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Oz - The Complete First Season

Oz - The Complete First Season

List Price: $64.98
Your Price: $51.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brutal show
Review: This is one of the DVD releases I have been looking forward to. As you probably know, Oz is HBO's prison drama. As the commercial say...'uncensored...ground breaking...etc'. Yes, it is uncensored. You can expect adult language, nudity, violence, here, but if you want that then a porn site is best. Oz is a great drama, brutal, which does feature everything I said, but also has great acting, great scripts, etc.

Anyway I you came looking for this box I assume you already knew what Oz was, so I'll comment on what you get for your money.

The box (small) comes with three single sided DVDs. The first one comes with episodes 1-3 and two audio commentaries by Tom Fontana and Lee Tergesen. The second one comes with eps 4-6. And the last one comes with eps 7 and 8 plus some extra bonus, such as deleted scenes. There isn't any booklet in the box.

The audio comes in both English (5.1, Surround) and Spanish (stereo). Because they used closed captions instead of DVD subtitles, they could only put one of the track in writing, meaning that there are no Spanish subtitles and more importantly, no commentary subtitles! Rather annoying for the hearing impaired people out there.

Video quality (4:3) is perfect, as you would expect from a show that was filmed just 5 years ago in high quality.

Running time is 451 minutes. DVD region is 1.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Aside from The Sopranos its HBO's next best series
Review: OZ is a very powerful, emotional series that keeps you on your toes, and makes you think. Also it makes me not want to go to prison and if I do stay away from the Arians...Aside from all the male "junk" I def. recommend this series to anyone who enjoys, dramas, action, excitement, and suspense. This is one of those shows that you have no choice but to root for the bad guys, reminds me of "A Bronx Tail". So enjoy and you may possibly learn a valuable lesson or two.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A woman's viewpoint of this series
Review: While reading the editorial review of this series I was amazed to see that it was suppose to be a "guy's show". Not so! I have loved this series since it first aired on HBO and catch every rerun that is shown. I have been one of the many fans who begged HBO to release it on video/DVD. While I do enjoy "The Soprano's", "Sex and the City", and "Six Feet Under" my favorite HBO series is and has always been "Oz". I think it is well-written, finely acted and not on often enough!! I raved about this show so often to several friends that they all finally went out and started receiving HBO so they could watch "Oz" and none have ever regretted it. I highly recommend this series and applaud the fact that the writers, producers, actors and directors hold NOTHING back.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: GET THIS DVD!!
Review: I'd give this thing 10 STARS!!

Oz, ESPECIALLY the first season, will grip you like no other television show created. The first time I saw it, the gritty characters, the breakneck pace, the slick editorial style, the twists and turns in the plot. I was hooked!!

Oh MAN! Oz is so addictive they should put a warning sticker on it! My only complaint is that HBO waited SOOO long to put this on DVD!! This show was good before Sopranos got hot, and before Sex and The City got popular.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A disappointment
Review: To me, this is the least successful of the HBO series. There is admittedly a "can't watch just one" vibe to it, but more in a junkfood/beachbook kind of way. There doesn't seem to be much substance beneath the macho swagger and need to shock. Some of its concepts (like the Mafia element) are done better elsewhere (like the Sopranos). While 90% of the performances are admirable (with the unfortunate exception of a worthless Ernie Hudson) the writing is often clunky and cliched. And the "street philosophy from a guy in a wheelchair spinning in a glass cube" bits are painful. I wanted to like this show, really. I just couldn't.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Interesting characters adrift in a sea of left-wing bias
Review: In the past I avoided the HBO channel, its movies and shows because of their consistent anti-Americanism and hard-left bias. But "The Sopranos" lulled me into a false sense of security, so I decided to rent "Oz" because it looked interesting and because I like Ernie Hudson. However, instead of a hard-hitting, character-driven prison drama, too often I got issue-driven speachifying and a post-modern politically-correct guy in a wheelchair in a spinning glass cube.

Here's an example from episode 4, titled "Capital P," that deals with Jefferson Keane's execution. First this gem between the pro-death penalty governor and a reporter:

Governor: "The people want the death penalty...They need a sign that something's being done."

Reporter: "Even if it's been proven that capital punishment has no effect on crime?"

Governor: "Especially if has no effect. These days murders are random, senseless. Maybe the punishment should be too."

To call the above exchange a strawman argument wouldn't do justice to scarecrows. That has got to be the stupidest, most ridiculous lie a liberal has ever come up with on this issue.

"Capital P" has many other idiocies besides the almost perfect one described above. For example, the wheelchair guy claims that the state is going to "put down [Keane] like a rabid dog." How many rabid dogs get automatic death penalty appeals? Also, since when can a prisoner in general population (or even "Emerald City") waltz into death row (which amazingly, also happens to be the protective custody unit -- what luck!), chat with the condemned prisoner, then waltz out again?

What hurts most is that some of stories are really good. When the show doesn't flaunt its cultural liberalism, the characters are outstanding. But I just can't take the B.S.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: My name's Mel...and i'm an OZaholic
Review: I am so addicted to Oz!! I'm so thankful Oz was finally put on DVD....now I anxiously await the next season to be released. Not many people understand why I like to watch this drama/soap opera/violent show but I just can't help myself! The cast is great,storylines believable and it just makes you remember how bad things can really get if you walk down the wrong path.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Simply the Best
Review: I just started watching OZ a couple of years ago (silly me!). So when the first season came out on DVD this week, I rushed to rent it. I am simply amazed at how good this show really is. To see the development of characters I have grown to love (or hate, depending on their nature) -- well, it is outstanding. I have now rushed to purchase OZ (and will do so with every other season). OZ will be one of my top-loved DVDs in my collection. If you love quality storywriting and top-notch acting, you will want this DVD set also.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Before we meet the Sopranos, we were inside OZ.
Review: Welcome to Emerald City, an experimental unit of the Oswald Maximum Security Prison or "Oz." As run by Tim McManus and overseen by Warden Leo Glynn, Em City is about prisoner rehabilitation over public retribution. No matter how hardened a criminal or killer, whether you're in for a few years or in for life, you have a role to play. Once inside, choose your friends carefully. Every group - Muslims, Latinos, Italians, Aryans - stick close to mutual friends and terrorize mutual enemies. Don't smile. Get yourself a weapon. Stay on everybody's good side... if you can find one

This is the setting and the backdrop to one of the BEST series on cable TV. Oz dosen't let up for a second, it grabs you by the hair and drags you around on some buring hot coals. A prison series that comes at the veiewer with force.

I can't give enough praise to this DVD pack to give it the attion it desserves. I'm ready for the 2nd season.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Scared Straight for Adults
Review: Seasons 1 and 2 were the absolute best. This show is really scared straight for adults. I can only hope HBO releases seasons 2-4 (let's pretend 5 never happened) and revives the show with season 6.
Great overall DVD!


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