The West Wing - The Complete Fifth Season
Starring: Martin Sheen, Bradley WhitfordDirector: Thomas Schlamme, Chris Misiano
Studio: Warner Home Video
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Running Time: 946 minutes
DVD Release: December 6th 2005
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DVD Review
Two administrative changes rocked The West Wing's fifth season. Offscreen, the ship of state steered a tad off-course with the departure of series creator Aaron Sorkin and director Thomas Schalmme. Onscreen, President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) relinquished the power of his office to Speaker of the House Glenallen Walken (John Goodman) in the wake of his daughter's kidnapping. In the season opener, "7a WF 83429," Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) wonders if this wasn't a mistake. What if the citizenry prefer Walken to Bartlet, he ponders. What if Walken comes off more presidential? Is he kidding? Sheen's Bartlet is the president of Hollywood's dreams, and the stuff of Rush Limbaugh's nightmares. (In a character profile included as one of the bonus features on this six-disc set, Bartlet is described as an amalgam of John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton!). Not to worry, though, Bartlet is back in the Oval Office by the end of the season's second episode, "The Dogs of War." The next order of business: choosing a vice president to replace the disgraced John Hoynes. Enter Gary Cole as "Bongo Bob" Russell, who, as the season unfolds, will confound misperceptions of him. Hoynes himself (Tim Matheson) returns in "Full Disclosure," in which the former vice president dishes dirt on Bartlet and chief of staff Leo McGrarry (the late John Spencer) in advance of a tell-all book. Formidable and usually unflappable press secretary C. J. has an intensely personal reason to spearhead damage control and thwart Hoynes' publishing plans.
Allison Janney, as C. J. earned The West Wing's sole Emmy this season. One of her showcase hours is "Access," a format-breaking episode presented as a Frontline-type "day-in-the-life" documentary. Other memorable episodes that helped to right The West Wing's course include "The Supremes," featuring Glenn Close as a Supreme Court nominee; the battle-of-wills episode, "Shutdown"; "Gaza," in which Donna (Janel Moloney) is severely wounded during a fact-finding mission to the Middle East; and "Memorial Day," a flashback episode that echoes "Bartlet for America" from season 3, and which ends the season on a strong note, and almost make viewers forget the Sesame Street Muppet cameos in the episode, "Eppu Si Muove." Almost. --Donald Liebenson
User Reviews
Disappointing...Get it to fill your collection. - Rating: 2/5
After the great first four seasons, season five of the West Wing is, quite frankly, terrible. Aaron Sorkin, the architect of the four first seasons and creator of the show, was fired mid-story arc by NBC and probably had a hard time watching this season, as many familiar characteristics were stripped away. Donna has suddenly gone from being a bright-eyed optimist to a jaded Washington insider, constantly speaking in a bizarre low voice. Toby is no longer quirky, but simply mean and uninteresting. The assasination of Abdul Sharif, a story arc that had existed for over a season, is ended unceremoniously in a matter of a few minutes, shoved into the end of an episode and never spoken of again. Josh's character, once funny and energetic, is reduced to screaming at the capital building, a scene, intending to be a dramatic, more likely to produce laughter than further unerstanding of his character. Will Bailey, a great replacement for Sam in season four, takes a job with the new vice president, and loses his sharp wit along the way. Despite no longer working for the president, Will is still often at meetings determining presidential policy(?).
And all of a sudden, everyone's having sex. It turns out C.J. and the Vice President were once together, an absolutely absurd story line that is difficult to believe to say the least.Then, C.J. encourages Donna to "broaden her horizons" beyond Josh, and as a result, she sleeps with a guy before getting blown up while on a fact-finding mission to the Gaza strip.(Don't ask... just don't ask.)
The fast-paced dialogue that was a trademark of the show through its first four seasons disappears. Meetings in Leo's office or the Roosevelt Room that were once fast-paced now consist of short, bland dialogue, lacking real meaning. There were a couple of episodes that I simply couldn't get through.
And then there's the president. A man who was once, as he described himself, "full of mirth", has changed. His character is as dull as a pencil after the SATs. His part becomes bland and predictable, except for the truly bizarre storyline in which he shuts down the federal governement for five days, a decision that left even hardcore fans scratching their heads.
To sum this seaons up, I would say that this is definitely not a season where every episode deserves watching. Of the seven seasons, season 5 is by far the worst- I would reccomend it to those who are looking to have a compelte collection of West Wing episodes, not someone looking to be entertained.
Thank God - no commercials - Rating: 5/5
I totally enjoyed this program when it was on broadcast TV but it is SOOOO much better when you can watch it without commercials and you don't have to wait a week if you really want to see what happens next. I may never watch broadcast TV again!
Rich Ford - Rating: 5/5
This was one the best seasons of the West Wing I have all seven seasons. I believe this was the drama series ever on tv. I recomend this seaseon and all seasons of the West Wind. This was the greatest cast ever assembled.
Good only to fill out your collection - Rating: 2/5
Season 5 of the West Wing represented the first season after Aaron Sorkin was fired. Anyone who knows Sorkin's work knows that it has a quality to it (once described by a close friend of mine as Sorkin'esque). The writing under Sorkin was fast paced, intelligent, and in the end had an almost "feel good" quality to it. What's more, Sorkin had a way of showing the dignity of public service. To be fair, Sorkin had gone off the liberal end and had a tendency to lose track of characters he wrote in (Mandy, Ainsley Hayes). That said, Season 5 represented a huge drop off in quality. You knew it could never reach the quality of the prior 4 seasons, but no one knew just how bad it would be. The show slowed down in a major way, dumbed down, lost the comedy, and lost track of what the West Wing was all about. The show rebounded a little in Season 6, and went out pretty decently in Season 7. Out of 7 total seasons, Season 5 ranks #7 in quality, and that's being kind (I could joke that it was 8th in a 7 season race).
Buy this ONLY if you want to complete your collection. Or maybe if you just want to fill in the gap between seasons 4 and 6. Buyer beware, this season made even the most loyal WW fans want to change the channel.
I'd rate it 10 stars but 5 is the most Amazon offers - Rating: 5/5
Brilliant. But watch it after 1-4 and make sure you buy 6-7 too. Awesome viewing. Lock yourself in front of the TV for however long it takes to get through them all. Under no circumstances let anyone interfere with the enjoyment.
