West Wing, The: The Complete Series (2021/RPKG/DVD)

The West Wing represents some of the best dramatic television in history! That praise comes from a Conservative Republican despite the fact that the Bartlett administration was Liberal Democrat. The writing was masterful, the casting flawless and the acting was inspired. It entertained, amused and informed with every episode and it held up an image of Democracy that has always been aspired to, but sadly, has rarely been attained. At the height of the series, I suspect that if Jed Bartlett had been added to the real-life Presidential ballot, he probably would've been elected! I disagreed with the character on almost all of his policies, yet I likely would've voted for him because I respected him and would trust him to do the right thing. It's a shame that there are few, if any, real-life politicians whom I could say the same about! This is one of those series where the viewer really benefits from being able to watch the episodes over and over. The wonderful dialogue comes so fast and furious, that you almost can't fully appreciate it the first time you hear it. I find myself remembering and using quotes from various episodes in many conversations. Going back and watching it again I'm amazed at how many actors I saw for the first time on The West Wing who have gone on to great careers. So many wonderful guest appearances by veteran actors like Karl Malden in "Take This Sabbath Day" playing the President's childhood Priest, called to consult on a death penalty appeal... Adam Arkin in "Noel" as a Psychiatrist called in to help Josh deal with PTSD after he was shot in an assassination attempt. The memorable "Isaac and Ishmael", the sensitive and timely response to the 9/11 tragedy. The loss of the magnificent John Spencer. There is simply so much to cherish in this set. The only negative thing I can say is that there is something weird about the actual DVDs themselves. I use my PC as an entertainment center and I find that I seem to have to alternate between watching with Windows Media Player on some discs and Real Player on others. The discs will produce an error message and fail to play on one application and work flawlessly on the other... an anomaly that I've never experienced before. Fortunately, having both Media Player and Real Player I can get through them all. Just something to be aware of if you like to watch your DVDs on a PC.

Firstly, The 5 stars are both for the series itself, and the product itself. If you've never seen The West Wing, you're missing out on one of the best ensemble dramas there is. Not to mention it's a great insight (however fictional) into how the presidential office runs, and contains episodes with incredible story lines and issues (gov't shutdown? Homosexuals in the Military? A dictator causing mass genocide? Islamic Fundamentalists?) that sometimes end with the office 'winning' and sometimes with them losing. Whether you're a liberal or Democrat (the party of the president in the series) or not, you can appreciate the struggle and conflict inherent in running the nation. Plus there is an incredible cast. Secondly, this product is incredible. Over the summer I managed to watch the entire series, and so I had started to buy the DVDs, starting with season 1. Since that's all I had, when the complete series came on sale at $75, I couldn't resist. There are seven seasons spread over forty five discs in all. You get the screenplay for the pilot episode, and an episode guide, and of course the discs for all seven seasons. There doesn't seem to be any extra special features than what are already on the previous release, so if you're buying this to replace the 7 seasons in other format, it's probably not worth the money. All of the discs are packaged into thin cardboard folders, one for each season, so that everything fits into the box. Faux-leather is wishing a little too much, but the box is a sturdy paper covered cardboard with a magnet closure and looks great. Now, onto the issues other reviewers have encountered. When I received the series, the first thing I did was open it and make sure I had all the discs and check for scratches. Once that was done, I spent a weekend playing all 45 discs. Tedious? Very, although I simply skipped through by chapter to make sure the audio and visual played, then continued on. But I surmised that all of my discs were playable, and only 3 out of the 45 had scratches. Yes the paper envelopes hold them closely, and scratches are pretty probably because of that, but a few small scratches aren't cause for alarm, and people forget you can fill scratches and it's generally still playable. If you take them out carefully, and make sure dust/sand don't get into the envelopes, I can't see this being a problem. I've also read a few reviews about missing discs, blank discs, missing other things, and can only assume someone was buying them from a 3rd party seller who wasn't honest, but selling on the cheap. Always read those seller reviews! I bought directly through Amazon and the product came brand new, shrink-wrapped, with adequate padding and no damage whatsoever. Perhaps there was at one point someone who was selling these for a sham on Amazon, but Amazon itself is selling the real deal. And a bonus feature-the first few seasons of The West Wing were packaged on double sided discs originally when they were released, which causes playing problems (like my original season one). This set has everything on one-sided discs, and I haven't caught any lags, pixelated bits, or problems so far that I have on a few of my other season one discs (found after the return period ended). To me this is worth the set rather than the individuals. On the whole, I'd definitely buy this product from Amazon. I got it for $75 during the pre-black friday sale, so the price was perfect for the product and I'm very pleased.

This review is primarily about the series, but I can make a few comments about this packaging. It is better than what I found in some other "Complete Seasons" packaging. All seasons are in a uniform format, even if the disks are simply lifted from yearly issues. The file folder styie is decent, relatively easy to remove and re-insert disks, unlike most jewel box containers. But, there are some errors in the labelling of the contents of the disks on the back of the folder, and in season 1 and season 2, the scene selection seems to malfunction. In order to select the beginning, the second scene needs to be highlighted. But on to the story. I really like to see this series, even with its huge cast and many, many different issues, as the story primarily of Josh Lyman and Donna Moss. The pilot opens with a controversy centered on Josh's disrespecting a member of the conservative right Christian fundamentalists. Two of the emotional high points, one at the end of season 1 and one at the end of season 5 involves serious injuries to Josh and Donna respectively. Josh has his ups and downs throughout the series. His low point comes in episode 5 of season 5, when it seems no one wants to be seen with him in the Democratic party, after a Democratic senator switches party due to Josh's intimidation. Josh's star starts rising when the First Lady asks why Josh isn't part of the negotiations over the budget, and Josh orchestrates a stunt which allows Bartlett to pull a big victory out of the hat over the budget. Virtually all of Season 6 and 7 are devoted to Josh's managing the presidental campaign of Matt Santos, and the parallel fortunes of Donna, in the campaign of Santos' democratic rival. Donna and Josh have the two best scenes in the last episode, where Josh (with Sam Seaborn) takes his position as Santos chief of staff, and Donna is shown her office as chief of staff to the new first lady, in an Old Executive Offfice Building office which seems bigger and grander than the Oval Office, a far, far cry from her cubicle in the bullpen of The West Wing. The last few episodes finally resolve the romantic tension between Josh and Donna. What makes The West Wing so impressive is when one watches other shows which deal with similar circumstances. The Sigourney Weaver headlined show, "Political Animals" seems detached from reality in comparison. The characters are not smart, fast talking, and not diverted by relatively trivial matters such as sex. In The West Wing, power and responsiblity seem to trump mere sex at practically every turn. Josh skirts sexual laisons with various characters (three at least), and they all pale and are undermined by political position and power. I can't think of any series which has such a rich mixture of great characters and great dialogue and innovative direction as this. Even relatively minor characters, such as John Larroquette as the White House council in one episode is memorable, as is David Huddleston's brief appearance as a Republican senator. The king of The West Wing guest appearances is John Goodman's playing the Speaker of the House, Glen Allen Walken, who takes over as president for three days. It is also worth mentioning that with the cost of this set, each episode is half the cost of downloading it from Amazon, 1 dollar versus about 2 dollars.

This product is FANTASTIC!! I loved the series and think Sorkin is brilliant. I paid about $150 including tax & shipping, that's an incredible value for the entire series, I think. The packaging is pretty cool and the DVD's are chalked full of extras that are very interesting and insightful. I bought this one for my parents (since they complain there's nothing good on TV) and have already ordered another for myself. As I said, FANTASTIC, highly recommended. As far as the 2nd West Wing Box Set (the 1 I purchased for myself) I went ahead and purchased a used copy (the original purchase a new copy since if was a gift). As far as the copy for myself being used, all discs functioned perfectly, the booklets included inside, and the outside casing of the box set were all in fantastic condition, practically brand new and certainly could've passed for brand new had they wanted to package it that way. I ended up paying $86 including shipping for this used set that appears brand new which is a heck of a deal for a 7 Season, 45 disc set that had all the extras you could hope for- and useful, informative extras, not those crappy ones that only allow for higher pricing or labeling the product a special edition. Sorkin's best work in my opinion, and again, 5 Stars or better for the company in the customer service category, living up to their product description, the speed of their shipping, and the value for the price which again was MORE than reasonable-- used or not $86 including shipping is fantastic, especially for a product that appears and performs as if it was brand new. Fantastic job by the seller! Once again, I'm wonderfully satisfied with a product, seller, and price from a Seller associated with Amazon. I don't know their screening process, my own personal screening from Amazon Sellers is to only use sellers with a 95% seller profile or higher and that has been successful- I've NEVER been disappointed by something done through Anazon, so 5 Stars again, across the board!! The West Wing DVD Box Set Complete Series is a fantastic product and I'd of paid 2 or 3 times the $86, I did pay. Amazon & you're sellers, you've done it again, another 5+ star rating and satisfied customer leaving my satisfaction record with Amazon at a perfect 100% so thanks again!

Excellent series and worth the money!

So glad to have my favorite TV series to play anytime I want.

Just got it today and the package came damaged. Unclear if it was because the box was not wrapped or shipped in a box...or if it was damaged when shipped. Still the first DVD played fine and that's what matters. I paid for the DVDs not the packaging.

If this series (7 TV seasons: 1999-2006) had been written this year it could not be more relevant to our current political reality, both domestic and international. This may say as much about the nature of our adversarial political structure and shrinking world interdependence as it does about the unbelievable insight of Aaron Sorkin and the West Wing writers. Even though it is billed as fictional, actual incidents are clearly borrowed from the front page and re-purposed here for their dramatic qualities. And although the story revolves around a Democratic administration, all points of view are presented in the most cogent and compelling way. The actors are brilliant. I cannot get enough of Bradley Whitford, Allison Janney or Richard Schiff, and I was really sorry to see Rob Lowe leave the show. The characters are clearly defined, each with a unique set of foibles, flaws, philosophies and loyalties. They triumph and fail... just like real human beings. Something should be said here about the casting of the show: perfect. I am constantly intrigued and often uplifted by the stories, even the ones that make me mad, e.g., two instances of the President ordering acts of war after little or no effort to seek a peaceful resolution. The conflicts are deep, like real life. The writers expertly weave and insert, complicate and resolve twists and turns you never see coming. The characters talk fast which makes the show demanding to watch. You can't have it on in the background while you do other things. But the investment of time and thought was, at least for me, very worthwhile... dare I say educational. The wry wit of the dialogue is lots of fun and the subtle humor in the interplay of characters in compromising situations makes me LOL regularly. Over the well-developed serial stories, the set ups for jokes really pay off. I used to make my own copies of the West Wing on VHS tape. But my life took over and I stopped watching the show; I missed about 3 years. Then like everybody else, I stopped using my VCR and ended up throwing all those tapes away. So now being able to see the entire show on DVD from beginning to end is like an old friend coming back to me. Amazingly, the show is refreshing and new... even though I still recall some of the most memorable scenes from the first viewing years ago. I will watch it all again, too, as there is so much here, it easily bears re-watching... which is why I bought the collection. I cannot recommend the complete WEST WING highly enough.

Me encanta esta serie :)

I am currently viewing season 5. I absolutely love this series. It puts governing the US on a par with words such as integrity, truth, character, service. I could go on. Yes bad things happen. Yes people make mistakes. But it is depicted in a way that I wish President Trump would watch and learn a few lessons as well as learn to listen. The series indicates that it is not about the president but about governing, dealing with the concerns of the average "Joe and Jane". The show has made me curious to find out more about how the US government works and for my whole life I never really cared (I'm Canadian and that could be seen as a separate issue I know). There is some surfing and a library visit in my near future. For some really good television with no sex, swearing or violence this series is magnificent. I will be rewatching this!!!

Incredible acting, dynamic, fabulous, storyline stunning, very true to reality at the WH. (I know, worked there) But the constant fast walking almost running from office to office, in/out, hallways, back and forth, is all a bit too hyped. Never happening this way. Makes everything look nervous and a bit too pretentious. Still, FIVE STARS. It is that good! :)

region1かと思ったがregion2で日本向け機器で問題なく再生できる。音声が米語のみで、吹替はない。字幕は英仏西となる。英語字幕は音声通りではなく、省略が多い。仏語字幕を見ているといろいろ発見も多いが、日本語字幕はないので、利用者は限られると思う。

The company that provided me this have never let me down. Fantastic value in a stunning box set. Quick delivery. If you love the West Wing , this is the box to get it in.