Is the New FX (Fox) "Iraq War" T.V. show Good or Bad?

[Up2Late]

I'm kind of split on this one.

On the one hand I think this could trivialize and glorify this stupid War, but on the other hand, maybe it will bring "the Human Face" to this War, as the FX people and Producer Steven Bochco keep saying.

Steven Bochco is an Emmy-winning producer of NYPD Blue, LA. Law and Hill Street Blues; co-creator and executive producer of "Over There."

What do you folks think?

Note: They are interviewing SB on the WHYY/NPR show Fresh Air today, you can hear that plus a "Talk of the Nation" interview at the NPR links below:

<http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13>

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4769957>

[rinsd]

1. I like to actually see something before I decide on its merits...

...and it hasn't premiered yet.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I boycott anything that's a part of Fox. Guess I'll never know!

[Blue_Tires]

3. WAY too early to tell

have to see how the storylines go, and how things are portrayed

[GreenPartyVoter]

26. Agreed. But I don't think it will ever unseat M*A*S*H as the best ever

military setting TV show.

[T Wolf]

4. If it is, as SB has been quoted, non-political on the issue of the war,

It is not doing anything positive.

That being said, people will read into it what they want to see.

[cobaindrain]

5. I'd like to know more about Steven Bochco

Sure he says it'll be "non political" just like FOX News calls itself Fair and Balanced. I wonder if he's a freeper in hiding.

[stray cat]

6. I'm going to wait and see....

Unlike World War II, most Americans are sheltered from the realities in Iraq. If done right, it could keep Americans from shrugging off the fatalities and injuries because they don't know anyone fighting over there.

[evermind]

7. Bad.

I haven't seen it. I won't be seeing it. I just think there's no way on God's earth Fox would be showing it if it contained something like a realistic look at the ethical issues of today's Iraq.

I'd predict a few of the issues to come up in a watered down sort of way, and to be resolved in favour of the status quo by the "good guys" by the end of the series, with maybe a few "bad apples" getting theirs: similar to the treatment of ethical policing issues in Hill Street Blues.

Call my vote an informed guess, if you like ;-)

(It may be great watchable and entertaining TV, by the way (and I'm not ashamed to say I loved watching Hill St Blues) - but I assume this is a moral question being asked, not an aesthetic one.. )

[Up2Late]

12. Your assumption was right, it was a moral question, and I should say...

...I have NEVER watched a single episode of "Hill Street Blues," "L.A. Law," "NYPD Blue," "Doogie Howser, M.D.," "Cop Rock" or "Murder One," All shows by Steven Bochco.

I don't know why, I guess they just seemed too fake and a waste of an hour that I could spend watching a classic movie or doing something else.

[rocktivity]

8. Other--it's a stealth recruiting tool.

You can be sure that Over There will appear to give a "fair and balanced" view of fighting the Iraqi war. But if Boccho says it's going "non-political," he's being artistically dishonest. The politics surrounding this war are NOT incidental to the plight of a group of good-looking young people hoping to survive. For example, I doubt there will be storylines about soldiers being ill-equipped, contractors living high on the hog, or reservists' families facing eviction because they can no longer pay the rent.

With the decline of support for the war, the president, AND military recruitment, Boccho knows perfectly well that Over There doesn't have the luxury of merely being entertaining. He has to turn the war into a glorified video game by making Iraq look "sexy" to younger viewers.

Here's the trailer, by the way.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Up2Late]

14. Did you see the lame press quotes they are using fat the link...

...you gave?

From "The Dallas Morning News" (a very RW Paper) to single words pulled from the middle of a review from the NY Times. Sheesh.:eyes:

[skids]

9. Not for me to say.

I'll leave it to the men and women of our Armed services to determine whether they feel represented, or exploited, by this material.

[warrens]

10. FX isn't Fox, I don't think

It's just a cable network that does a lot of SciFi and movies.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. Yes it is....Fox Extended Networks.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
FX (shorter for Fox Extended Networks) is a name carried by two cable television and satellite channels owned by News Corporation's Fox Entertainment Group.

[Kraklen]

13. Does it show the Iraqi side of the story?

Does it glorify them as much as it does American troops?

No?

Then it's propaganda.

[imenja]

15. Has anyone actually seen it?

Or would that be irrelevant?

[ticapnews]

16. Why would anyone want to see something before they pass judgment?

Isn't that the criticism liberals often lay on conservatives when it comes to books and movies? "How can they judge something they've never read/seen?" Isn't this the same thing? People are making assumptions without actually seeing the object of their derision. They are being just as hypocritical as the conservatives who want to ban Catcher in the Rye without ever reading it.

I will be watching tonight and unless it is horrible, will probably watch again next week. Based on what I have seen and heard about the show, I expect it to be a gritty, bloody, fairly realistic look at the war over there. It can never reproduce the true realities of war, but if it humanizes the soldiers, puts faces and names to them, and shows the mental as well as physical impact this has on them, I think it will be a positive. If it glorifies war and turns into propaganda or a recruiting tool, I would be against it. But I am not going to pass judgment on it before I even see it.

[imenja]

17. it's typical

not just about TV shows and movies but just about everything else--people make judgments based on preconceptions rather than a careful examination of circumstances and evidence.

[Up2Late]

18. Kick n/t

:kick:

[Neshanic]

19. Garbage. Repulsive and wrong. No I did not see it.

I saw the wild commercial though, and they ruined the Sneaker Pimps for me; it's a real attention getter.

You do not have to be a rocket scientist to get the Fox connection, the "OCing" of the war and not vomit from the fact that we can't see what we really should be allowed to see and read about the war, but can see having FX "cool it up"

I have been vaporized by many on the topic on another thread.

I guess having a show with the usual cute and handsome suspects playing war, while we are fighting the same war with civilans dying, and our troops coming back maimed makes me one of thos ol' fashioned Vietnam era people. We are so unhip.

[Up2Late]

27. Not to worry, you express my feeling almost to a T

I was just hoping to see if anyone else saw this the same way. Some do, some want to wait and see, I can live with that.

[Mr_King]

20. I saw it tonight and I thought it was GREAT!

I saw it earlier tonight and I thought it was very good. I went into it thinking it would probably be pro-Bush propaganda but it wasn't. They didn't even say Bush's name at all during the entire episode. It didn't lean right and it didn't lean left.

It was about soldiers all from different walks of life being taken away from their families to go over to Iraq. None were rich or from even well to do families.

I think it will be a very good series and not a vehicle for talking points for pro-war conservatives.

My favorite part was when the soldier who was fighting with his wife and told her he wished they had never married before he left, well anyway he gets a chance to leave her a video message from Iraq and he tells her he loves her and he's glad he married her and as he sends the message she's in the bed having an affair with another man.

[bluedog]

22. I saw it and liked it

it put a face on the "war"........it showed the bombings ..it showed men getting legs and limbs blown off......you heard the screams.....some won't like it because it shows the deaths.and maiming of soldiers......its not a RAH RAH Horray show.........like I said....puts a face on the war

[ticapnews]

21. This was NOT propaganda, and in no way glamorized the war...

Anyone who watched that tonight and still wants to enlist is certifiable. This was not a rah-rah, what a cool video game with a rocking soundtrack, Uncle Sam Wants You recruitment film. This was gruesome. I found it disturbing and there were moments when I literally had to look away from the screen. It was heartbreaking to see a soldier break down when sending a message home, saying "We're savages."

It shows things from a soldier's view: from being torn from your family to having to follow questionable orders and nearly getting blown to bits because of it. Looking at the previews for future episodes, I think people who wrote this show off because it wasn't going to include any Iraqi perspective or emphasize the impact on people back home should give this show a chance. Tonight Abu Ghraib was mentioned and it certainly looks like there will be more storylines depicting the sheer hell both sides are going through in this conflict. The effect on loved ones back home will also be featured prominently as this season goes on.

I'll be watching. And I recommend it, with a caveat. It is brutally violent and the language is typical of what you would expect from a bunch of soldiers - there are no "gosh-darnits" or "shucks" on this show. But if you thought this was going to be propaganda or recruitment material, give it a chance.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ticapnews]

25. Did you watch it?

If you did, please give us your own, informed, viewpoint. If not you have no idea what you are talking about.

[SuperWonk]

24. I enjoyed it

I was pretty impressed with the show. They managed to show the gritty realism of war without sensationalizing it too much. I plan on continuing to watch.

[Up2Late]

28. I still think I'll stick with the real thing. From some of the...

...discriptions above, I think it would just disgust me.

I don't know if you have, but if you have time, watch one of these Frontline Documentaries and tell me (us) how the show compares to the real thing.

<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/company/>

<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/warriors/>

Another good show is "Off to War" from the "Discovery /Times Channel. Unfortunately, it looks like only episode 3 is on-line, I saw episode 1 on D/TC.

<http://times.discovery.com/convergence/offtowar/offtowar.html>