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Street Date: September 30
Official Synopsis:
In this world, the proverbial thrill of victory and agony of defeat aren’t always in front of the camera. The groundbreaking series Sports Night reveals the struggles and victories of a witty dream team from a fictional cable sports network who close ranks in daily battle against cranky network executives, unforeseen technical mishaps, unpredictable athletes and personal quagmires to put “Sports Night” on the air live every night. A show-within-a-show, the genre-breaking Sports Night merged the respective television drama and comedy classification and gave rise to a unique hybrid TV series that is infused with rich characters, snappy repartee, dramatic moments, and kinetic multi-single-camera scenes that stretched the visual possibilities of the conventional sitcom. The first pairing of the now-legendary creative team of Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme (West Wing, Studio 60), Sports Night boasts a pedigreed ensemble cast including Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives), Peter Krause (Dirty Sexy Money, Six Feet Under), Josh Charles (In Treatment), Robert Guillaume (Benson), Sabrina Lloyd (Numb3rs, Ed), Josh Malina (The West Wing) alongside recurring notable guest stars William H. Macy, Teri Polo, Brenda Strong and Ted McGinley, among others. This brilliant but short-lived Emmy®-winning show set the stage for an array of tongue-in-cheek send-ups of high-stress entertainment media industry themed shows seen on today’s television.
Our Take:
I’d never watched a single episode of Sports Night prior to this new 10th Anniversary Edition DVD release. I’d always heard good things about it and I knew that it was an early Aaron Sorkin show, but I just never had any exposure to it. Maybe I, like so many other people, was turned off by the name of the show, which suggested to me at the time that you’d have to be into sports to enjoy it. While I’m a huge football fan, I really don’t pay attention to any other sports. Whatever the reason is, Sports Night was about as far off my radar as a show could possibly be for a very long time.
What I didn’t realize is that the reason I’ve always heard good things about the show is because it’s absolutely brilliant. Watching Sports Night has been one of the most enjoyable television experiences I’ve ever had, and watching it on DVD is the way to go. While I deeply lament the fact that the show isn’t on the air anymore and that it only lasted two seasons, I love being able to sit down and watch four or five episodes in a row, because this show is so good that you can’t watch less than that.
Sports Night is classic Aaron Sorkin, he of The West Wing and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (another great show criminally cut short before its time). There’s lots of rapid-fire dialogue, plenty of scenes of people having conversations while walking through the halls, and an absolutely perfect balance of drama and comedy. This isn’t a laugh-out-loud show, but it doesn’t matter. It’s so smartly scripted and well-acted, and the characters are so memorable and endearing, that you can watch a single episode, not laugh audibly once, and still come away more satisfied than from watching a whole night of current network programming. The only (and I do mean ONLY) complaint I have about the show is the laugh track, which you can tell was added at the network’s insistence. It’s terrible. Sports Night is not a laugh track kind of show, and it just seems completely out of place here. Of course, if the biggest complaint you have about a show is the canned laughter, then you’re in pretty good shape.
Have I mentioned the brilliant cast? There isn’t one unrecognizable face in a lead role, as everyone on the show was either already a star or became one after this. If the combination of Felicity Huffman (my favorite character on Desperate Housewives), Peter Krause (Dirty Sexy Money, Six Feet Under), Josh Charles (In Treatment), Robert Guillaume (Benson), Sabrina Lloyd (Numb3rs, Sliders), and Joshua Malina (The West Wing) doesn’t make you want to watch this show, what will?
Sports Night: 10th Anniversary Edition is a terrific box set that collects both seasons of the show and a number of new extra features. The series was available once before on DVD in a bare bones collection, but this newer, better set is brimming with extras.
* Commentaries – Eight episodes feature commentary tracks by Krause, Malina, Charles, Lloyd, and others.
* The Show (34 minutes) – New interviews with most of the cast highlight this retrospective featurette.
* Face Off (20 minutes) – Real life sportscasters talk about the show and its account of the profession.
* Sports Night Looking Back (26 minutes) – An interview with Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme.
* Inside the Locker Room (20 minutes) – A making-of feature on the production of the show.
* Episode Promos.
* Booklet – A 30-page episode guide with trivia, photos, and an introduction by Sorkin. I love these, and I wish the studios would do more of them.
Like me, I know you’ve heard how good this show is. I know you’ve read some critic’s glowing review of it and then forgotten about it. I know you’re reading this right now and there’s every chance that you’re not going to go out and buy this set. Don’t make that mistake. Sports Night is some of the very finest that television has to offer, and you are absolutely, without a doubt missing out on it if you don’t buy this set.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Overall Picture:
Show: A+
DVD: A
- Mike Spring
Editor
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