Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #421 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-07-16
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL

DVD Description
The West Wing ventured where no other TV series had gone before: an extraordinarily intimate look at an American President and the inner workings of the White House. Experience all the crises, triumphs, lofty idealism and hard realities of the acclaimed series in this complete seven-season DVD set of the series that won 26 Emmys, including 4 for Outstanding Drama Series. Hail to chief - and to the creators and stars of this ground-breaking series.

Customer Reviews

Utterly brilliant
I have been interested in American politics since, aged 6, I experienced the fervent support of the older boys in my junior school in the city of London for the rival presidential candidates, Nixon and Kennedy. They marched around the school playgrounds chanting, and demanded to know which candidate we all supported. Self-preservation dictated that one's allegiance switched, Vicar of Bray-like, according to the inquisitor. I have never studied US politics, but, through business, maintained a practical interest. Then along came The West Wing. I was late to it. My kids bought me the box set. Its quality is awesome. Both the writing and the filming are superb. The writing deals with real subjects in a fictional context but in a completely credible way. The post 9/11 "special", Isaac and Ishmael, was a remarkably well-balanced review of the Biblical source of the conflict. The arguments, both amongst the WW staff, and with others, are, on the whole, so intelligently conducted that it makes one hope that the real WW staff are that clever! If only all Presidents were! I feel I have been spoon-fed a seven-series course in American politics. It doesn't matter to me that it might not be 100% accurate, but I bet it's close, even though the British (female) Prime Minister, and Ambassador were more caricature than character, and it's great drama.

Great TV show, poor DVD box set
When it comes to the quality of TV on offer, I have little complaints. The West Wing is solid television and up there with some of the best light drama series around. Even if it never quite matches the heady heights of shows on offer from HBO (like The Wire or Deadwood), the show is remarkably consistent and very rarely is there an episode which disappoints.

But let's talk about this box set. Simply a very poor effort all round.

Firstly, the two opening seasons are in 4:3 aspect ratio, when the widescreen versions exist and have been made available on DVD in other regions. The widescreen versions are superior in picture quality and broadcast much better. I believe they were even aired in this country in widescreen.

The third season onwards is widescreen, however the episodes are non-anamorphic, meaning a letterboxed fixed-sized widescreen image with black bars on the top and bottom. The picture quality is terrible, and the framing appears badly 'zoomed' (the credits for example appearing rather large, and the characters heads even being chopped off in some cases.

Simply not good enough, and not worth the money.

Any West Wing fans would be better off ordering the Region 1 set from American which contains fully anamorphic widescreen DVDs, with better picture quality. Most if not all DVD players these days support multi-region viewing (in fact I believe those DVDs are all-region anyway).

Ultra slim packaging indeed
I bought this as a gift for a friend and I felt like trading in my previous box -set. This new set is really ultra sleek and slim packaged. Still the same west wing and to my mind needs no introduction. Engaging, witty and entertaining - arguably the best political drama ever made. In seven seasons of fast paced, quirky and original white house drama you will meet president Bartlett and his team and gain an insight into the running of the white house and the American political system.
I love this new set for the slim packaging.