 | |
List Price: $69.99 | | Label: Shout! Factory
Salesrank: 397
Released: September 30, 2008 |
| Our Price: $39.99 |
| Used Price: $45.30 |
|
MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
With breakout and memorable performances by Josh Charles (In Treatment), Robert Guillaume (Benson), Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives), Peter Krause (Six Feet Under), Sabrina Lloyd (Sliders) and Joshua Malina (The West Wing), this was writer/producer Aaron Sorkin's (A Few Good Men , The American President) first television series. And it was director Thomas Schlamme's first collaboration with Sorkin. The pair, who would continue to click brilliantly with The West Wing and Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip, may not have known it at the time, but with Sports Night they defined a new style and raised the bar for all television programs to follow.
Critically acclaimed when it debuted on ABC in 1998, Sports Nigh was an innovative half-hour program about a team of funny, smart and likeable people who put on a daily live sports cable newscast, much like ESPN's SportsCenter. They are a group of consummate professionals whose personal lives operate in apparent chaos, communicating every uncensored thought and feeling through a libretto of witty and honest chatter over the hum of the separate-but-integrated live show-within-the-show.
10th Anniversary Special Features:
*The Show: An in-depth look back at Sports Night with creator/writer Aaron Sorkin, directors Thomas Schlamme and Robert Berlinger, cast members Felicity Huffman, Peter Krause, Josh Charles, Joshua Malina, and Robert Guillaume, Emmy(r) award-winning editor Janet Ashikaga, Emmy(r) award-winning director of photography Peter Smokler, producer John Amodeo, and set designer Thomas Azzari. Includes never-before-seen behind-the-scenes home movies shot by John Amodeo.
*Face Off: ESPN's SportsCenter vs. CSC's Sports Night - Sports Night's real-life ESPN counterparts discuss what the series got right and wrong.
*A Conversation with Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme
*Inside The Locker Room - A look at the innovations of Sports Night with Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme, Robert Berlinger, Janet Ashikaga, Peter Smokler, John Amodeo, and Thomas Azzari.
*Season Gag Reels
*8 Episode Commentaries including creator/writer Aaron Sorkin, director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme, director Robert Berlinger, editor Janet Ashikaga, and cast members Peter Krause, Josh Charles, Joshua Malina, Sabrina Lloyd, Greg Baker, Kayla Blake, Timothy Davis-Reed, and Ron Ostrow.
*Original Promos
*36-Page Booklet including an introduction by creator Aaron Sorkin
Sports Night: The Complete Series 10th Anniversary Edition Reviews:
Sports Night is not about sports 
2008-09-18 - If you liked "West Wing," you'll like Sports Night (even if you don't like sports). The fatal mistake in the development of Sports Night was probably the title of the series. The best thing about it was also, for some people, probably a weakness: it's not a drama, not a comedy. It doesn't fit any customary category. A typical half-hour espisode is a drama that makes you laugh for 20 minutes because the people in the drama love to make one another laugh (and you laugh with them). And then, in the last 5-10 minutes, it will nail some truth about human beings in a way that will probably bring tears to your eyes. Quite a lot to draw from an insider look at the production of a television program (a program that happens to be about sports). If you never saw Sports Night, you're in for a very special experience.
Sports Night
2008-09-18 - What has been said thusfar about Sport Night, its intelligence, its innovations and effects on the future of the sitcom are all true. It was an amazing show, one that stood so far out in the pack of shows in that season that you just knew that it was going to be cancelled. The story arc where Josh Charles' character was forced to apologize for remarks he made regarding drug use - brilliant. Just one of many examples that could be sited. Though I was sad to see this show go, in retrospect where would we be without Peter Krausse in Six Feet Under or the promising Dirty Sexy Money or Felicity Huffman's amazing Career. And I wonder if Sabrina Lloyd would have found the time for her work with Hal Hartley. What we are left with is an incredibly tight 2 season set with a beautiful singular vision and execution comparable in quality if not subject matter with Lynch's Twin Peaks. Just like that show, its end was inevitable and beautiful.
Aaron Sorkin's manifesto--a brilliant television series
2008-09-09 - Sports Night was a frequently brilliant show that aired for two seasons in the late 1990s and had a hard time finding an audience because it was a "smart" show. I'm still curious as to when that term became pejorative. I didn't watch it at the time, though I caught it on Comedy Central and on DVD when it first came out. Lost the DVDs some time ago and I was daunted by the $100+ prices for a used copy. So, I'm glad that the series is getting reissued, and with special features to boot!
Sports Night doesn't really require any knowledge of or interest in sports to enjoy. It's like other Sorkin projects in that an appreciation of witty dialogue, compelling characters and strong plots (especially in Season Two) are all that is really needed. And the show goes above and beyond just these elements as well: has there ever been so cutting an exploration of male friendships and the competitiveness and jockeying for position that occurs within them? Has there ever been so thorough a deconstruction of a broadcasting professional (outside perhaps of Larry Sanders) as that of Josh Charles's Dan? And how hilarious is Peter Krause? That one has an answer: pretty darned hilarious. One sees within these two seasons the potential for a great show--the second season, in particular, is absolutely brilliant. So many intense emotions coming in waves--it cut far deeper than most television shows, perhaps because it asked more of us.
This is not to say that the show is perfect--it isn't. For one thing, Sorkin really doesn't write well for women. While Felicity Huffman and Sabrina Lloyd are both quite good in their roles, the roles lack much in the way of femininity. Sorkin has women characters that basically act like men, for all intents and purposes. Not that it's a deal-breaker for the show--one would imagine that women who work in the domain of sports would be just a bit tomboyish--but one can't help but wonder whether or not Sorkin really gets women. The usual Sorkin caveats apply: plot threads are picked up and dropped haphazardly, characters drop off the face of the earth. And someone ought to tell Aaron Sorkin that having one character come in and repeat what another person said is technically not comedy. Regardless of all this, the show is a work of genius, and both it's flaws and virtues are unmistakeably Sorkin's own. It might as well be his own personal manifesto.
Just good television!
2008-09-05 - Writer/creator Aaron Sorkin and director Thomas Schlamme went on to develop NBC's "The West Wing" during the second season of this wonderful series.
From the beginning, ABC had no clue of how to handle this show. First, they insisted that the producers ad a laugh track, because you don't know when to laugh. Then, they started to promote it like a soap opera, because it had serious issues to deal with at times.
Ultimately, the quality of the show came through. A fabulous cast provided excellent performances. Josh Charles ("A Few Good Men", "SWAT") and Sabrina Lloyd ("Sliders") are the MVPs here, consistently giving the show it's heart. Peter Krause ("Six Feet Under", "Dirty Sexy Money"), initially stiff in his "on air" role as Casey McCall, settled in well mid-first season.
The real gem here is Robert Guilamme ("Benson"), his Issac Jaffe is an excellent character brought to life with his gentle touch. Guilamme's real-life stroke was written into the series, and when he returned in the second season made for some wonderful moments and sly dialogue delivered by the veteran actor.
Unfortunately, try though they may, Shout! Factory has been unable to provide the option of killing the laugh track in the set. Fortunately, they have provided a great new set which beats the original cheap, no-frills set that Disney provided several years ago.
One of the best television series ever
2008-08-13 - I bought the original boxed set with no frills and no extras. And now I intend to buy the new anniversary edition for the extras. So this review obviously can't comment on the new material. But it has to be worth the new full purchase price to get extra material for what arguably is the best television series ever.
I bought the original box set and simply watched this show over and over whenever I needed a nice, intelligent, fun and funny moment or two. I've watched the entire series from start to finish during a few bouts with the flu and I watch favorite episodes as needed. Call it a prescription or antidote for boredom and mediocrity. It remains quite simply the best that television has to offer. I'm undecided since I do watch the entire series of Wonderfalls as often and as well. So maybe it's a tie for best ever.
Sports Night started with one of the best pilot episodes imaginable and each subsequent episode continued the growth process of a consistently wonderful, well crafted series. And the series ended without any loss of momentum or creative energy with the last shows so good that the series could and should have lasted years more. The show involved and presented very human characters. They had flaws and quirks that made them endearing even if infuriating at times. The viewer could identify with the characters and the situations and could be laughing one moment and be close to tears at another. Sports Night manifested almost flawless execution from the writing, casting, acting and directing to the more subtle elements of choice of clothing, set design and music. Everything just jelled together and the resulting shows were spectacular and timeless entertainment. The only small issue that I had with the show is that it could at times become a bit preachy in a politically correct kind of way. It never lost sight of the fact that it was a comedy with dramatic moments. And it never became one sided or heavy handed like the West Wing seemed to me. But it occasionally was a bit too obvious in its political or social leanings even if those leanings do mirror my own. And it must be said that this show is a universal in that it doesn't require you to love or even like sports. The humor, the drama, the good crisp clever writing all sustain interest and appreciation while the sports theme is just that, a theme.
I regret that this series ended. Most of the individuals involved went on to bigger but not, in my opinion, better things. Sports Night was a series that I was lucky enough to see when it aired and I looked forward to each new episode. And every episode was and is good enough to watch repeatedly. There are too many great and memorable moments to list in a review. I'd end up mentioning a moment or two from every single individual episode. So I simply note my appreciation here and look forward to watching these episodes forever and watching the new extra material in the very near future.
