K Street - The Complete Series

Starring:Mary McCormack, John Slattery, Roger Guenveur Smith, James Carville, Mary Matalin, Michael Deaver
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
What a weird and wonderful creature is this thing called K Street. Named after Washington, D.C.'s "fourth wing" of political power and coproduced by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh, this beguiling, problematic HBO series ran for only 10 half-hour episodes, each aired immediately after blistering five-day production schedules during which Soderbergh, as director, editor, and videographer (under his nom de camera, Peter Andrews) combined fact and fiction within Washington's corridors of power, casting savvy actors alongside real-life D.C. power brokers, journalists, lobbyists, and political consultants. The result is one of the most unusual hybrids in television history, in which top-drawer consultants (and bipartisan celebrity couple) James Carville and Mary Matalin work for a fictional firm run by a reclusive billionaire (Elliott Gould), where they must endure FBI scrutiny for doing business with a Saudi organization that might be a front for terrorists. As this crisis approaches meltdown, Soderbergh's fly-on-the-wall approach (first tested in Traffic) grows increasingly fascinating (especially for Beltway insiders, many appearing as themselves) and potentially mystifying for less-informed viewers. There's no hand-holding here, no back-story, no glossary or who's-who, and (most regrettably) no DVD supplements to guide the political layperson. What you get instead is a privileged glimpse of backroom politics in action, quasi-factual, semi-fictional, and never less than riveting. --Jeff Shannon
Description
K STREET is an experimental fusion of reality and fiction--an entertaining, fly-on-the-wall look at government, filmed in and around the corridors of power in Washington. The series ventures inside the world of powerful political consultants--a world that few people ever experience first-hand. Produced on location in Washington, D.C., the largely improvised ten-episode series combines fictional characters with appearances by real-life political figures, all centered around the biggest political news of the week.

K Street - The Complete Series
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Please enter a title for your review

K-Street---A Sodderberg K-lassic

The Seinfeld of Political Mercenary Shows?

too bad they got canceled

just not for me

K Street - The Complete Series
Starring: Mary McCormack , John Slattery , Roger Guenveur Smith , James Carville , and Mary Matalin
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00020HB3W
Release Date: 2004-07-20

Amazon.com

What a weird and wonderful creature is this thing called K Street. Named after Washington, D.C.'s "fourth wing" of political power and coproduced by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh, this beguiling, problematic HBO series ran for only 10 half-hour episodes, each aired immediately after blistering five-day production schedules during which Soderbergh, as director, editor, and videographer (under his nom de camera, Peter Andrews) combined fact and fiction within Washington's corridors of power, casting savvy actors alongside real-life D.C. power brokers, journalists, lobbyists, and political consultants. The result is one of the most unusual hybrids in television history, in which top-drawer consultants (and bipartisan celebrity couple) James Carville and Mary Matalin work for a fictional firm run by a reclusive billionaire (Elliott Gould), where they must endure FBI scrutiny for doing business with a Saudi organization that might be a front for terrorists. As this crisis approaches meltdown, Soderbergh's fly-on-the-wall approach (first tested in Traffic) grows increasingly fascinating (especially for Beltway insiders, many appearing as themselves) and potentially mystifying for less-informed viewers. There's no hand-holding here, no back-story, no glossary or who's-who, and (most regrettably) no DVD supplements to guide the political layperson. What you get instead is a privileged glimpse of backroom politics in action, quasi-factual, semi-fictional, and never less than riveting. --Jeff Shannon

Description

K STREET is an experimental fusion of reality and fiction--an entertaining, fly-on-the-wall look at government, filmed in and around the corridors of power in Washington. The series ventures inside the world of powerful political consultants--a world that few people ever experience first-hand. Produced on location in Washington, D.C., the largely improvised ten-episode series combines fictional characters with appearances by real-life political figures, all centered around the biggest political news of the week.

Customer Reviews:

Please enter a title for your review.......2006-07-01

I liked Unscripted so I figured I could trust the previous work of the same creative team to be as good, but that turns out to have been a bad call. First episode was incomprehensibly dull. It didn't seem to be about anything, just a lot of dull, inane semi-comprehensible banter and forced laughing. It's behind the scenes political stuff, but only stuff that's so minor and inane that I can't imagine anyone actually caring about it or finding it interesting. I figured the whole series would follow suit, and be about the lead up to the 2004 election, so I was pleasantly surprised when the focus ended up being on other aspects of what the PR company does, and the next couple episodes were actually about something. Those things being the mp3 sharing copyright infringement issue, and whether the PR company should represent a Saudi Arabian organization. Episodes two and three stand out from the rest as being pretty interesting. After that it gets a bit convoluted again. A lot of the show is edited so you don't know what's happening while you're watching it, and you get to piece it together later to some extent when a later scene gives it context, but about a quarter, maybe a third of the content, never slots into place. The last episode is almost the most random of the bunch, giving very little closure to the fractured plotlines that had been building up until that point. The show, i guess, is very experimental, the experiment being how little can you show and how non-linear can your editing be while still conveying a comprehensible narrative, and in my opinion the result of the experiment is you can't push it as far as this show did. When half the scenes leave you asking "what was that about?" and trying to examine the details of what was said to work out which part was pertinent, that's more work than watching a tv program should be. I feel like trying to find some entertainment value in any episodes other than two and three was a waste of my time.

K-Street---A Sodderberg K-lassic.......2006-01-07

Those of us who like Steven Sodderberg's work will definatley love K-Street. The recent success of movies like Traffic and Syriana should show the viewed of any of his films or TV creations, that his main goal is to show the duality of man.

The characters in K-Street represent this Duality. Maggie Morris is a leader in the lobbying group with connections with the Bush White House. She looks like she has everything in control but her personal life is like a roller coaster. She is a lesbian and had a very turbulent relationship with another woman, this has quite an effect on her working relationship with others. Francisco Dupree, an odd man who has his hands in everything and knows many key players in Washington, is in reality nothing more than a political opportunist. In one instance he hires a photographer to take pictures of him with congressional and senetorial leaders. Tommy Flannegan at first glance seems to be a quiet well mannered lobbyist. Instead he sees a therapist with his wife because of his dark secret where he picks up prostitutes and makes pornographic movies. The final key point is that all of these members are essentially opportunists who conduct have internal wars with eachother.

K-Street features a cast of real life political hard ballers with James Carville and his wife Mary Matalin forming main characters. In addition there are apperances by James Dean, Tucker Carlson, Tom Daschle, Paul Begala, Al Hunt, and many more.

K-Street is quite possibly one of the best series on political lobbying and the infighting in Washington. I especially liked the Sodderberg form of filming, using interesting angles and filters.

While I enjoyed the way the creators had free-thought scripts, it eventually led to my main point of contention. The story had so many different plots and stories it went in a million different directions and kept the viewer off-guard and then unriveted.

As for the DVD I was hoping there would be much more offered. I had hoped that there would be interviews with political leaders or even George Clooney, yet there were no extra features. At the end of episode 10 there was really nothing that finished up the show. It just simply ends. To be honest when it finished I was getting into the story and I felt ditched.

I will give this 4 stars because while the DVD and some of the plot was lacking it is still a necessary addition for anyone who loves politics or very interesting intelligent television.

The Seinfeld of Political Mercenary Shows?.......2005-10-04

Negative spin: K Street is mostly about... nothing.

Positive spin: K Street is "reality," showing DC players not always playing the game - with petty conflicts, banal personal conversations, worries about how to decorate the office....

Negative spin: The lead characters are mercenaries who form their own lobbying firm to get more $$ than public service pays. When the firm decides to take on a client, the bottom line is king. They use spin to justify getting the big and bigger contracts. The leads talk loud and fast, yet rarely say anything meaningful/tangible. In short, these characters seem empty and unpleasant. I would be surprised if this show inspired anyone to get involved in politics.

Positive Spin: It's the truth. It's why elected officials and their staffs often differentiate sharply between "legislative" and "political" work. They describe themselves as nobly "legislative." "Political" is code for K Street campaign and PR people who make big $$ and seem to have no loyalty; the rented strangers.

Negative Spin: The "plot" and characters seem slow to develop. (Except for Carville and Matalin -- we already know their stock characters). So you figure the last episode will be a payoff, and the season will culminate in some type of climax or surprise. Instead, the series just sort of... ends. And you think, Okay ten episodes of... pretty much nothing. Well-shot and beautiful to look at, but nothing.

Positive spin: The series ends with the characters in mid-stride, and they just keep on living out of our view. It's like friends and acquaintances you say goodbye to, and won't see for a while.... No dramatic closure, just like reality. Your curiosity lingers, Hmmm, I wonder what they're up to now....

too bad they got canceled.......2005-09-03

I had no idea what this dvd was about but I was intrigued by James Carville and Mary Matalin. Anyway I didnt even know it was fiction. I read somewhere that there were actors but when I was watching it I couldnt figure out who was an actor and who was a real. Actually it was only in the second DVD when really weird stuff started happening that you knew it wasnt reality TV. It was incomplete, and I really wanted to see where all this weirdness headed. I was a little bummed that it got canceled because I found Carville really entertaining.

just not for me.......2005-07-01

This show is so boring all it's about is poltics. What was HBO thinking having the one of the oddest shows out, it doesn't play no background music even when it's going off. And all the people do on that show is argue like petie little children, in one episode I found very shocking to hear was from a blond hair woman saying the two oldest sons of Saddam Hussian that died they made their bodies into make up she said it's so (Queer Eye for the Straite Guy) and another episode she call a gay a fag, I didn't know she had that in her. What I found weird was why would actor George Clooney would talk what the show is all about during previews, he has nothing to do with political things. Thank god "K-Street" never did get a second season.

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