August 04, 2005
Too Real
Has anyone else been watching Over There(annoying Flash-only site warning)? Over There is the new Steven Bochco series about a squad of soldiers in Iraq. It's on FX for a couple of reasons.
First, it's pretty graphic. The first episode showed an RPG vaporizing a guy's torso while his legs ran for another three or four steps and one of the main character's right leg getting blown off by an IED. Secondly, the language is fairly salty and realistic. The main reason it's on FX though is because it's a little too current and a little too real.
When was the first TV show about Vietnam? I know movies started coming out in the mid to late 70's but from my memory, the first TV show about combat in Vietnam was Tour of Duty which began airing in 1987. I watched it when I was in high school just because "Paint It Black" was the theme song. China Beach (Dana Delaney!) was around the same time but was less focused on combat.
Some on the right might say the show is too liberal because it doesn't depict Halliburton employees painting walls in Iraqi schools, or the wonders of 12-hour/day electricity and almost running water but so far Over There appears pretty apolitical. It's focused on a few people in one squad and reflects how being in a place where every passing car might explode in your face turns even the most timid into someone who would rather shoot first. The second episode had the squad manning a roadblock in order to catch an insurgent leader. Innocents were killed including a young girl. Bad guys escaped, a bad guy was caught and an Arab GI from Detroit arrived which raised tensions a bit.
It's pretty pretty gut-wrenching to watch but very well done.
Posted by Half-Cocked at August 4, 2005 10:42 PM
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Comments
I think you're off by about 15 years. The first TV show about Vietnam premiered in 1972. It was a tiny little show called M*A*S*H. Perhaps you've heard of it? :-)
Whether or not M*A*S*H is "about" Vietnam is debateable. It really depends on your definition of "about." The show is set in Korea during the war there, but it is no secret that M*A*S*H was intended to be a protest against the Vietnam War. Once the war -- the real-life war, that is -- concluded the show became more character-driven and less of an outright critique of any specific armed conflict.
Posted by: Mr. Wilson at August 5, 2005 10:29 AM