Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48926 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-10-07
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Formats: Box set, Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 528 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Much lighter in tone than creator, producer and writer David E Kelley's other forays into legal drama LA Law, and The Practice, the slick thirtysomething series Ally McBeal has never been out-and-out comedy but it spikes its exploration of emotional territory with sharp funny lines. Ally (Calista Flockhart) is a kookie cutie, a ditzy, skinny, single lawyer and we are privy to scenes from her overactive imagination (courtesy of CGI), surrounded by larger-than-life peripheral characters--almost grotesques--like outspoken boss Richard Fish (Greg Germann), nervy courtroom wizz John "The Biscuit" Cage (Peter MacNicol) and nosy secretary Elaine Vassal (Jane Krakowski). In later series these characters (including popular newcomers Lucy Lui and Portia de Rossi as frosty law babes Ling and Nelle) would edge towards one-dimensional caricatures as the same ground was retrodden relentlessly, but in this first series there is something compelling about the intrusive dynamics of this group of oddballs. The point is you don't have to like them to find them entertaining. Ally herself can be extremely irritating in a love-to-hate-her kind of a way. She is a curious dichotomy, a 1990s woman with a go-getting career and a penchant for her own way and yet with the romantic ideals of someone from another generation. Basically still hung up on ex-boyfriend Billy (Gil Bellows) who works for same Boston practice, alongside wife Georgia (Courtney Thorne-Smith), Ally is on the look out for her Prince Charming. The first series and its lead both garnered Golden Globes, a lot of gossip and a healthy audience for the Fox television network in America. Channel 4 snapped it up for British audiences who were intrigued, not least by the unisex toilets and sophisticated afterwork bar soirées where chanteuse Vonda Shepherd was always to be found crooning away in the corner. All in all, Ally McBeal leaves you with the conundrum of wanting more but not being able to say why. --Emma Perry

Special Features
1.33 Full Screen
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround English
Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Synopsis
The series tells of the professional and personal lives of a group of people who work for a law firm in America. Ally, as the central character adds to the events with her sometimes vivid daydreams... Features the episodes 'Pilot', 'Compromising Positions', 'The Attitude', 'Drawing The Lines', 'One Hundred Tears Away', 'The Promise', 'Silver Bells', 'The Dirty Joke', 'Boy To The World' and 'The Kiss'.

Customer Reviews

A must
A must for any Ally fan and the casual viewer alike. Ally McBeal is one of those marvellous TV shows that just break the mould and make TV worth watching (like The X-Files). It is just absolutely hilarious. Buy it for your own sanity.

Ally rocks
I absolutely adore Ally McBeal and it was great to be able to see Ally in action in the first series again. I'm waiting anxiously for the next box set to come out and hoping that they'll put the second series on a box set. Over 8 hours of Ally McBeal woohoo.

Fantastic quirky humour!
An addiction to Ally McBeal is the only good thing to come out of being made redundant last year and spending 9 months unemployed! Channel 4 were showing Ally McBeal and I'd never watched it before. Being bored and channel hopping one day I came across the first episode being shown and have been hooked ever since! It is now my mission in life to buy all the box sets on DVD - I've got the first 2 and am awaiting delivery of both sets of Series 3. I love the wonderful quirky humour and the "imaginary" bits where you see Ally doing such bizarre stuff as flicking a 3 foot long tongue out of her mouth to lick the delectable Greg's ear! (Now hands up who ELSE would like to do that!) I confess to not knowing if that particular bit actually happened in Season 1 part 1 but if it didn't, it'll hopefully just persuade readers to buy the other boxsets so they can see it too! The "Fishisms" are great and John Cage is my hero - he's adorably kookie with his cries of "unacceptable", "I won't stand to be disparaged" and "taking my moment"! Fantastic! Wish I was like that! I love the cringe-making honesty theme that runs throughout all the series I've seen so far - like when Georgia goes round to Ally's flat and admits to not liking her. It's superb!