Customer Reviews

The West Wing: The Complete Fourth Season

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

the box was falling apart, all of the plastic was cracked but at least the dvd's were in good shape and played well. Looks like the one sent to me had sat on someone's shelf for a few years. then been chewed by a dog, then stepped on.

(Do I even have to mention the cruddy Close Captioning effort by this point?)

The bonus features and commentaries are good, recorded at the end of the same year the episodes were made. The DVDs were moved from double-sided in the first three sets to single sided in a strangely stacked set which, if left open too long when removing DVDs, likes to start falling apart. Not sure how long I'll be able to keep my disks in the box they were put in.

Not since the days of Homicide: Life on the Streets has a show managed to change with the times and still maintain a level of excellence unmatched by any other drama on the television. Sheen continues to inspire his audience, often making this viewer desperately wish fiction were reality and an intelligent, morally upstanding president occupied the white house. Will Bailey provides an excellent change of pace from the sometimes overly-idealistic Sam Seaborne, whose niavite was sometimes too far fetched for a politicado. Allison Janey is given more meat to chew on with her role and actually has a romantic encounter with a member of the opposite sex (who thought she'd ever find the time?) Bradley Whitford continues to be charming and brilliant with more than his share of mistakes made in the name of pride. Richard Schiff never falters in his portrayl of Toby, who's private life falls into the spotlight and his humanity is explored. Dule Hill wins the heart of every woman, young or old, in his role; Janel Maloney is brilliant as Donna finding her own dream in the face paced world of politics and shrugging out of her limited role of Josh's would-be love. And then there's Leo. What can you say about Leo McGarry (Jon Spencer) besides the obvous: wow. Simply, wow. This man has been in movies and on television for decades, but his talent has never been so well displayed. Finally, Stockard Channing is hauntingly beautiful and inspiring to all woman who long to see a powerful, assertive woman as first lady. Her performance at the end of the season brings me to tears as she attempts to make a plea on television.

Buy this series. All of it. You will not be dissapointed.

First the good: great program, and Season Four continues the good acting from this cast, as well as Aaron Sorkin's superb writing, mixing informative dialogue with amusing banter, that keeps one caring about this ensemble, and makes this whole series one to return to again and again.

The bad: the boxed set was sent without the booklet listing the episode titles and descriptions, so it is hard to find the episodes ones wants to watch. Returning for exhange didn't help, as ALL the stock in a major outlet was also missing the booklet, so I tried to track down the booklet separately, from the online seller, as well as from Warner Home Video directly - still waiting, after 2 months. I'd advise potential buyers to wait until this is sorted out, and ask specifically if the booklet is included, before purchasing.