The West Wing - Complete Season 1 [DVD]

The second best season in the series starts out as being just another day at the office, with the president riding his bicycle into a tree, Sam accidentally sleeping with a callgirl and political issues up to wazoo. The first season got a total of nine Emmy Awards, and they're well deserved. The script is magnificent, the cast exceptional, and the plot varies from ordinary to divine.

What makes this season so good? What makes this season one of the two I could (and do) watch over and over? Well, the cast members are still working their way into their respective characters, feeling their way on how to deal with their own acting and reacting, and the fact is, it just gets better and better from start to finish. Once you start, you can't stop. The plot is engaging enough to keep you interested from episode to episode, and then all of a sudden something happens which leaves you completely star struck. Toby's conversation with Mr. Willis and the other congressmen, the staggering (literally!) performance of Roger Rees as the Lord John Marbury, and the increasingly quick and amusing bouncing-back-and-forth comments by Sam, Toby, Josh and CJ sets the standard for all the other seasons to come.

It also sets the tone for what kind of president Bartlet's going to be. Intense, oratory and passionate, the president goes from quoting Roman emperors to saying "well, duh" in the same sentence. Toby later describes him as "the two Bartlets": one is the absent-minded professor with the "Aw, Dad" sense of humour; disarming, unthreatening, good for all time zones, and the other is the Nobel Laureate searching for salvation; lonely, frustrated, lethal, who's father never liked him because he was too smart. On the one hand a scholar, on the other hand an average Joe who can say "get your fat asses outta my White House" when he feels like it.

This thing is great, which is why it got a total of nine Emmy awards. If you haven't bought this already, do so. That's all I can say, really.

I ordered the first series of the west wing on a whim, I can't remember exactly why but I'd never seen it on television before apart from trailers and just fancied giving it a go based on the strength of online reviews.

I wasn't disappointed in the slightest, it exceeded my expectations in so many ways. The overall strength of the acting, the camerawork, the storylines, the whit and humour and the way in which you develop such likes or dislikes for certain characters is remarkable. I have since purchased all series up to series 4 and I'm gradually making my way through the episodes.

There are 22 episodes in the first series, each of 42 minutes in length. Thats at least a week and a half worth of entertainment for the price of a day out based on watching two episodes per night.

One thing I do recommend is that you purchase series 2 as well once you know you are enjoying the first series as the cliffhanger is unbelievable between the two series. I watched about 5 in one night at the point of transition from first series to second series.

Highly recommended.

Like many I got into the west wing late as I started watching from the middle of season 1, but I can honestly say that after just 1 episode I was totally hooked and immediately went and bought seasons 1-6 on dvd and haven't watched a bad episode yet.

This is the first political drama that I have ever watched and can honestly say is thought provoking and funny at the same time, the way writer aaron sorkin has captured the characters personalities is great and really makes you feel for them as the series and episodes go on.

To the reviewer who said he thought that the british wouldn't understand the humor used in the series I think that the only way people wouldn't understand the humor is if they didn't have a sense of humor at all.

All in all I would recommend people to buy this first season for among other things the writing, the cast and the gripping plot lines.