Rating: Summary: One of the best series in recent history Review: It amazes me after watching the shows again why this show never took off. A successful meshing of the best qualities of Northern Exposure and The West Wing, Sports Night presents one of the most dynamic and likable ensemble of characters in the past 10 years of television. The characters faced real issues and bounced off each other (sometimes literally) in their furious rush to make the most out of their lives. They are torn between their love for each other, their love of sports and the love they hold for the show they work on. If only we were all so dedicated to each other and our chosen professions. If I have any complaints about Sports Night, it simply became formulaic towards the end. The cyclical and furious rants and conversations between characters really work as you weave about the office, but after a while, you relish a sit-down, straight-faced conversation. When they do arrive, the messages in them hit home powerfully. The Christmas episode in Season 1 is one of my favorite shows all-time with poignant messages, amazing dialogue and a touching sentiment that captures the spirit of the season. I hope people will buy or just rent this series and see how dynamic the writing and character development can be on TV and dream of a time when more sitcoms and dramas can be as interesting as Sports Night was.
Rating: Summary: The best show ever!(if you like unfunny uninteresting bores) Review: While a critical fave during its run, take your cue instead from the millions of Americans who found something better to do with their time than waste it on the most overhyped show ever produced for network television. The characters and dialogue are terribly annoying and not realistic in the least. It's not funny, it's not dramatic, it's not witty; but it is a 30 minute rant on things your likely not to care about (that's all the dialogue is -- rants from characters that offer nothing compelling.) Maybe I should have watched more episodes, but I could hardly stomach what I did view. It's a shame so many of you call this "quality television." Keep in mind before you buy this, there's a reason it was cancelled so quickly.
Rating: Summary: Top-quality presentation of a top-quality show. Review: This is a very solid presentation of one of the best shows ever produced for television. Great picture and sound.
Rating: Summary: Now I rember Review: I remember catching on to Sports Night at the end of its run and thinking it was a good show, had not seen it sense. So after reading all the reviews bought the set yesterday and I watched the first disk out of 6. What did I see out of a comedy: a man disillusioned by a divorce and hating the police blotter that has become sports have his faith reborn, a person coming to grips with how he effected his brothers life that lead to a horrible crash causing his death, a female reporter get harassed in the locker room by a star football player and then face him down, a devout non-hunter express his opinion on why he thinks it is wrong and why he caved in and didn't speak up when given the assignment to produce a segment on a hunting show, and how the news of a pitcher from the Negro league got pulled from his car and beaten to death in a car jacking. Gee I am giving it all away so far. As well as witty fast paced humor mixed in with the issues that effect the world during the time of the show as well as today. Some very well written shows with actors that make you believe they care for each other and in the characters they are playing. Who turns out to be the leader of the 3-Ring circus that is the CSC Sports Show? Robert Guillaume, giving leadership and coming across as a father figure and giving what should be a classic line "Stupid people surround themselves with smart people. Smart people surround themselves with smart people who disagree with them." If this show had been on Cable instead of broadcast television it would probely still be on and thriving today. The one thing I did not like was the idiotic broadcast laugh track added in to try when you should find something funny. First it is annoying and is thrown in at interval times. I find many places in the shows that are quirky and funny and found myself laughing in many places and when the laugh-track came in many times I was sitting there wounding why they hit the button at that point. A classic example of how the heads of broadcast TV must keep to their formulas that make modern day broadcast TV mostly unwatchable. A big point for me was over 70 reviews and everyone one of them gave it 5 stars. That is what helped me to make the final decision to make the purchase. I am very happy with my purchase so far and can't wait to get back home and see what is going to happen next.
Rating: Summary: Welcome back Review: Well, I'm not the only one who missed this show dreadfully and is tickled to have the chance to view it again. And network executives wonder why so many new comedies fail. This show didn't have guffaws, it had witty dialogue, characters you cared about, and it made you think.
Rating: Summary: One Great Show Review: From its start to its end, this show was one of the best we've ever seen on television. The cast was great, the stories were timely, and the writing was the best. Why ABC (and all the networks) couldn't make this a long-term series is beyond my understanding. When you see what shows we have to watch today, you wonder why we can't be watching new episodes of Sports Night. Oh well, at least we have these episodes on DVD to watch as we wish. Don't miss out on this chance to have this fine collection. It is worth every penny.
Rating: Summary: A great show.....a good DVD set Review: The upside is that one of my favorite TV series ever is now available for DVD. Even if you aren't a fan of Aaron Sorkin or "West Wing", this is one of the series that initiated the kind of comedy that you see a lot of TV sitcoms doing now. Even the serious episodes have the quick wit and funny banter that the series is famous for. The downside is that this DVD set has ONLY the shows. No extra footage at all. They had no room after cramming up to 8 episodes per disc. I would love it if the disc had outtakes, or interviews with the cast, or some commentary from the cast or the crew, like a lot of the other TV series DVDs have, but there's nothing like that on this one. Plus they made these DVDs kind of funny. If you select one episode to watch it will show you that episode, and then continue to show you the rest of the episodes. Apparently the DVD makers thought that most people would want to see all of the episodes on the DVD because they have a "play all" option on every one of them. As much as I love the show, I don't usually have time to sit there and watch 8 episodes in a row. I still gave it 4 stars though. I only took away one for the downside. Now that I have this pristine, commercial free DVD set I can throw away all the videotaped recordings I've kept since the show went off the air.
Rating: Summary: Flawless Series, Flawed Discs Review: My gripe is with the quality of the playback. Perhaps this should have been a warning; a back cover blurb stating "Dual-Layer Format:Layer transition may trigger a slight pause". Slight? It sputtered continually on my Samsung player that had performed well before. I considered sending the whole thing back. Luckily, I had another DVD player and the discs play perfectly so far on a first generation Toshiba 3109. So, be prepared that this particular set could annoy you because it may skip worse than a bad record. The back label warning shows that Disney knew that there would be problems on some players, but still put this series out anyway. Buy it. Enjoy it. Hope you won't return it.
Rating: Summary: Great Show Review: I agree wholeheartedly with many of the reviews here in that Sports Night was an excellent show with great characters and writing. I've waited a long time for this collection and it is nice to finally have copies of all 45 episodes on DVD instead of the blurry, worn copies I have on VHS. My only comments that are negative have not to do with the show, but the physical collection of discs and features. There are NO special features at all on the discs, which is disappointing considering the lag time between the show aired and its release on DVD. Also, the sound is only in 2 channel stereo, as opposed to 5.1 Dolby Digital, which one comes to expect purchasing DVDs.
Rating: Summary: Wonderful Show, Good DVDs, Not So Great Packaging Review: This series is wonderful. I don't like most sitcoms and am not very fond of sports so I can't believe I am recommending these DVDs but in all honesty I can't praise the series highly enough. It is very well written, has great drama and some of the best serious plot lines and yet there hasn't been an episode that has failed provide laughs and at times I've laughed so hard I've had tears running down my face. As far as the DVDs are concerned, despite the fact that there are absolutely no extras and no scene selections, they are really good. You can choose the individual episodes or if you're in the mood for a marathon you can put a DVD in and watch the shows back to back. Even better you have the whole series at your fingertips not just one season!!!! The only thing I really dislike about these DVDs is the packaging. They are put together with two DVDs to a plastic case with three plastic cases in the box. Despite the fact that the only paper inserts they include are a couple of advertisements with the first DVD (all the information about the individual DVDs is on the outside of the cases themselves) they left the area open for inserts and put one of the DVDs on a swinging arm in the middle of the case. This really isn't a problem but it definitely looks odd almost like they couldn't make up their mind what they were going to do so they chose this awkward way of leaving all their options open. I currently own 8 TV related box sets in a variety of styles and I guess I have come to expect a certain level of visual care being place in the design of the set as a whole. I was really disappointed when I saw the way they put these together. Still as complaints go this one is very minor one. As a last thought I read an article about the people who put this series out on DVD and it said that they felt it would appeal more to men then women. As a woman, who isn't into sports, I must say that I think that if a woman gives this a try she won't be disappointed and that it would be a great series for couples to watch together. Even if you've never seen the series before give it a try!
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