West Wing: The Complete 3rd Season (DVD)

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However, there is an unexpected downside to this. I am a political junkie and I love most of the stories on this show but I must admit that some of the situations are a little over the top. But hey, it´s show business and they need to write such stuff in to keep the show interesting. Also, political neophytes will have a very hard time following some of the more procedural and intricate threads that involve artful political negotiations between the White House and Congress in order to pass a Bill. "The West Wing", brilliant as it is, unfortunately is not for everyone.

Again, this 4-DVD set continues the series tradition by using double-sided DVDs. Each side of the first three DVDs contain either three or four episodes, with one side of the fourth disc reserved for bonus material only. Together with the special episode, "Isaac and Ishmael", the regular season´s 22 episodes are spread out over three DVDs in the following manner:

Disc One, Side A: "Isaac And Ishmael", "Manchester Pt.1", "Manchester Pt.2", "Ways And Means"
Disc One, Side B: "On The Day Before", "War Crimes", "Gone Quiet", "The Indians In The Lobby"
Disc Two, Side A: "The Women of Qumar", "Bartlet For America", "H. Con-172", "100,000 Airplanes"
Disc Two, Side B: "The Two Bartlets", "Night Five", "Hartsfield´s Landing", "Dead Irish Writers"
Disc Three, Side A: "The U.S. Poet Laureate", "Stirred", "Enemies Foreign And Domestic"
Disc Three, Side B: "The Black Vera Wang", "We Killed Yamamoto", "Posse Comitatus"

Video:
Season Three continues the previous season´s timely switch to episodes that are presented in widescreen anamorphic video measuring in at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. For those who are not aware, the first season´s DVD set was presented in awful fullscreen 4:3 video and the switch to widescreen only happened in Season Two. Currently, "The West Wing" is broadcast in beautiful high definition on NBC. Overall, the images on this DVD have very little flaws with no dirt or scratches to mar your viewing pleasure. Its colors are also beautifully rendered and the skin tones, natural. Subtitles are available in English, French and Spanish.

Audio:
Although only encoded in Dolby Surround 2.0, the patriotic musical scores envelope the sound stage and engage the audience very well. Most importantly, in a series that relies so much on its fast paced banter between characters, the dialogue delivery through the center channel is very clear and sharp. Only an English language audio track is available.

Extras:
Only one side of the fourth DVD is used for bonus material. One major discrepancy is the listing of a bonus feature called "Political Missteps" on both the cover and the insert booklet but is nowhere to be found on the bonus fourth disc.

First, there are three audio commentaries:
"Manchester Pt.2" with commentary by Aaron Sorkin, executive producer Thomas Schlamme and actress Allison Janney.
"Bartlet For America" with commentary by Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme and actor John Spencer.
"Posse Comitatus" with commentary by Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme and Alex Graves.

All three audio commentaries are by the numbers, with the usual background information about that particular episode that the participants are commenting on.

On Disc 4, the first bonus feature is "A Property Master´s Story", which has interviews with executive producer Thomas Schlamme, property master Blanche Sindeler and On-Set property master Steve Whiteside. All three interviewees talk about the little details that go into making the Oval Office and West Wing sets as realistic as possible. Up next is an oddly named feature called "The Chief of Stuff", which is an interesting piece on the role of a Presidential Aide, played on the show by Dulé Hill. It has interviews with Hill and also two of former President Clinton´s Personal Aides, Kris Engskov and Andrew Friendly. Next, there are three deleted scenes to choose from, one each from the following episodes: "The Two Bartlets", "Enemies Foreign And Domestic" and "Posse Comitatus". All three deleted scenes are of low quality, grainy and also display the timecodes.

The last and final bonus feature is also the most interesting one, called "Documentary Special". This feature is divided into five segments, each dealing with an aspect of being and working for the most powerful man on Earth. It contains interviews with former Presidents Clinton, Carter and Ford and also other prominent White House personalities.

Packaging:
All 4 DVDs in this Season Three set are again, like the previous seasons, packed in a foldout 4-panel Digipak package that is enclosed inside a hard cardboard box. Also included is a glossy booklet that details all the episodes plus a short synopsis of each. This time, the color scheme for the whole DVD set is green.

Film Value:
As I mentioned earlier in this review, Season Three of "The West Wing" is unfortunately the start of a decline for the series. Not as strong as the previous two seasons, this third season does not try anything new but just more of the same. It can be a good thing for some but for me, boredom is slowly settling in. However, all is not lost. "The West Wing" is still one of the best television series to come out in the past few years. It just needs to get past the directionless plots that it is currently heading into and emerge with a stronger and more decisive track.

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