West wing season 1 (1 Viewer)

[Chris Bardon]

Just saw the announcement at tvshowsondvd.com and it sounds like a great set. The specs:

Among these will be lots of extra footage (gag reels ["Gag Order"] & outtakes ["Off The Record"], deleted scenes, and behind-the-scenes stuff), commentary tracks from creator Alan Sorkin and director Thomas Schlamme on 5 episodes ["Pilot," "What Kind Of Day Has It Been," "Take This Sabbath Day," "In Excelsis Deo" (featuring additional commentary from Co-Executive Producer/Director Alex Graves) and "Celestial Navigation" (with Co-Executive Producer/Director Chris Misiano joining Sorkin and Schlamme)], featurettes "The Primaries" and "The West Wing Inauguration", and interviews with folk both in front of and behind the camera.

Warner mandates this release will be in 1.33:1 video format and Dolby Surround Stereo audio format, in English. Subtitles will be in English, French, and Spanish. The 4 DVDs in the set will be Double Sided/Dual Layer "DVD18" discs. The SRP is $59.98 for this Emmy-winning inaugural season.

My only question is-when were these first broadcast in widescreen-season 2? Was S1 shot in widescreen?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think Season 3 was the first to air in widescreen. (There was an article in American Cinematographer about it - http://www.theasc.com/magazine/oct00/power/index.htm)

The first two seasons were shot 1.33:1 and that is the proper presentation for those episodes. (For the first season, if you wanted to see it in widescreen, all that would do would chop off the top and bottom of the image to matte it, which was not what the filmmakers intended.) For season three they were able to go widescreen, and I imagine those DVDs will be presented in widescreen to preserve that.

 

[Dane Marvin]

God, I love Warner Bros. The SRP's on their TV on DVD sets cannot be beaten. And I'll bet the packaging will be great to boot.

I'm REALLY looking forward to the extra features, especially the Aaron Sorkin commentary on 5 episodes!

 

[David Von Pein]

Release Date = November 18th.

Excellent!




REGION 2 COVER ART:

 

[David Lambert]

That is the R2 cover art!

The R1 cover art may look the same, or similar, but has not been revealed yet.


David, I'm going all ape on that because IMDB shows the R1 artwork from England's "Season 1, Part 1" (which can be seen sticking out of the slipcover there) and I really, REALLY don't want anyone to be misled.

That IS a cool piece of art, though, and I hope that the R1 version is in a similar vein. Friends releases lead me to believe it will be otherwise, though.

 

[David Von Pein]

That is the R2 cover art!

I Know That!!

I was just using it as a "prop" cover, to whet our appetites further for Bartlet & Company on Digital Spherical Format.

(R.2 disclaimer edited in above. 10-4? )

(I, too, agree, David L., that the R.2 packaging looks suberb. I hope R.1 follows suit, or close to it. )

 

[James Lambert]

On a side note about the widescreen issue. We are way behind in the Uk, with Season 3 just finishing a month ago. Anyway, Season 3 was shown in widescreen by Channel 4, but I always thought it looked a little cramped. Though on reflection I mainly got that impression because the opening titles look the same as S1+2 but cropped. Glad to hear that for S3 16x9 is the correct ratio.

I'll sell my R2 copies so I can get the extras, but I have to say I'm a little irked by the DVD 18s, as they always seem so fragile.

 

[Aryn Leroux]

The DVD18's are probably why warner is able to keep the price down on ER and now West Wing. If you treat your dvd's well it is just as easy to take care of a dvd18 as it is a dvd9 atleast in my eyes. I fall into the category of watching the show when it first started and loving it. I managed to see only a handful of episodes before i missed the rest of the season. Subsequent seasons i passed on intentionally for that reason. So i have been patiently waiting for the Dvd sets!!!

 

[John Berggren]

I couldn't be more excited. This is one of the programs on TV that I wish I started from the beginning. I feel like I shouldn't watch the current episodes until I catch up. Hopefully future seasons will be forthcoming soon.

 

[Brian Kleinke]

Whoot, about time

I'm happy... and a friend of mine is going to be ecstatic!

 

[Aryn Leroux]

If you get bravo they are airing west wing s1-s4 in order i believe at 11pm monday thru thursday it is also on earlier times in the day aswell but not sure if they go in order then. Might be a good way to try and catch up for s5. Myself Personally i'm just gonna wait for the dvd sets. Does anyone think West Wing will last much beyond S5 without sorkin at the helm ?

 

[David Von Pein]

http://bravotv.com/The_West_Wing/

 

[Josh Steinberg]

No, I don't think it will. Sorkin was definitely the auteur on that production, writing or rewriting almost every single episode that was shot, and it simply will not be the same without him. I think the current political climate which varies from the one on the show has not helped ratings, and Rob Lowe's departure probably didn't help either. I recently saw Sorkin on Charlie Rose (PBS) and he said that because the show would often take longer than scheduled to produce and run over cost, the budget was being cut, and that Sorkin preferred to leave while the show was still good than be forced to make an inferior product. Can't say I blame him.

I suspect without Sorkin at the helm, the next season will feature a ton of "very special episodes" with sappy and melodramatic occurances that Sorkin managed to avoid in his tenure.

 

[Dane Marvin]

Apparently, John Wells (the Producer and famous for his work with "ER") is writing the first couple episodes of the season and turning the show over to a staff of gifted writers ("ER", "China Beach" & "Friends" alumni included). I saw the teaser for the season 5 premiere after the show last night and it looks very intense. John Goodman is gonna be great!

However, no matter how gifted John Wells and the new writers are, they can't be Aaron Sorkin, who writes with such a distinct style and voice. I think the show will fulfill its 6th season (which it is contracted to do) and possibly take up the option it has for a 7th season. But after that, I think it's going to end.

So enjoy the last 2-3 seasons and hope that the terrific cast can make up for the void that's bound to be left by Sorkin and Schlamme's departure.

Oh, and John Spencer (Leo McGarry on the show) said they're trying to get Sorkin to pen at least a couple episodes this season.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

As I posted earlier, I suspect this will lead to a lot of trademark NBC "very special episodes" full of melodramatic bits of romance that will lack the wit and subtlety of Sorkin's writing. Whereas Sorkin writes gracefully, even if this new writing staff is good (I don't expect them to hire incompetent people), it'll still be like comparing fine caligraphy to magic marker.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Ah, the dreaded double-dip :frowning:

Anyone want to buy an R2 set second-hand?

But seriously, the extras do seem to make this double-dip worthwhile. Perhaps now when S3 is announced on R2 I'll have the willpower to resist -- although I sort-of knew that sooner or later West Wing would be released on R1 and probably with extras (as compared to the practically extra-free R2 versions), the lack of a firm date or timeframe for release made me go for R2 anyway.

 

[David Von Pein]

BULLETIN ......

Pre-Order West Wing Season 1 NOW before they come to their senses and hike this fabulously-low price point!!

 

[David Williams]

Pre-Order West Wing Season 1 NOW before they come to their senses and hike this fabulously-low price point!!

That's about what I roughly figured this set would cost. With TV Shows on DVD I always mentally remove ~$20 from the MSRP. I figure on release day this will be going in the neighborhood of $35-$40 at the B&M stores.

 

[Dane Marvin]

$38.99 for one of the best dramas ever??? That's insane! I thought ER was going to be a steal at about $44. A couple questions about pre-ordering from Amazon or DDD (I have yet to pre-order a DVD title in my life)...

1.) When you pre-order a DVD (ex: The West Wing), is your credit card billed when the item is sent or when the item is pre-ordered?

2.) Is the item sent on release day or is it sent a few days earlier so that it arrives on or near release day?

My biggest fear is #2: I usually can't wait even one extra day to receive a DVD title that I've generally been waiting months for.

 

[Aryn Leroux]

Dane: i use amazon/ddd quite often. as for your credit card being charged both of those places don't charge till items are shipped. But DDD checks to make sure funds are available at the time of order so if your using a debit card the price of your order may come out of your bank account for a few days then go back in. At amazon nothing is done like that dunno why some places do that. As far as shipping goes ddd tends to ship a few days to a week ahead of time to try and get you the item by release day. Amazon tends to ship on release day or the day after if you use there $2.95 shipping. if you elect to go with there free shipping they ship about 5 to 7 days after street date. Of course there is ocassions they ship earlier.