Masters of Sex: The Complete Series Blu-ray Review

Mill Creek Ent., TV-MA; 43 hrs. 44 mins; $69.98

Now available on Blu-ray from Mill Creek Entertainment is Masters of Sex: The Complete Series, featuring all 46 episodes from the 2013-2016 Showtime series.

Developed by Michelle Ashford, the series is inspired loosely based on the non-fiction book Masters of Sex by Thomas Maier, which was based on the real-life Masters and Johnson research team. The series stars Michael Sheen, Lizzy Caplan, Caitlin FitzGerald, Teddy Sears, Nicholas D'Agosto, and Annaleigh Ashford.

Set in the 1950s to the late 1960s in St. Louis, Missouri, the series centers around Dr. William Masters (played by Michael Sheen), a gynecologist at the Washington University who is obsessed with studying sex, which at the time there was no official research on the subject. Despite objections from Provost Barton Scully (played by Bea Bridges), Dr. Masters begins his research outside the office, which involves looking through a peephole while a prostitute, Betty Dimello (played by Annaleigh Ashford), is with her clients.

Eventually, Dr. Masters persuades Scully to let him begin his sex study at the university. Believing his current secretary isn't up to the task to search for volunteers for the study, he hires Virginia Johnson (played by Lizzy Caplan), who quickly becomes his assistant and later his research partner.

Life was a little different back then, so the subject of "sex" was a little taboo and so was Masters and Johnson's research. Throughout the series, Masters worked at three different hospitals before opening up his own independent research institution with Johnson. Masters and Johnson would later co-write the book Human Sexual Response.

Bonus Features include:

NEW Commentary on the Pilot with actors Michael Sheen, Lizzy Caplan, Caitlin FitzGerald, Teddy Sears, writer Michelle Ashford, & executive producer Sarah Timberman
Over 40 minutes of Deleted Scenes
Making Masters of Sex
A Masterful Portrayal: Michael Sheen as Dr. Masters
NEW Ahead of Her Time: Lizzy Caplan as Virginia Johnson
NEW The Real Masters: A Conversation with Thomas Maier
NEW Surprising Facts About Sex: The Masters’ Great Discoveries
The History of Sex
NEW The Women of Sex
NEW The Men of Sex: Actors’ Roundtable

Final Thoughts

Masters of Sex is one of those series that should have done better in ratings that what it did. Even by Showtime standards, the series just didn't get many viewers during it's original run. Maybe it had something to with the 1950s/1960s setting. Or maybe today's viewers just weren't interested in the fictionalized stories of Masters and Johnson. Whatever the reason for the lack of viewers, I for one was a fan of the series. Well, I still am a fan of the series!

If you're looking for a historical documentary of Masters and Johnson, you're going to have to look elsewhere. Like I said, this is a fictionalized version of real-life people and many things have been changed to make the their stories more interesting for modern viewers, which includes lots of nudity, sex scenes, and meaningless subplots.

I had read a few reviews where fans had problems playing the Blu-rays from this set. I didn't have any problems playing any of the 8 discs. The picture and sound quality were topnotch. There are several bonus extras and special features.