Cheap Sports Night - The Complete Series Boxed Set (DVD) (Danny Leiner, Don Scardino, Marc Buckland, Pamela Dresser, Robert Berlinger, Thomas Schlamme, Bryan Gordon, Timothy Busfield, Alex Graves) Price

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Customer Reviews of Sports Night - The Complete Series Boxed Set

The Ultimate Contest
I actually did it--I watched every episode of The West Wing in sequence, several episodes per day, after which I watched every episode of Sports Night (which took much less time). To those of you who are familiar with both, you probably have an opinion on which is better. So did I, but I flip-flopped after re-watching all of these. I'll let you know what it was. <
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>Originally, I preferred West Wing, although I have, as I indicated, turned around. I enjoyed Sports Night after discovering it two years ago, however I had a number of problems with it. I felt that it veered too often toward soap opera, that it was somewhat repetitious, and that the plotting was a little loose. Although I enjoyed all the performances (especially Peter Krause as Casey and Josh Charles as Dan), I felt that the female characters never quite felt right--I chalked it up to Sorkin having trouble writing for women, just like the characters of Mandy and the First Lady in the West Wing, a little over-dramatic and aren't-I-cute-ness that frankly irritated me. The West Wing, on the other hand, was fueled with political passion, with well-constructed story arcs; it was more mature and polished. This was my unequivocal view upon original viewings of both. However, having watched them both, I realize that I was wrong. <
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>I don't know what it is, but Sports Night just holds up better than West Wing, in spite of the greater amount of pop-culture trivia Sports Night uses. Sorkin ended Sports Night because he felt that West Wing had more potential, and he might have been right (who knows what a third season of Sports Night might have included?). However, some of my complaints about Sports Night have gone by the wayside. Take the soap opera comment--West Wing is as guilty an infractor as Sports Night on this, especially in the final two seasons of WW. It just didn't bother me as much. I found that it wasn't so much repetition as iteration in regard to the humor and plotting, the latter of which was my biggest turnaround. There's something to be said for character-driven stories which de-emphasize plotting and increase interaction among the performers. In general, Sports Night is more romantic than its successor: not in terms of love (although that too), but in the sense of breaking the rules--and it does that in many ways. It's a dramedy, mostly without a laugh track, which manages to center itself on characters instead of plot--there is actually plotting, but we are almost convinced that there isn't one, that it's all spontaneous. It's a slight-of-hand that The West Wing never managed to pull off. The woman comment, also, was wrong. The offending scene I found was the scene where Dana, the executive producer, confronts her archnemesis Sally about her amorous relations. Upon first seeing it, I thought it way over the top and melodramatic, but now, I think that it would be how someone in that situation would react. Finally, with The West Wing, the writing and performances were polished and excellent, but in such a way that it was impossible not to notice that both were excellent. It was a show built, intentionally or not, to win awards. With Sports Night, it's not the same. The acting is so good that there is no need to show off. Josh Charles never cries or yells or displays the sort of intense emotion that wins Emmys, but his performance in the role of Dan Rydell is about as complex and pathos-ridden as any I've seen. All in all, the things that make The West Wing better the first time it's seen are the same things that make it somewhat less interesting the fourth or fifth time. With Sports Night, though, one is free to notice new things: a glance, a frown, a reference, etc. that add to one's appreciation of the show. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of moments that are positively spine-tingling in West Wing that still retain a great deal of power after repeat viewings. Bartlet's limo ride to the MS press conference, for one. Yet there is something more that Sports Night has to offer, even if it's difficult to define. <
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>I could talk to you about the performers, or the dialogue, or the camerawork and direction, but, honestly, both shows share the same general parameters. I hope that this convinces some of you to at least give this show a chance. It is well worth it.

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Best show ever
Pretty much the funniest, best written, and performed show I've seen. It is a shame that it only lasted 45 episodes. <
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The Greatest Short-lived series
When the series first aired, I became quickly addicted to the great writing and the chemistry between the cast members. Not to mention Robert Guillaume, who has grerat integrity as an actor. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed when they decided to pull the plug on the show. <
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>Being able to buy the whole series on dvd helped ease the pain, however, there was one thing I wish they had included. There are no bonus features on the dvds, like commentary or interviews. I would have liked to hear the actors themselves discuss the show or see some behind the scenes footage. <
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>All in all, this show was great. I love the quick wit and the rapport the actors had with each other. The show managed to throw a great deal of humor in with social issues to boot. I only wish there was more to see.