New TV drama series about the War in Iraq

[woo me with science]

Does anybody else get a creepy feeling about this?

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2005/07/27/conventional_over_there_holds_its_fire/

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2005-07-26-over-there_x.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072601980.html

[Taverner]

1. Damn we haven't even lost that war yet

[SteppingRazor]

2. This is the first you're hearing about this?

You mean you haven't seen the commercials on FX that have been running about 5 an hour, every hour, for the past three months? ;)

[soup]

4. Yep.

My question is, watch? or not? I'll probably try, but don't know how long I'll last.

http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/overthere/main.html

[NYCGirl]

5. They just played a commercial for it on Air America. NT

[woo me with science]

18. interesting. nt

[woo me with science]

17. yes

We don't buy cable. Read about it in the paper.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

3. I think it's going to be compelling TV

that RWers will be howling in protest against.
Bochco says it will not be political, but depicting
war as it is (and the previews sure look like that's
what it will be doing--as much as TV can) will ultimately
be anti-war. We'll see.

[KarenInMA]

6. I'm looking forward to it. FX produces the best stuff on cable,

by far.

[jayfish]

25. Faux?

:eyes:

Jay

[KarenInMA]

28. Yes. It's weird, but shows like "the Shield" and "Rescue Me"

are well written and well acted. Much better than the crap found on other channels.

And I recommend "30 Days" to everyone. It's facinating.

[Justitia]

7. Also seen ads for new show "E-Ring" about the Pentagon

starring Dennis Hopper of all people.

I can't even begin to process all this warmongering as "dramatic entertainment". :eyes:

[SteppingRazor]

9. Hopper makes perfect sense...

He's actually become very conservative and pro-military in his old age.

[Justitia]

14. Yup, I've noticed that too. What happened to the Hopper of

Blue Velvet and Easy Rider???

It's so bizarre to see him as a RWer these days.
Guess all those drugs rotted his brain after all.

This "role" must be heaven for DH - "I don't have to actually BE a fighting soldier, I can just play one on TV!"

[SteppingRazor]

16. Don't blame the drugs --

In point of fact, maybe he was conservative all along, and it was only the drugs that kept him sane. :smoke:

[JDPriestly]

8. You said it. Creepy. Ghoulish.

This sounds like a recruiting ploy dreamed up in the White House. It's sort of got Karen Hughes's name on it or maybe someone schooled by Karen Hughes. Where is Bochco getting his material? Has the government given him access? Did he take one of those government sponsored trips to Iraq? If so, that's a bias in itself. Is he talking to GIs who have returned? If so, it would be interesting to see the names of his advisers. Or, is he just dreaming the material up on his own?

I wonder whether the guys will be scripted to swear a lot. If the language is cleaned up, it's obvious White House propaganda. If every other word is obscene, maybe propaganda, maybe not. This is a story to watch.

[NYCGirl]

10. If it's on F/X it won't be cleaned up. Have you ever seen "Nip/Tuck" or

"Rescue Me"? Not cleaned up shows. The right wingers HATE those shows.

[woo me with science]

19. But how do you convey the actual experience of war

in a weekly hour-long tv show? The closest I've seen to something that approached reality was Saving Private Ryan, and that was a movie that took months and months to create, with a massive budget and painstaking attention to detail. Simply given the format, the advertisers, the constraints...how does this not become a sickly artificial, cleaned up version of what is actually happening to people?

[NYCGirl]

22. Some of the reviews I've seen have said that's the best part of the show..

the smaller, more personal stuff is not as good. We'll just have to watch it and see.

http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/review/2005/07/27/over_there/index.html

What works best about "Over There" (debuts Wednesday, 10 p.m. EDT, on FX), the new Steven Bochco series set in the Iraq war, is everything you'd think would be hardest to pull off: the surreal experience of battle, the drudgery of an Army private's work, a hot, dusty, ancient sense of place. What fizzles like a dud grenade is the stuff Bochco -- who won Emmys for the shows "Hill Street Blues," "L.A. Law" and "NYPD Blue" -- is supposed to be good at: character and drama. This makes "Over There" a strangely lopsided piece of work. When the characters are shooting, being shot at, or getting ready to do either, it's some of the best TV around. As soon as they take off their guns and start talking, prepare to grind your teeth.

The series follows the members of one Army unit during their first tour of duty in Iraq. It sticks to the grunt's-eye view; the only people who talk politics in "Over There" are the occasional (and startlingly handsome) insurgent leaders the soldiers capture. And while it's not entirely clear whether the action in each episode is supposed to be happening in Iraq right now, references to Abu Ghraib suggest as much, presenting the show with the interesting challenge of keeping up with volatile real-world developments. Whether future episodes will deal with actual offensives (such as the siege of Fallujah) or just fictionalized ones (in the "ripped from the headlines" mode of "Law and Order") remains to be seen.

[Straight Shooter]

11. Probably not a good idea.

Americans have a hard enough time distinguishing fact from fantasy, especially those with limited *cough* intelligence; i.e., bushies and freepers.

It isn't good propaganda for either side because it will dilute the reality. But then again, what do I know. I don't watch television :shrug:

[KharmaTrain]

12. Could This Be Another M*A*S*H?

I haven't seen anything other than the write-ups and news clips. I'm not interested in watching, but am wonder aloud if this might not be a bad thing.

I enjoy Brocho's work...and am wondering if he's developed the new M*A*S*H. No, not that it's a war comedy, but the timing. The original M*A*S*H movie came out in '69 and the TV series a year or two later...and while it said Korea, the message was very "Vietnam".

Without seeing scripts and plot lines, I won't pass judgement here as Brocho's been known to tweak "the establishment" in his shows...and this might be the door the "sheeple" can look and get a perspective of this invasion...in a human term...that will change their whole perception on this regime and invasion (similar to what M*A*S*H did to many during Vietnam).

Just thoughts...

[woo me with science]

20. maybe.....but

in all honesty, i almost as creeped out by the possibility of artificiality on our side as i am on the pro-war side. It feels WRONG to put an ongoing, human war into a weekly hour-long "drama" slot on TV. It just feels like whatever they come up with runs the risk of becoming a huge mischaracterization or betrayal of the people who are actually living through this. From what I read, the "stars" of this show are going to be the American soldiers over there. I wonder if this "drama" will even include ordinary Iraqis.

[KharmaTrain]

23. Let's See What This Shows First...

I can share your concerns and I would hate to see this invasion glorified like some WWII propaganda film loaded with stereotypes and lies, but I don't think Bocho will be doing that.

Television has always tried to mirror the mindset of the country (turning this into ratings and money), and this invasion is part of that mindset now. I don't think this will be a shoot-'em up, video game portrayal that the recruiters and chickenhawks will want to see.

Truth be known, we really don't know what our troops are going through there. All our corporate media shows is sanitized "embedded" material where the grunts have to act good when the cameras are rolling. Hopefully this will show the real feelings these guys are feeling when the cameras are shut off.

If Bocho is basing his series on real soldiers and stories, yes, I would imagine we'll see "ordinary Iraqis", and a portrayal that is as confusing of them as they have of us as we all have about this dirty invasion.

We'll see if this series is "real" if there's attention paid to the "contractors"...the real hidden army in this dirty war.

[Redstone]

29. Excellent point about the mercs...I've been annoyed

about this "civilian contractor'" business ever since those four guys got hung from the bridge.

Maybe there wouldn't have been all of those misplaced howls of outrage if the news had referred to them as mercenaries instead of "civilian contractors.

Here we have a bunch of guys tearing around in a combat zone, wearing body armor and armed to the teeth, and then we wonder that they get waxed? But when they're called "civilian contractors," everyone though of them as being mechanics or something.

At least everyone I talked to at the time thought they were mechanics or truck drivers or something, until I corrected them.

Another depressing parallel to Viet Nam...not so much mercenaries per se but the fact that the situation is devolving into there being a number of different wars in addition to the "main" one.

Redstone

[JDPriestly]

24. I don't want to see war trivialized.

But, then I don't want to prejudge this show. I don't watch TV so I'll wait for the DUers' reviews. Thanks in advance for letting me know how this unfolds.

[kcass1954]

13. If the corporate media whores would do their jobs...

we could see this during the evening new hour where it might have some impact on the koolaid-drinking sheeple. Regardless of how it's put together or promoted, it will be seen merely as "entertainment".

[woo me with science]

21. exactly

This is what I was fumbling to say but couldn't articulate. You got it exactly.

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. I will watch and see what it shows. But if I get a rah-rah war feeling

from it, off it goes and out go the outraged emails.

[Pacifist Patriot]

26. Apolitical anesthesia.

[Johonny]

27. Is it going

to be like MASH and run twice as long as the actual war. Meaning that this series will be still playing in the next century.