Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

mbeallo-78462 I agree with the positive reviews. I think the series was amazing. I loved the book (yes, it was a book), the movie, and the series, both the CBS version and the Showtime version. They were all great, but the Showtime version was the best.I saw the original film when I was in high school. After seeing the movie, I read the book (written by John Jay Osborn, Jr.). Those were two things that made me want to go to law school. I eventually did, but not until I was in my early 30s.I don't know what to add beyond what has already been said. Houseman's Kingsfield was the archetype law professor. I never had a professor that was anything like him, thank goodness, but I did have a lot of respect for my own Contracts professor.If the show is not available on DVD, it should be. If you haven't seen it, and there's any other way of watching it, give it a shot.

bpatrick-8 I spent a short time in law school about a year before the CBS version of "The Paper Chase" started. I'm not sure law school is as intimidating today as it was in the '70s, but it was pretty accurate at the time. Still, I would not care to see this show revived in a softer classroom environment, and for one reason: John Houseman. He actually did teach acting at UCLA drama school, and a student once told him he wasn't acting in "The Paper Chase," that that was really his classroom manner. And as for his character, Professor Kingsfield, yes, he can strike fear in his students, but at the same time, when he allows himself a small smile after a particularly good class, you know he's rooting for his students to make it into the legal world. Personally, I think that if there were more Kingsfields at real-world colleges (and even high schools), we wouldn't be talking about a crisis in education in this country.I also want to single out James Stephens, who I thought was a more credible Hart, the Midwestern kid who idolizes Kingsfield, than Timothy Bottoms in the movie; Bottoms seemed to be the last of the hippies. I also liked the fact that the series rarely, if ever, got into the relationship between Hart and Kingsfield's daughter, the subplot of the movie. There are some shows ("Law & Order" was another) where viewers don't care about the characters' personal lives.It's been noted that "The Paper Chase" was slotted against the two hottest shows of the era: "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley." CBS may have been hoping for an alternative audience, much as "The Waltons" achieved against Flip Wilson a few years earlier. Thus, some of the episodes were flashier than "The Paper Chase" should be; the nadir was the one where Hart escorts a visiting Russian gymnast; Houseman refused to appear in that episode.Finally, like the similar "White Shadow," which was on CBS around the same time, these students do graduate! And as Houseman himself might say, they've won Kingsfield's respect the old-fashioned way: they've earned it.

bps It has been 20 years since broadcast, and it remains a favorite of mine. The Paper Chase was then called "too good for television", assumedly due to its highly intellectual, fast moving content. The characters were well chosen right from the start. Running from 1983 to 1986 it was to follow a group of students through law school, from the very first day to graduation. The show was extremely well written. Social interaction, challenge, struggle, and eventual triumph (in most cases) formed the plots. I recall describing this series as "making more points than a rose bush". It would be great to re-air the series, as every topic is just as valid today. John Houseman will be forever irreplaceable.

ziggyff Please put this out on DVD or some odd cable channel in repeats. This is one of the few shows that outdoes the movie version and where even a with second broadcast chance on Showtime, there was no loss in quality either. I'm tired of HBO always getting the raves as having the best original series. This qualifies, as it received new castings each year and yet maintained quality throughout. I loved it so much I tried following the cast members who moved on to other TV shows, movies, etc.. The show even intermixed some humor and parody into basically a serious drama, for example; the episode "My Dinner with Kingsfield" or the "Moot Court" episode to name a few. I've had to keep my beta VCR working since I kept them on tape all this time. Easily the best thing ever put out on Showtime and probably in the top 10 on broadcast TV too.