Product Description

Oz: the name on the street for the Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary - except they've just changed the name. It's now the "Oswald State Correctional Facility: Level Four." Maybe it's truth in advertising. Maybe by getting rid of the word "penitentiary," the state is finally admitting that nobody's penitent. Nobody's sorry. Nobody.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Audio commentary by creator Tom Fontana and director Chazz Palminteri on "Unnatural Disasters"
Deleted Scenes:22 minutes of deleted scenes
Episodic Previews
Episodic Recaps

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4303 in DVD
• Brand: OZ
• Released on: 2004-02-24
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: .55 pounds
• Running time: 480 minutes

Features

• Oz: the name on the street for the Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary - except they've just changed the name. It's now the "Oswald State Correctional Facility: Level Four." Maybe it's truth in advertising. Maybe by getting rid of the word "penitentiary," the state is finally admitting that nobody's penitent. Nobody's sorry. Nobody.Running Time: 480 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA

Amazon.com
A volatile men-in-prison soap opera, fueled by testosterone and lubricated by blood, HBO's Oz is addictive viewing. The third season of the most violent show on cable TV, set in a cage of concrete and steel and glass, opens with echoes of violence past. Miguel Alvarez (Kirk Acevedo) is in solitary confinement for brutally blinding a guard, one-time drug lord Simon Adebissi (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) mourns for his murdered father, and Tobias Beecher (Lee Tergesen) nurses bones broken by Aryan Brotherhood leader Schillinger (J.K. Simmons) and a heart broken by the betrayal of Keller (Law and Order: SVU's Christopher Meloni). Their stories of vengeance, redemption, and forgiveness anchor this season.

The show races through each episode with a driving pace that only intensifies the ferocity. But for all the show's physical brutality, the most affecting violence is emotional, from the strange and savage love affair between Beecher and Keller to the escalating war of terror between Beecher and Schillinger. On a lighter note, this season marks the debut of both Miss Sally and new prison CO Sean Murphy (Robert Clohessy), whose understated strength is too often overlooked in the face of the show's more explosive personalities. Season 3 ends pitched on a powder keg, with the fuse in the hands of the show's most ferocious, unpredictable character. It's the kind of promise that will have you slavering for season 4.

The three-disc set features all eight episodes along with a season 2 recap, episode recaps and previews, commentary on the episode "Unnatural Disasters" by writer-creator Tom Fontana and episode director Chazz Palmintieri, and 22 minutes of deleted scenes. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

GROUNDBREAKING........
Finally, season 3 of OZ will be released early next year. This is by far the most fantastic tv show ever made. It's the best thing ever made.

If you're reading this, you've probably watched all seasons of OZ, or at least a few of them so I won't have to tell what it's all about. All I can say is, I'm in love with OZ. Tom Fontana is a genious, what he has created is magical, the characters are so alive and realistic, you feel for them, you start to love them no matter what crimes they've committed, you understand why they do what they do, you realize that everything they say and do is a part of survival, they have to survive in Em City, in OZ, no matter what it takes...

O'Reily, responsible for pretty much every murder in OZ, including the riot, Beecher, the extreme transformation, rivality with Schillinger and love for Chris Keller, Said, always keeping his faith, at least in this season, Hill, Rebadow, Schillinger, Adebisi, Pancamo..... I could go on and on.

My favorite characters of the inmates are Toby Beecher, Chris Keller - I find their love/hate relationship interesting. You don't have to put a label on it saying "Beecher and Keller are the two gay guys", it's far beyond that. As Tom Fontana said: "It's two men or two people struggling to find and maintain love in an environment that completely works against them." There are sad moments, good moments, Schillinger who constantly tries to get between them and destroy Beecher. And no matter what happens in Toby's and Chris's relationship, even if they're not together at the time, you know that they love each other, more than they'll ever love anybody.
Tobias "Toby" Beecher goes through the most extreme transformation I've ever laid my eyes on, it's amazing to watch him, from the beginning of his time in OZ until he finally makes his revenge on Schillinger in season 1, lands in the hole and comes out as a new man.
Chris Keller who first came to OZ as one of Schillinger's men, making friends with Toby, making Toby fall in love with him, then broke his bones and totally ruined everything they had togehter. And when Toby lands in the hospital, you see Chris back in their pod, his hands on Toby's bunk, touching Toby's pillow with a remorsefull look on his face - a 5 second sequence that makes me chill, no words can describe that scene.
In season 3 we follow his attempts to make Toby understand that he really does love him.
The chemistry between the actors, Lee Tergesen and Christopher Meloni, is brilliant, sparkling and convincing. And perhaps since they're good friends in reality, they know how to work so well together.

My other favorite is Ryan O'Reilly, the man nobody can trust. Always up to something and usually gets what he wants, O'Reilly is one of a kind. Played by Dean Winters, who I think is a very talented actor. The way I feel when I watch Winters is, he doesn't seem to be acting at all, and I mean that in a good way. He's tough, he's smart, he doesn't trust anyone, he is responsible for many of the murders commited in Em City, and since he's got a great brain he manages to stay out of trouble during the investigations. Also, there's not only a cold hearted side of O'Reilly. He backs up the weaker inmates, he stood by Beecher's side when he just got to Em City, and even though he made Beecher addicted to heroin, he was there when no one else was. And there's always Ryan's love for his brother Cyril, who he'd do anything for.

For the OZ fans that yet don't know - Season 4 will preliminary be out October 5 2004.

Great set...more please...
I don't spring for the pay channels, so I'm one of those that missed the show's entire run and only heard how great it was. I also heard how harsh it was, so when the DVD's started coming out I was hesitant to buy them, afraid that I'd hate the show and end up stuck with the DVD's. Luckily that wasn't the case. Yeah, it's harsh. VERY. But it's also one of the best-written shows I've seen in a long time. Beats the heck out of most network junk. I just wish the 'seasons' had been longer. I didn't want them to end. There's not a lot of extras on the DVD set, but I don't really mind that.

My request to HBO: get the DVD's out FASTER. Considering that each season is only 8 episodes, it's ridiculous that people have to wait so long between releases.

Oz, the best show on HBO......my opinion, of course!
"Oz" is the BEST show on HBO. The writing is very sophisticated, the cast is superb, and the storyline is excellent.

I only have one problem. How come HBO is releasing this DVD series slower than a snail crawls across the road. Come on, HBO, if you can release "Sex and the City" and "Sopranos" faster than I can write this review, you, the people at HBO can certainly release "Oz" DVDs a bit faster!