The West Wing: Complete Series Blu Ray Review (Warner Bros.)

The West Wing is a 1999 political television series written, produced, and created by Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, Malice, The Newsroom, Sports Night, The Social Network, Moneyball, and The American President). It was directed by Christopher Misiano (ER, Suits, Resurrection, Eli Stone, and Law and Order: LA), Alex Graves (Game of Thrones, Homeland, The Boys, and Casualties), Thomas Schlamme (The Americans, Sports Night, ER, So I Married an Axe Murderer, and Mad About You), Laura Innes (ER, Sneaky Pete, Mr. Mercedes, House, and How to get away with Murder), Ken Olin (This is Us, Sleepy Hollow, Thirtysomething, and Alias), Alan Taylor (The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Terminator Genisys, Thor: The Dark World, Mad Men, The Many Saints of Newark, and OZ), Richard Schiff (In Treatment), Michael Lehmann (40 Days and 40 Nights, Heathers, Hudson Hawk, American Horror Story, Dexter, and Airheads), Clark Johnson (Homicide: Life on the Streets, S.W.A.T, City on a Hill, Your Honor, The Shield, and The Wire), Mimi Leder (Shameless, The Leftovers, ER, Pay It Forward, Deep Impact, and The Peacemaker), Tim Matheson (Burn Notice, Suits, Las Vegas, Buried Alive II, Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia, Psych, and Third Watch), Paul McCrane (ER, Chicago Fire, The Resident, Empire, CSI, and Chicago P.D.), and 19 others. It was produced by John Wells (ER, Animal Kingdom, Shameless, Southland, Third Watch, Doom franchise, Far From Heaven, Burnt, and One Hour Photo). The West Wing aired from 1999 to 2006, it lasted for 7 seasons. It won 26 Primetime Emmys and 2 Golden Globes. Mister Sterling was a 2003 spin-off that’s set in the same universe. Presidential advisers which includes Josh Lyman (played by: Bradley Whitford from Get Out), C J. Cregg (played by: Allison Janney from Juno), Leo McGarry (played by: John Spencer from Cop Land), Toby Ziegler (played by: Richard Schiff from The Good Doctor), Charlie Young (played by: Dule Hill from Suits), Donna Moss (played by: Janel Moloney from The Leftovers), Sam Seaborn (played by: Rob Lowe from Parks and Recreation), Will Bailey (played by: Joshua Malina from A Few Good Men) and others all end up getting their own personal lives mixed up with all their professional duties. They run the country dealing with a variety of issues and always defending their hard decisions. Democratic President Jed Bartlet (played by: Martin Sheen from Apocalypse Now, The Departed, and The Dead Zone) is very liberal and he doesn’t hold back with his blunt opinions which is a consistent problem to the public. He and his dedicated staff sacrifice everything to balance what the United States needs during the two separate presidential terms. They are faced with several scandals, world threats, secret health problems, and political battles with the Republicans. Can this White House staff survive it all to make this a better country???? The West Wing always won all kinds of awards and it was acclaimed but I avoided it originally because honestly I’m just not into politics like that. As I got older, I’ve been more curious about it plus it’s loaded with so much talent in every department for this television show. Creator Aaron Sorkin is one of the best when it comes to writing sharp dialogue so it’s no surprise that The West Wing has an all star cast. This series dealt with so many familiar and real life situations that really hit close to home for the audience. I see why it was popular because it had a personal connection to so many people at the time. Martin Sheen as Jed Bartlet might be the greatest on screen president of all time when it comes to either TV or film. He was top notch in this important role. He was only supposed to be in a few episodes every season because it was mainly aimed at the actual white house staff but his strong presence couldn’t be denied here. He was so damn good that he earned a full spot for The West Wing despite it’s original plans. Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman was top notch as Leo’s right hand man and easily the one with the most influence when it comes to this powerful team. He’s blunt and he can come off very rude but he always does the right thing. His chemistry with Janel Moloney as Donna was amazing. They kept playing with everyone’s emotions and you wanted them to hook up so bad but something always happened. John Spencer as Leo McGarry was very impressive. He’s the ear to the president and he’s the one that makes all the tough choices before it reaches him. His character struggled with his past but it made him a stronger and better person. Allison Janney as C J. Cregg won the most awards and she got the biggest praise for her portrayal of the white house speaker and she has a even more important job later on. As far as acting goes, she really shined. She even got a few episodes dedicated to her which almost no one else got here. She was so fiesty and outspoken, I loved her role in The West Wing. Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler probably had the most complicated role for the show especially towards the last season. He had to fix so much and he should have gotten more appreciation for his difficult tasks. I enjoyed that if he felt strongly about something that he would do it no matter the outcome was. Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn was fantastic in The West Wing. His character was always interesting and it had so much potential to it.It’s a shame that he left the show early on because they could have done so many good things with all the subplots that were set up for him. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not dissing him because he was decent in this but Joshua Malina as Will Bailey was a bad replacement for Rob Lowe when he basically left the series. He never lived up to Sam Seaborn. He even went on to replace someone else in the last season for their job. He felt like more of a stand in rather than an actual main character. The rest of the highly skilled supporting cast included Dule Hill, Janel Moloney, Christian Slater (True Romance), Jimmy Smits (Dexter), Alan Alda (M*A*S*H), Gary Cole (Office Space), Tim Matheson (Animal House), John Goodman (Roseanne), Matthew Perry (Friends), Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds), Ed O’Neill (Married… with Children), Mark Harmon (NCIS), Terry O’Quinn (Lost), Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Stockard Channing (Practical Magic), Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God), John Amos (Coming to America), Timothy Busfield (Revenge of the Nerds franchise), Ron Silver (Timecop), Oliver Platt (Lake Placid), James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China), Janeane Garofalo (Reality Bites), Mary McCormack (1408), Lily Tomlin (Damages), Lisa Edelstein (House), Teri Polo (Meet the Parents trilogy), Moira Kelly (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me), Renée Estevez (Sleepaway Camp II), Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies), NiCole Robinson (All My Children), Melissa Fitzgerald (Monument Ave), and so many others. It might have the best cast of all time when it comes to television. Yes it was about politics but it covered lots more than that in this entire run. I absolutely loved the last season for The West Wing. I respected that they went a totally different direction for it. The White House staff was kinda in the background for it. They focused on presidential race between Democratic candidate Matthew Santos played by Jimmy Smits against Republican Arnold Vinick played by Alan Alda. It had some intense moments leading up to it all. The Debate episode was some of the best TV that I’ve ever seen in my life. If you were like me and slept on this series this whole time, give it a chance because it’s worth checking out. It’s great that it got the proper home video treatment from Warner Bros, it’s currently streaming on HBO Max. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and list the special features from Warner Bros Pictures! These 1080p (1:78:1) transfers on all 155 episodes on 28 discs look so much better than expected. It’s probably the best this television show will ever look. Just a note that the original season will filmed different compared to the next 6 so the aspect ratio has been changed to fit the rest of the series. It’s cropped to 16:9 from 4:3. It has English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks on every episode. This isn’t exactly the type of an explosive action packed show that would test your speakers but it’s still at a high quality for what it is. All of the dialogue is very clean, the drama is elevated, and the music has a huge boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles on every episode. It has 21 different “Audio Commentaries” for a variety of episodes for it’s 7 seasons. It features creator Aaron Sorkin, directors Thomas Schlamme, Alex Graves, Christopher Misiano, actors Bradley Whitford, Janel Moloney, Martin Sheen, John Spencer, Joshua Malina, Allison Janney, and producer John Wells. Other participants pop up in various tracks like Lawrence O’Donnell Jr., Jessica Yu, Debora Cahn, Robert Berlinger, and Kathryn Joosten. On disc 4 for Season 1 has a few additional special features. Everything on this home video release is in standard definition. It has the little over 17 minute “The Primaries”. It has the little over 29 minute “The Inauguration”. It has the little over 8 minute “Capital Beat”. It has the little over 6 minute “Sheet Music”. It has a little over 5 minutes of “Unaired Scenes”. It has the almost 3 minute “Gag Order”. It has the almost 2 minute “The West Wing Suite”. It has the little over 3 minute “Off the Record”. On disc 4 for Season 2 has a few additional special features. It has the almost 18 minute “Constructing Two Cathedrals”. It has a little over 9 minutes of “Unaired Scenes”. It has a little over a minute of “Gag Order”. On disc 4 for Season 3 has a few additional special features. It has a little over 42 minute “Documentary Special”. It has the almost 11 minute “A Property Master’s Story”. It has the little over 13 minute “Chief of Stuff”. It has almost 5 minutes of “Unaired Scenes”. On disc 4 for Season 4 has a few additional special features. It has the little over 12 minute “Behind Every Good Man is the First Lady”. It has the almost 19 minute “The Letter of the Word”. It has a little over 4 minutes of “Unaired Scenes”. On disc 4 for Season 5 has a few additional special features. It has the little over 13 minute “In POTUS We Trust”. It has the little over 15 minute “Gaza: Anatomy of an Episode”. It has a little over 5 minutes of “Unaired Scenes”. 4 for Season 6 has an additional extra on it. It has the little over 14 minute “C.J. Cregg: From Press Secretary to Chief of Staff”. On disc 4 for Season 7 has a few additional special features. It has the little over 50 minute “Live from the Director’s Chair”. It has the little over 25 minute “Countdown to West Wing Live”. The West Wing complete series is loaded with all kinds of bonus material spread across this 28 disc set. It’s a must own for fans or anyone that appreciates political television. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!