglés.Esta información ya la sabía antes de comprarla ya que pregunte al servicio de atención al cliente y rápidamente me dieron respuesta.La entrega fue como siempre espectacular.La serie aunque rodada hace unos años es buenísima. Divertida, irónica y con grandes actores.Totalmente recomendable.

Sprachlich wunderschöne Dialoge bis in den raschen Rhythmus hinein, Kamerafahrten sorgen ebenso für eine zügige Abfolge. Vorab empfehle ich direkt den Kauf einer Gesamtausgabe, denn auch wenn die allerletzten Staffeln etwas abfallen, so will man doch rasch alles gesehen haben. Diese DVD war jetzt ein Geschenk, um jemand hineinschnuppern zu lassen.Die Handlung zieht Clintons Jahre aus der Weißes-Haus-Perspektive nach, baut aber auch manchmal Elemente anderer Präsidenten ein oder verändert Abfolgen. In dieser Staffel geht es um dern Start und die Etablierung der Charaktere. Um den neuen Präsidenten herum schart sich ein Team von mehr oder weniger erfahrenen Idealisten. Zum Glück wurde die Idee von Rob Lowe ("I slept with a call-girl" wird betont) als Zentrum der Aufmerksamkeit später nicht weiterverfolgt. Ja, etwas überzeichnet sind alle, doch das sind einfach gute Geschichten, und ein bisschen politisches Allgemeinwissen fällt auch noch dabei ab.Die günstige UK-Import-Ausgabe tut es auch. Die Untertitel sind bei der zügigen Sprechgeschwindigkeit und den speziellen Ausdrücken keine schlechte Idee. - Fünf Sterne

I am happy. The case was battered which I expected. But the discs looked like they may have never been used.

l'intérêt ne faiblit pas au cours des 8 saisons, réalisation impeccable. On apprend beaucoup sur le quotidien à la Maison Blanche, c'est souvent surprenant.

These discs are produced for the UK (region 2) and don't work in North American players (Region 1). This isn't mentioned in the product description, and it was very disappointing to learn when trying to view the first episode.