The West Wing: The Complete Series Blu-ray review
Oct 05, 2024- Permalink
The political drama The West Wing premiered on the NBC network on September 22, 1999 and ran for seven seasons. During the time, the show won two Peabody Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and twenty-six Primetime Emmy Awards. Created by Aaron Sorkin, the ensemble cast included Rob Lowe, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, Bradley Whitford, Martin Sheen, Janel Moloney, and Stockard Channing. Warner Bros. has just released The West Wing: The Complete Series on Blu-ray and I had a chance to take a look. The WB likes disclaimers, so here goes: Though Warner Brothers provided me with a copy of this release to review, the thoughts and opinions below are mine.
The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The first two seasons were originally shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio with the show transitioning to 16:9 widescreen in the third season. I’m an aspect ratio idealist, meaning I usually prefer to see the show in the original aspect ratio that it was shot in and framed for. However, I’m not an absolutist, and in this case the 16:9 was achieved by removing the 4:3 masking and not by cropping, which ruined a few visual jokes in the Seinfeld widescreen broadcasts. The Blu-ray presentation is, for the most part, quite good. The pilot episode looks rough compared to other episodes and the presentation does jump up in visual quality starting in season four. Detail and clarity is quite good, though some scenes are a bit soft. The colour palette is full of red, white and blue primaries (naturally), while the greens and other natural colours look very good. Black levels are quite good and there’s no evident crushing, Skin tones are natural.
On the audio side of things, we have an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 soundtrack. Subtitles are available for English SDH. I guess a show focused on the in-and-outs of US politics isn’t screaming for too many translations. As a 2.0 presentation, your surrounds and subwoofer can take the night off, visit friends, or even take up knitting. The all-important dialogue is clear and prioritized in the mix.
The 28-disc set is housed in two plastic cases contained in a thin cardboard slipcover. There is no digital code. The extras are all legacy extras from the previous DVD releases with nothing new to commemorate this Blu-ray release. There are audio commentaries from production staff and cast on 21 of the episodes, a variety of behind-the-scenes production featurettes in standard definition, some unaired scenes, and a couple of season gag reels.
Though one can quibble that the upgrade to Blu-ray should have earned a little more fanfare in terms of some new retrospective extras, the fact is that this is a show that made its mark and featured excellent acting and writing. The Blu-ray video presentation is an upgrade over the DVDs. If you love the show and want to own it, or you want a piece of TV history that’s not subject to the whims of streamers, The West Wing: The Complete Series Blu-ray is a good add to your collection.