The West Wing: The Complete Series

Like most hot-headed, always right youts out there, I had strong feelings about the Government, our leadership, and the direction the country was headed during my formative years. My first voting election was Gore vs Bush so as I’ve aged up over the last twenty-some years a close hotly-contested election isn’t new to me. During that time, in the hours when one would doubt the sincerity of our elected officials and their staff, there was Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing to provide a soothing balm of confidence that our republic would prevail.  

From 1999 to 2006, the series took the Emmy Awards by storm scoring dozens of wins, but amazingly enough, series lead Martin Sheen went away winless despite some incredible moments throughout the show’s run. The lack of wins for Martin Sheen could well be because the series itself isn’t exactly about his character President Josiah Bartlet, it’s about the people who keep the White House and the administration running. While Sheen certainly stood out front in the cast list, it was the supporting troops that shined brightest. Regulars Allison Janney, John Spencer, Bradley Witford, Duley Hill, Janel Moloney, and last but not at all least, Richard Schiff guided us from one domestic or international crisis to the next. Along for the ride would be an impressive parade of guest appearances from the likes of John Goodman, Matthew Perry, and Christian Slater with semi-regular appearances from John Amos, Alan Alda, Jimmy Smits, Marlee Matlin, and Gary Cole among many others.

One could throw some shade at The West Wing for being overly-idyllic. True enough, this show does play up to some sort of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington-styled liberal fantasy, however, I would say it was careful to never depict the characters or the fictitious administration as always being right. They’re far from perfect. More often they botch things up quite severely, but they’re also given the chance learn and try for better the next time. The show smartly makes the point that government is people and people screw up. Whether or not they can make it right often depends on how the next election turns out. 

And through seven seasons, The West Wing was a rock-solid watch. It might have gotten a little dicey for a few episodes when Aaron Sorkin had to step away from being the showrunner, but it ultimately held steady. From one ripped-from-the-headlines plot to the next, from one glorious walk-and-talk shot to the next, The West Wing mined television gold. I’ve been through the series now maybe three times in total, possibly four, and I love it. It’s a show I come back to every five years or so and I enjoy seeing it hasn’t aged out or become irrelevant. If anything, I’m more surprised (but thankful) that there hasn’t been an attempt at rebooting it. Certainly, the format could work for an ongoing "Next Administration" approach, but being locked as a singular event ensures it remains special. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray 

Elected to the office of 1080p, The West Wing: The Complete Series comes home to Blu-ray for the first time. All 156 episodes come home spread over 28 Region Free BD-50 discs. The discs are housed in two Epik Pak multi-disc cases, seasons 1-4 in one case, seasons 5-7 in the second. The cases are larger than a standard Blu-ray case by over an inch, so depending on your shelf setup, you’ll need to find alternate arrangements. The Epik Pak cases are housed in a thin paper slipcase that has a faux leather look with the silver presidential seal. Also included is a gatefolded booklet episode guide letting you know which disc had what episode and if there are bonus features or a commentary track present. Each disc loads to a static image main menu with standard navigation options allowing you to play all the episodes on disc, or choose which you’d like.

The West Wing enters the Blu-ray physical media debate with a largely successful 1080p 16:9-framed transfer for each episode. As the show switched to full widescreen broadcast after a couple of seasons, the first seasons have been reframed to match the latter episodes. Since the show was shot on 3 perf Super 35mm film stock, this reframing isn’t distracting or incongruous to the experience of the show - unlike what was done for something like Seinfeld, MASH, or early episodes of The Simpsons as some examples.

My understanding is when they transitioned the early episodes to widescreen, they simply removed the pillar box masking and went on from there. I don’t have the DVDs easily at hand anymore for comparison so I can’t speak to direct A-to-B, but I didn’t feel like anything was cut off or missing from any given shot. The only real visual oddity for these early seasons is the opening credits, those remain at 4:3. Without any official explanation for what that is, my guess is the credit sequences were produced on video, not film and locked as is. 

The other thing that may be irksome to some fans with the transfers for this series is the “Previously On” recap reel that we saw on broadcast (and I believe the DVDs) is no longer here for every episode. The recaps are there if the episode in question has a commentary track, otherwise they’ve been removed. Again, at a guess, I assume this has been done because we’re now in the era of binge-watching and the recaps aren’t necessary since we’re no longer watching week-to-week but hour-to-hour. I’m indifferent to their presence one way or the other, but I can see how some out there would be bothered.

But how does the show look in 1080p? Largely pretty damn good. Perhaps not pristine picture perfect, this doesn’t look to have been a ground-up reconstruction of the series like what Paramount did for Star Trek: The Original Series or The Next Generation, but it looks very good. Now the pilot episode, which has always looked rough, still looks very rough. But it still looks better on disc than streaming! Which remains true for the rest of the series. From one episode to the next, the visual quality of the series improves. 

The first three seasons are the low points (relatively speaking) of the set where fine details don’t quite pop as cleanly and clearly. But once the series hits around Season Four, it’s much more stable appearing and the visuals come through much cleaner. Those fine lines and facial features which we see so much of in close-ups are closer to expectations for this impressively produced production. Colors are bright and bold, considering the show, Old Glory sparkles with bright reds and blues with striking whites. Skin tones for our cast members are healthy and human without being uniformly peached or pinked out. 

All in all, I call this a much better presentation than the old DVDs, and certainly a much more stable and appealing 1080p showcase than streaming. I wouldn’t quite call it a home run, but it certainly gets a few batters on base. Again some out there may be irked Warner Bros. changed the original broadcast aspect ratio for the early episodes and the lack of recap bumpers might sting, but overall I’d call this a win.

On the audio side each episode is given a clean and active DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio track. Given how much walking and talking happens in each episode, the show is very dialog-heavy (shocker!), but it’s not without its atmospheric charms. The sound effects mixing was top-notch stuff letting each location sound busy and expansive without overloading the mix. All the pontificating speeches are given their due with appropriate music swells. The big campaign stumps in later seasons are active and engaging. The Emmy-worthy scene in ‘Two Cathedrals’ sounds amazing in its simplicity.

On the bonus features front, what we have is a nice long series of archival commentary tracks for specific important episodes and a smattering of featurettes. Now, I never went through these years ago when the DVDs first came out so they’re all new to me. Overall there’s a lot of great stuff to enjoy once you’ve picked through the show again

S1 Disc 1

• Pilot Episode Audio Commentary featuring Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme

S1 Disc 2

• In Excelsis Deo Audio Commentary featuring Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme with Alex Graves

S1 Disc 3

• Take This Sabbath Day Audio Commentary featuring Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme
• Celestial Navigation Audio Commentary featuring Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme with Christopher Misiano

S1 Disc 4

• What Kind of Day Has It Been Audio Commentary featuring Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme
• The Primaries (SD 17:29)
• The Inauguration (SD 29:03)
• Capital Beat (SD 8:08)
• Sheet Music (SD 6:28)
• Unaired Scenes (SD 5:12) 
• Gag Order (SD 2:58) 
• The West Wing Suite (SD 1:50)
• Off the Record (SD 3:28)

S2 Disc 1

• In the Shadow of Two Gunmen Part I Audio Commentary featuring Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme with Bradley Whitford and Janel Moloney
• In the Shadow of Two Gunmen Part II Audio Commentary featuring Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme with Martin Sheen

S2 Disc 2

• Noel Audio Commentary featuring Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme with Bradley Whitford

S2 Disc 4 

• 18th and Potomac Audio Commentary featuring Aaron Sorkin, Robert Berlinger, and Kathryn Joosten
• Constructing Two Cathedrals (SD 17:40)
• Unaired Scenes (SD 9:28)
• Gag Order (SD 1:16)

S3 Disc 1

• Manchester Part II Audio Commentary featuring Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme with Allison Janney

S3 Disc 2

• Bartlet For America Audio Commentary featuring Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme with John Spencer

S3 Disc 4 

• Post Comitatus Audio Commentary featuring Aaron Sorkin, Alex Graves, and Thomas Schlamme
• Documentary Special (SD 42:15)
• A Property Master’s Story (SD 10:47)
• Chief of Stuff (SD 13:20)
• Unaired Scenes (SD 4:51)

S4 Disc 1

• Game On Audio Commentary featuring Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme with Alex Graves, and Joshua Malina

S4 Disc 4

• Commencement Audio Commentary featuring Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme with Alex Graves 
• Twenty Give Audio Commentary featuring Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme with Christopher Misiano
• Behind Every Good Man… is the First Lady (SD 12:33)
• The Letter of the Word (SD 18:39)
• Unaired Scenes (SD 4:34)

S5 Disc 1

• 7A WF 83429 Audio Commentary featuring John Wells and Alex Graves
• The Dogs of War Audio Commentary featuring John Wells and Christopher Misiano

S5 Disc 3

• The Supremes Audio Commentary featuring Alex Graves, Jesica Yu, and Debora Cahn

S5 Disc 4

• In POTUS We Trust (SD 13:39)
• Gaza: Anatomy of an Episode (SD 15:04)
• Unaired Scenes (SD 5:30)

S6 Disc 3

• King Corn Audio Commentary featuring John Wells and Alex Graves

S6 Disc 4 

• In God We Trust Audo Commentary featuring Lawrence O’Donnell Jr. and Christopher Misiano
• 2162 Votes Audio Commentary featuring John Wells and Alex Graves
• C.J. Cregg: From Press Secretary to Chief of Staff (SD 14:44)

S7 Disc 4

• Live From The Director’s Chair (SD 50:18)
• Countdown to West Wing Live (SD 25:19)

The West Wing remains one of the all-time best Television Dramas ever broadcast. Considering we now live in a new golden era of modern television, it’s wonderful to see this show not only holds up, but still has the potent sting of crisp writing, terrific episodic direction, and one of the best ensemble casts ever assembled. At its worst, it was simple entertainment. At its best, it was riveting and inspirational. Now with some help from Warner Bros., The West Wing: The Complete Series moves from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to 1080p Blu-ray. All 156 Episodes spread over 28 discs, the show properly enters the HD disc era with a welcome visual upgrade over past DVD releases while polling far better than its streaming opponents. Every episode might not pop off the screen, the early episodes are the toughest nuts to crack, but overall it’s still a brilliantly produced show. Audio is clean for each episode letting us enjoy that crisp crackling dialog and we have hours of archival extras to dig into. Some fans may take issue with the lack of episode bumpers at the beginning or the reframing of those early episodes, but as a whole, this set treats the office of The West Wing with respect. Recommended