The West Wing: The Complete Series Collection

Firstly, The 5 stars are both for the series itself, and the product itself. If you've never seen The West Wing, you're missing out on one of the best ensemble dramas there is. Not to mention it's a great insight (however fictional) into how the presidential office runs, and contains episodes with incredible story lines and issues (gov't shutdown? Homosexuals in the Military? A dictator causing mass genocide? Islamic Fundamentalists?) that sometimes end with the office 'winning' and sometimes with them losing. Whether you're a liberal or Democrat (the party of the president in the series) or not, you can appreciate the struggle and conflict inherent in running the nation. Plus there is an incredible cast.Secondly, this product is incredible. Over the summer I managed to watch the entire series, and so I had started to buy the DVDs, starting with season 1. Since that's all I had, when the complete series came on sale at $75, I couldn't resist. There are seven seasons spread over forty five discs in all. You get the screenplay for the pilot episode, and an episode guide, and of course the discs for all seven seasons. There doesn't seem to be any extra special features than what are already on the previous release, so if you're buying this to replace the 7 seasons in other format, it's probably not worth the money. All of the discs are packaged into thin cardboard folders, one for each season, so that everything fits into the box. Faux-leather is wishing a little too much, but the box is a sturdy paper covered cardboard with a magnet closure and looks great.Now, onto the issues other reviewers have encountered.When I received the series, the first thing I did was open it and make sure I had all the discs and check for scratches. Once that was done, I spent a weekend playing all 45 discs. Tedious? Very, although I simply skipped through by chapter to make sure the audio and visual played, then continued on. But I surmised that all of my discs were playable, and only 3 out of the 45 had scratches. Yes the paper envelopes hold them closely, and scratches are pretty probably because of that, but a few small scratches aren't cause for alarm, and people forget you can fill scratches and it's generally still playable. If you take them out carefully, and make sure dust/sand don't get into the envelopes, I can't see this being a problem.I've also read a few reviews about missing discs, blank discs, missing other things, and can only assume someone was buying them from a 3rd party seller who wasn't honest, but selling on the cheap. Always read those seller reviews! I bought directly through Amazon and the product came brand new, shrink-wrapped, with adequate padding and no damage whatsoever. Perhaps there was at one point someone who was selling these for a sham on Amazon, but Amazon itself is selling the real deal.And a bonus feature-the first few seasons of The West Wing were packaged on double sided discs originally when they were released, which causes playing problems (like my original season one). This set has everything on one-sided discs, and I haven't caught any lags, pixelated bits, or problems so far that I have on a few of my other season one discs (found after the return period ended). To me this is worth the set rather than the individuals.On the whole, I'd definitely buy this product from Amazon. I got it for $75 during the pre-black friday sale, so the price was perfect for the product and I'm very pleased.

The West Wing represents some of the best dramatic television in history! That praise comes from a Conservative Republican despite the fact that the Bartlett administration was Liberal Democrat. The writing was masterful, the casting flawless and the acting was inspired. It entertained, amused and informed with every episode and it held up an image of Democracy that has always been aspired to, but sadly, has rarely been attained.At the height of the series, I suspect that if Jed Bartlett had been added to the real-life Presidential ballot, he probably would've been elected! I disagreed with the character on almost all of his policies, yet I likely would've voted for him because I respected him and would trust him to do the right thing. It's a shame that there are few, if any, real-life politicians whom I could say the same about!This is one of those series where the viewer really benefits from being able to watch the episodes over and over. The wonderful dialogue comes so fast and furious, that you almost can't fully appreciate it the first time you hear it. I find myself remembering and using quotes from various episodes in many conversations. Going back and watching it again I'm amazed at how many actors I saw for the first time on The West Wing who have gone on to great careers. So many wonderful guest appearances by veteran actors like Karl Malden in "Take This Sabbath Day" playing the President's childhood Priest, called to consult on a death penalty appeal... Adam Arkin in "Noel" as a Psychiatrist called in to help Josh deal with PTSD after he was shot in an assassination attempt. The memorable "Isaac and Ishmael", the sensitive and timely response to the 9/11 tragedy. The loss of the magnificent John Spencer. There is simply so much to cherish in this set.The only negative thing I can say is that there is something weird about the actual DVDs themselves. I use my PC as an entertainment center and I find that I seem to have to alternate between watching with Windows Media Player on some discs and Real Player on others. The discs will produce an error message and fail to play on one application and work flawlessly on the other... an anomaly that I've never experienced before. Fortunately, having both Media Player and Real Player I can get through them all. Just something to be aware of if you like to watch your DVDs on a PC.