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OZ Complete Collection (Series 1-6) [1997]


RRP: £89.99
Our Price: £64.98 (subject to change)

probably one of the best tv shows ever
Review date: 2008-11-15 Rating: 10 out of 10

i would have to agree with the first 2 reviews..i originally caught this on channel 4 late at night and was hooked. gritty,violent,gripping and unbelievable...every episode is packed full of incident and makes you want to watch the next one.

i would have to say this is one of the best series ever made.

BUY NOW...YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.

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Reviews


Ronnie Barker's 'Porridge' this ain't
Review date: 2008-10-21 Rating: 10 out of 10

Oz is one of the hardest hitting TV series ever made. Set in a US maximum security penitentiary, it follows the struggles of inmates and staff to cope with their dreadful environment.

Much of the drama is driven by the rivalries between the various prisoner factions, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Latinos, the blacks etc. There is a fantastic array of thoroughly unpleasant, yet highly watchable characters, most of whom are just plain bad.

The six series also chart the journey of everyman character Tobias Beecher, a Harvard educated lawyer convicted for vehicular manslaughter committed whilst under the influence. Beecher's ordeals inside Oz and the nature of his transformation in order to survive life there are truly disturbing.

Original UK fans of the show may particularly welcome this box-set as Channel 4 aired these series erratically, with ever-changing late night programme times and huge gaps between seasons. Having the complete works will allow viewers like me, who were sometimes remiss setting the video, to catch up on missed episodes and enjoy watching Oz with some continuity.

With its frequent and graphic scenes of brutal violence, this is definitely not for the faint-hearted, but viewers wanting challenging and compelling drama will find plenty of it here.

This is highly recommended.


Money making stunt
Review date: 2008-09-23 Rating: 6 out of 10

This box set should not have been released.

I already have the 6 series on DVD and I will not buy this just "to have it" as some collectors will. The Oz series was and is superb.

The extra features etc as they have put in the box set I think just serves to dilute the impact, the power and the strength of the series - the story lines and very powerful acting within. This is one series of shows that should not have included any "extras" etc.

The series is strong enough to stand on it's own with out this box-set and that will do for me !!

Unflinching prison drama for those who can take it
Review date: 2008-09-07 Rating: 10 out of 10

Oz, is the slang name for Oswald State Penitentiary; the fact that it is (presumably) name after Lee Harvey Oswald - an innocent man - gives the audience some idea of where this programme is coming from.

Oz is a hugely neglected masterwork, featuring the best cast you've never heard of. This overlooked drama series never stepped out from The Sopranos' shadow, which is a great shame as it deserves to be considered alongside HBO's greats: The Sopranos, Deadwood and The Wire; that is, Oz can be considered as one of television's greats.

Viewer be warned, Oz is set inside a maximum security prison and it doesn't make for comfortable viewing, given that it is populated by neo-Nazis, bikers, black gangbangers, militant Muslims, Latino gangs, the Mafia, drug dealers, pimps, hustlers and killers. Trying to keep a lid on the escalating violence and even making a gesture at reforming the inmates, are a desperate staff of Correctional Officers, psychiatrists, doctors, priests and administrators.

At only eight episodes per series, unlike The Sopranos, The Wire's and Deadwood's thirteen (or thereabouts), Oz is fast-paced, intense, brutal and uncompromising but always intelligent and never sensationalist. There is humour in there too but given its subject matter, it's somewhat of the gallows variety. Creator Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote every episode of the entire six seasons, deserves great credit for depicting a world full of pretty vile but human people, people whom you generally wouldn't want to spend any time with at all - yet in his hands, they become compulsive viewing.

What seems to draw the most negative criticism of this programme, is not the violence, the drug use, profanity or sexual element of the series but rather the classical device of the Greek chorus, in which Augustus Hill, an incarcerated crack dealer and cop-killer, offers a commentary and reflection on the events portrayed in each episode. This has proven a frustrating interruption for some, an ironic interlude for others.

Rather than review every individual series, briefly put, the first four series of Oz are fantastic (including the fourth double-length series), the final two seasons are slightly uneven but are still far superior to much else on the fool's lantern.

If prisons are an extreme reflection of society at large, then Oz captures the paranoia and pre-millenium tension of a society at war with itself, unsure or perhaps even unwilling, of how to progress to a more compassionate level.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Terry Kinney

Creators:
Terry Kinney (Primary Contributor)
Tom Fontana (Writer)

Recording label: Paramount Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Entertainment
EAN: 5014437949936
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 6
Format: Box set, PAL,
Release date: 2008-10-27
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 3224 minutes
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: Portuguese (Original Language)

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