The Night Of: DVD + Digital HD

The other positive reviews are all correct. In addition they did something I have never seen. The point of view of the accused is elucidated from beginning to end. We the audience experience what the accused perceives; The event, the arrest, the interview at the cop shop, the holding cell experience, the jail where the accused is housed awaiting trial, etc.And all of this is real, almost documentary real. You actually feel like what it feels to be in jail. You know what it feels like to go through the experience. I've never had that feeling before and I've watched tons of cops and robbers shows.

This show is amazing! It's easily one of the best mini series I've ever watched. From the first episode on it kept my wife and I glued to the TV. We binge watched the whole thing in 3 nights on HBO. The story is very well written. As far as a crime story goes it's kind of typical. There is a crime committed. Someone is accused. His lawyers spend the series defending him and developing a defense while the prosecutors develop a case against him. So that part isn't new or unique.But the characters are what sells the show. Every character has depth that just sucked you into the story. It's like you are there in the show with them because everyone seems to real. For example (extremely minor and unimportant spoiler alert...the next line contained info that occurs in the first episode. It's not critical to the plot and will not ruin anything fro you I swear) there are two cops in the first episode. They are New York City beat cops who have very minor roles in the series. Basically someone has to make an arrest so they wrote in these two cops to do it. Yet despite their very minor status and limited screen time you learn a lot about them as individual people. They become very three dimensional even though they probably don't really need to be for story telling purposes.You see the same thing with all the characters. One of the main characters has a skin disorder. Why? It's not integral to the plot. The story could easily survive without this element. But it makes the character more robust and makes him feel more real to the audience. Another character always listens to opera when driving. Why? Again...this adds nothing to the story, but adds a lot of depth to the character. It makes him different. Every character has something like that. Each cop has different personality and quirks that prevent them from all looking like generic background characters. Same goes for the prisoners in the jail scenes. (That's not a spoiler. It's a legal drama. You have to expect jail scenes)Then there is the attention to detail of the legal proceedings and jail scenes. They are a little modified for entertainment purposes. (The jail is a little scarier than actual jails, but not much. I speak from experience having worked in and toured numerous jails and prisons, thankfully always as an observer and not a resident. The court scenes are a little more streamlined to make them go faster. Real court is the single most boring thing on the planet with tons and tons of procedure and document exchanges and such. It has to be sped up and streamlined a bit to make it a watchable drama.) But the overall accuracy showing how police work is conducted and what a crime scene unit does and how prosecutors care about the politics of a case and how mistakes get made, etc etc.. It's all very believable.The writing keeps you guessing. It does not spoon feed you what actually happened in the crime up front. It leads you down many possible paths of the crime so you keep guessing. That keeps it interesting. It's not like they tell you the main character is guilty and show how he defends himself, nor does it show you the main character is innocent and then shows you how he tried exonerate himself. This one tells you the results of the crime, not the details. The rest of the series is about getting that figured out. You don't know who to believe / trust / or suspect.Then there is the acting. Holy cow this is where the show just goes to another level. There is not a single bad actor on the show. And by 'not bad' I mean they are all fabulous. There are a few familiar faces from The Wire, including Michael Williams (Omar Little from The Wire). He is an absolutely fantastic actor. He gets type cast into a lot of roles of criminals because he's a mean looking dude due to a big scar across his face. For a non criminal role he is in a show called Hap and Leonard where he plays a southern country bumpkin type and nails it. The man can flat out act.John Tuturro is amazing in anything he does. And I do mean anything. From The Jesus in The Big Lebowski to a goofy role like he had in the Transformers series. Here he has a very dramatic role that he brings to life. His character has so many odd quirks that it's amazing he can keep it consistent. But he does it perfectly.Riz Ahmed is the central character of the show. I can't say too much about how he makes his character perfect without giving away important plot details. But the short version is that he makes his character grow substantially in both good and bad ways between the beginning and end of the show. Becoming a character is tough enough for an actor. Becoming a character then appropriately developing that character in response to the story so he changes with the plot is REALLY hard. Ahmed is perfect at it.The bottom line is that this show is incredible. I had never heard of it until my wife said "Let's watch this" three days ago. Now I'm done the series. I didn't even find that it left you wanting more. It's just a well scripted 8 episodes that entertains you and stops when it should.

...no extras! Odd, given the fact that it's a bluray - isn't the format made for bonus content? (The superior picture and sound, sure, but....)It would have been nice to have features with the stellar cast and its creators about the production. Indeed, the John Turturro role was originally intended for the late James Gandolfini (credited as one of the producers). It would have been interesting to see how his untimely death affected the final product.Mostly written by the great Richard Price - who has a great cameo. Price, best known for his work on The Wire, frequent collaborations with Martin Scorsese and his amazing novels (The Wanderers, Clockers) is unusually articulate and darkly droll. It would have been nice to have an interview or commentary. If you own the Kino-Lorber bluray, The Wanderers, you'll see what I mean. This guy has the gift of the gab.Enough complaints. A great work of art and entertainment. Highly recommend.

One of those RARE movies or series you wish you hadn't seen so you can see it all over again as if for the first time.I'm giving The Night Of 5 Stars [rare rating for me] because the riveting plot is not quite anything we've seen, a tense suspenseful thriller in a rare original idea. A deep study of life, of misfortune born out of a seemingly minor infraction that took on a life of its own~~the wrong choice at the wrong time, people and places [that regrettably happens to us all]. I'm so eager to see Season 2 I'm deflated it's not already on Amazon for viewing and will have to wait a year. Checking online it appears there WILL be a Season 2 which I HIGHLY LOOK FORWARD to. LUCKY is the viewer who gets to watch Seasons 1 and 2 back to back.The actors, acting, directing are superb, the quality and true-to-life texture of the scenes, characters and filming~ A+. I could and would very much like to go into greater detail but do not wish to steal your thrill by outing any of the plot or of revealing how Season 1 ends.Enjoy !!

Seriously GOOD. This isn't the kind of series I'm normally drawn to, but after seeing the 5 star reviews, I only partially read one because I don't like spoilers, I thought I'd give the first episode a try. I was hooked. The acting, the story, the realism--was spectacular. I'm a fifty-something year old female and I loved it! Highly, highly recommend it to all audiences, with the exception of children and young teenagers, obviously, due to the mature themes and graphic adult content. I binge watched it and this is better than anything I've seen in a long time. It had everything; suspense, drama, humor. I don't know if there will be another season, I hope so!

Truly an astounding piece of work from the script to the casting, acting, directing, cinematography, and editing. To capture such a realistic story and present it in its complete, real-time Agony and Ecstasy of Life on film is rare, but this one tops the echelon of great films. Including the lesser innocents of the living as perfectly depicted in the final 5 seconds of the film. Don't miss this masterpiece. It is a disturbing look at what happens to the innocent wrongly convicted, deep-seated racism in every race, and the inexcusable failure of the police to comprehensively investigate everything under the "obvious" appearances. As if you were right there.

This was a great series. It was well-acted and well-written. It was full of drama and suspense. A college student is accused of being a murderer and he is thrown into jail with hardened criminals.The series covers the different angles of the tragedy - how he is getting along in prison, how his family are coping, what his legal team is doing and what the police and prosecutor are doing. It is quite interesting some of the things that are discovered about the student and the young woman he is accused of killing.This is a high quality production and if I could give it more than 5 stars I would. If you enjoy murder mysteries you will like this one.

I can say like all the rest of the reviewers here to Recommend this HBO limited series..love it if they make another.this was based on the BBC. series “Criminal Justice” now this eight part series is produced by James Gandolfini”Sad very Sad To have passed. sometimes its not that easy in thinking you’ll survive the outcome of aninnocent encounter, but when your mind is filled with all the ideas that you think can get you through it.you stump your toes an all hell breaks loose, an leave you wondering what the hell happen..this is not how itsuppose to happen..especially when you’re in the minority group of people..John Turturro” (John Stone) was the absolutely best one for this part..couldn’t have pick a better person.love him an the Cat..even though the man was allergic he still persevere to the last..I love how they get Riz Ahmed to play this Stoic faced person that really played to the show.but the weirdest thing to me is, with all that blood how the hell they didn’t conform that in their investigating.even if he had showered the blood would be in the tub..did not get that part At All..just see the guy with a weapon an wham.I would love to say more but can’t it would surly give away your viewing pleasure..I Too Recommend This Show With Absolutely Pleasure..English 5.1 DTS-HD.1.78:1 16x9.Runtime 525 Min. On Three Disc..

Il est vrai que l'on est rarement déçu par les séries HBO. C'est intelligent, c'est fin avec de l'humour au second degré et des personnages diablement attachants incarnés par de remarquables acteurs. L'histoire est prenante et passionnante. A ne pas rater, à mon avis.

Pour moi, cette saison est une pépite. J'ignore s'il y aura d'autres saisons (avec l'avocat comme fil conducteur?). Si vous avez aimé The Wire, ne passez pas à côté de cette série dont le thème est bien différent (série judiciaire) mais qui est de qualité égale, à mon humble avis.

I loved this series. The Blu-ray picture and audio quality are outstanding. Having said that I watch it on 4K TV playing it back on a 4K UHD Blu-ray Player. You cannot go wrong, if you don't currently have a 4K TV it will look even better when you do.