"over there" tv drama about iraq war on fx now.

[cloud75]

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I thought it was gonna be a reality show.. not a drama.. My bad

[vickitulsa]

3. Yeah it's a drama, but Bochco is doing it

and he was always good at what he does. Saw Chris Matthews interview him today and I'm looking forward to this show even more than I was.

The first ten minutes was outstanding....

[GreenPartyVoter]

52. My thoughts so far

-sterotypical and flat characters (I guess it'll take some time to get them to grow)

-could there be more gunfire?

-I did kinda like the comment from sarge about the general 72 miles away deciding the outcome of their situation based on how the PR might go

-the roadside bomb seemed darned realistic

Adding to say i thought sticking the song in the middle of the show.. that was very contrived.

[Nevernose]

2. 3 hrs to go -- tell me if it's worth watching

The advantage to being a west coast DUer.

"Hey, tell me if I should bother with SNL tonight" and "Was that guest on 'The Daily Show' an good?"

[Jamison]

4. I'm watching now too

it seems good so far!

[Neshanic]

5. This show is obscene in so many ways, it's almost pornographic.

In a Hollywood midrise:

"We need something to grab the kids, you know like a video game. I'm just blue skying here, but let's have a MASH for the new centrury but not anti war. You know we loose alot of audience if it's anti war, so we have to show it cool and cutting edge with all the requiste toys."

Anyone who thinks this show is cool is a major league sicko. Imagine a "cool Vietnam War" show that was on weekly, and had the loveavble troop of the usual suspects that populate this cesspool show.

Nothing like getting the ratings, and the money, AND having a show that serializes this war, instead of getting the raw feed that would horrify americans out of their fat ass chairs.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

8. It's on in Arizona right now?

[Neshanic]

14. Oh, The you are not watching it so how could you judge gig.

The commercial are real grabbers I gotta admit. The Sneaker Pimps song in a baroque setting that turns out to be a fragment of a building. It's a grabber alright.

The premise and the whole thing as a show is just so wrong. Wrong since we are on here trying to find leaders to get us out of this mess, but don't mind a little war peddling, T and A, swearing and cool looking actors with awesome firepowerf for entertainment. Anyone who likes the show so much should enlist.

I got your reality right here.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

19. Yeah you had me thinking you had it on satellite!

[A-Schwarzenegger]

25. Who likes the show so much?

I havent even seen it. I won't watch it now though
after your pre-review. Not.

[Neshanic]

26. Good for you. Be entertained....

Make sure you get your beer before the obligitory plot arc of "sexy/self reliant gunner chick" falling for "thought he was badass tank guy".

Entertain us! Fox please entertain us!

[A-Schwarzenegger]

30. Naw, keep yer beer.

Way I look at it, anything that can turn a single mind
against this war is a good thing. I appreciate you working
so hard to make up my mind for me, though.

[Neshanic]

35. Good for you, keep thing those Fox thoughts.

[NYCGirl]

36. Have you watched the show, or are you doing one of those right winger

Last Temptation of Christ bits? "Well, no, I haven't seen it, but I know it's bad."

[Neshanic]

38. What do you have to SEE? It's the whole enchilada....

You don't see what's really going on in Iraq, thanks to networks like FOX , so you know it's good. That kind of right winger thingy?

[NYCGirl]

40. Fox News and F/X are very very different kinds of networks.

So the "Fox kneejerk" doesn't work here.

There's a few other series I like on F/X like Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me, and Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days. All beautifully written and/or produced TV.

[Neshanic]

45. No Dorothy, that's FX the good witch, the bad witch is under the house.

[NYCGirl]

53. Whoopsie! You just fell off the deep end. NT

[Neshanic]

58. It's a joke. Try it sometime. Fox bad? FX good? Both FOX

I am sure that having a show about a war in progress to "entertain" us by a network whose sister network would not show the truth ever.

Of course, seeing it in a real hip way with the cool music make up for the torture pics and the truth we will not know.

It's just so much easier to be "entertained" by the war. Really.

That's the way they like it.

[rinsd]

72. Keep running....

....because if you look down you'll realize that cliff isn't under you anymore.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

43. Scurry over to the other current thread on this

& set them straight.

[rinsd]

71. "The you are not watching it so how could you judge" gig?

Yeah is that so hard a concept that something should actually be viewed before judgement is passed on it?

I could undertsand someone saying they are no into TV shows or movies about war but you're just talking out of your ass.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

73. ... and he's doing a damn fine job of it, too.

[rinsd]

75. Getting back to the topic at hand....what did you think?

I thought it was decent drama in the Shield/Rescue Me mold that showed some real horrors of war.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

77. Anything that will turn one mind and/or heart against that evil war

is a good thing. A person would have to be utterly certifiable
to watch that show and think that it is pro-war.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4209834&mesg_id=4211529

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4207667&mesg_id=4208674

[rinsd]

78. That last scene with Bo was just gut wrenching....

....and the fact they will show him in recovery is a big deal im my opinion.

Maybe we're so f-ed up as a society we need this packaging in order to understand what it is really like short of visiting in person. I'm not sure but I couldn't imagine anyone watching it and rushing out to enlist.

[intheflow]

6. War as entertainment. Fox has another show that belittles war this fall.

Called "The War at Home," it's about another redneck-esque barely able to think testoterone pooisoned father trying to make it as a "real guy" in a touchy feely world.

:puke:

[Neshanic]

7. It's repulsive and degenerate. Just show uncensored feed.

That will keep the fanily happy around the flat screen. They want a war? Show it. I am sure that the guys and gals over there would not mind telling as it is as they dodge all manner of death.

Oh and it would be real.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

11. Where are you watching it, on satellite?

[Neshanic]

15. See reply above.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

21. Ditto.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

10. It's on in Colorado now?

[intheflow]

16. No, it's in the new fall line up.

http://www.fox.com/schedule/2005fall/thewarathome.htm

I meant to say that the combo of this reality show in the OP combined with the diminuation of the tern "war" by being about man's personal struggle to come out of the Neanderthal era and into the present shows that war is something so distant it can be trivialized as entertainment.

[hallc]

9. I actually think its kinda boring...

Not very impressed.

[cloud75]

12. you are right very slow...but did you see that cheating going wow.

[cloud75]

13. it's not positive about war at all in a subtle way...does not glorify.

[Neshanic]

18. Oh its' the sublte approach, dead people not shown so much.

The poor people of Iraq would love to have this on their tier of cable lineups. Maybe then they could be script writers.

[noamnety]

20. just a guess here

you aren't watching it, are you?

[Neshanic]

24. No, what make you think I would? The commercials were sick.

[noamnety]

17. I think it's well done

doesn't demonize the soldiers, doesn't glorify the war.

either of those options would have been the easy way out. They seem to be striking a good balance between the issues ... and the acting is good.

I prefer this to one more mindless comedy about a woman with big boobs.

I can understand the view that this exploits the situation, but I don't think it does any more than the minimum wage episode of 30 days exploited the poor.

It doesn't replace the news, and I don't think it's the job of a tv series to replace the news. I won't hold that against it.

[Neshanic]

22. Well done as what? What as? Entertainment?

You are being "entertained" as they die by the hundreds there. Is it not enough that the war is completely unavailable to us as truth in images or written about? So we make a cool show.

[noamnety]

27. done well as in

it brings issues to the screen that the media has been avoiding. It would be nice if real reporters brought those issues into the light, but they haven't. It's sad the best we can do is a dramatization, I agree.

Personally, I think we would have been better served if there HAD been a show like this during Vietnam.

Your use of the word "entertainment" isn't sitting right with me. I didn't view F911 as "entertainment" but I thought it was well done. Same with this.

[Neshanic]

28. WHAA?

[NYCGirl]

29. There is a big difference...

Fahrenheit 9/11 was a documentary. Over There is a scripted drama. Big-assed difference.

[noamnety]

31. Yes, I know the difference between a documentary and a drama

I'm sorry if you thought I meant in some way that this WAS F911. It's a different production. There are differences.

Some things are entertainment fluff. Some things are thought provoking.

I don't usually use the word "entertaining" if I mean "thought provoking."

[Neshanic]

33. Though provoking? Hundreds of thousands dead and you have a thought?

Listen, if you need to be "entertained" and "though provoked" by watvjing old war movies, Clint Eastwood westerns or playing paint ball that's no problem.

This is happening now. People are dying now. Your fellow americans are trapped in a war that is a fighting nightmare now. When did we EVER have a televsion show on air that was a serial about the war we were fighting at that moment and barely holding on to keep from getting our asses kicked?

Not this time. Get my agent on the phone, we need to cast for this..

Meanwhile in reality....touture, rape, how many dead?

No bother...get me a soda while you are up. Isn't Mr.Smith down the street there now? Wait it's on again...this is where she wants to do him...you know the hunky tank driver...I love this show.

[noamnety]

37. I must have missed the part with the hunky tank driver

just as I missed the T&A.

dammit.

[Neshanic]

39. Next episode I am sure. The one after they befriend an Iraq naif.

[Connie_Corleone]

32. You're not even watching it!

You sure are saying a lot about a show you didn't even watch, and don't want to watch. I watched it and it's nothing like what you're describing.

[Neshanic]

42. So tell me in your own words. Were you entertained?

I mean, I will never let it grace my screen. Do did it enetrtain you? Looking forward to the next episodes? Cast like OC only armed and you can't see their bods?

Don't worry, it's not as if this hunk/chicster group will jump the shark and play basketball on Gilligans Island with the Globetrotters.

Not unless the ratings slip, and that will not happen because this little friends takes the place of what we really should be seeing but can't.

The Abu Grahib episode should be off the hook! We need more dogs on the set!

[Connie_Corleone]

50. What hunks and what chicsters are you talking about?

I didn't see any. Of course, I actually watched the show instead of sitting at my computer making shit up in my head about the episode.

If you don't want to watch it, fine. I don't care. As far as I'm concerned, since you didn't watch the show, you're opinion of it carries no weight.

Good night.

[Neshanic]

56. Tell that to 100,000 dead civilians. Good night.

[Carni]

34. I just watched it

It wasn't flattering to this *war* unless I am smoking crack without my knowledge.

The end song sounding like "Wish you were here" (but it was not) could not have been a coincidence.

I am not crazy about a drama on FX that is supposdely representing the war on Iraq--but after watching it I can't slam this production as a right winged hit piece either.

My initial reaction to this first episode is that this is better than nothing because at least the subject is being raised (which is something we don't get on the so called news)

[anarchy1999]

70. Carni, yours is the first reasonable response to this thread I have read.

It was disturbing in all kinds of ways.

[cloud75]

23. well said.

[Neshanic]

63. Thanks

[A-Schwarzenegger]

65. LOL, he wasnt talking to you.

[Neshanic]

66. Oh, you got me real good there. This is a tell your friends story!

They will LAUGH!

Don't forget to post on something tomorrow that chaps your ass, then do the opposite. Like watch a show that makes a war more, well cool.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

67. We're all against the war.

We're disagreeing about a TV show. Peace.

[U4ikLefty]

46. No you don't!!!

Please offer me up the way 30 Days explioted the poor & then give me the way this show expliots the situation. After you give us both of these, please give me the magnitudes of exploitation & show how their equivalence.

If you cannot, then you BELIEVE not THINK your position is true.

[noamnety]

48. Did you mean to reply to me?

Because my point was that, if you DIDN'T SEE 30 days, you might think, based on the plot line that it exploited the poor.

If you DID see it, you likely would have a different view of the show.

[U4ikLefty]

59. No, the trailers for 30 Days clearly show the intent of the show

The producers of the "Over There" (WTF...can't they name Iraq?!?) are not being honest in portraying this as propaganda that has NO BASIS in reality. And IMO, this crap is to soften us up on the idea of a cruel/illlegal war...sorry, this ain't the 50's & I'm not buying it!!! Unless you'd like to point out the clip where Bush lies to start the war in this series? Otherwise, it's is based on a lie...just like the war in Iraq.

[noamnety]

61. Now you're mad because of the title?

stretching.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

64. I think Bochco might be familar with the sting of irony...

http://www.countrygoldusa.com/over_there.asp

Over There
Words & Music by: George M. Cohan

Johnnie get your gun, get you gun, get your gun,
Take it on the run, on the run, on the run,
Hear them calling you and me;
Every son of Liberty
Hurry right away, no delay, go today,
Make your daddy glad to have had such a lad
Tell your sweetheart not to pine,
To be proud her boy's in line.

Chorus:
Over There, Over There
Send the word, send the word,
Over There
That the Yanks are coming,
The Yanks are coming,
The drums rum tumming everywhere
So prepare,
Say a Prayer
Send the word,
Send the word to beware
We'll be over, we're coming over.
And we won't be back till it's over over there!

Johnnie get your gun, get you gun, get your gun,
Johnnie show the Hun, you're a Son-of-a-Gun,
Hoist the flag and let her fly
Like true heros do or die
Pack your little kit, show your grit, do your bit,
Soldiers to the ranks from the towns and the tanks,
Make your Mother proud of you and to Liberty be true.

Chorus:
Over There, Over There
Send the word, send the word,
Over There
That the Yanks are coming,
The Yanks are coming,
The drums rum tumming everywhere
So prepare,
Say a Prayer
Send the word,
Send the word to beware
We'll be over, we're coming over.
And we won't be back till it's over over there!

[Window]

83. That song is the first thing I thought of when I heard the title

of the show. Thanks for posting the lyrics.

Peace

[hexola]

41. Freepers...not happy "over there"...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1452043/posts

[Connie_Corleone]

44. I guess they expected to see happy soldiers fighting for freedom

They wanted to see flowers and candy greeting the troops.

[noamnety]

47. That's funny that they see it as overly "political"

Did any of you catch any character commenting on politics at all? Or even the merits of the war?

I think by "political" they mean it didn't look like a recruitment commercial.

[NYCGirl]

49. Maybe there weren't enough flags or pictures of W for them. NT

[Neshanic]

54. Of course the freepers were expecting John Wayne and RR

to be digitally inserted into a scene. Of course there would be a pledge of allegence before the show started.

So they don't like it. Maybe because it was not filmed in Republican Vision?

It changes nothing.

[RamboLiberal]

57. Hah - as I predicted on the other thread on this show

After watching the last 5 minutes I knew the 101st Fighting Keyboardists were going to be screaming about "Liberal Hollyweird" as they put it. They're already writing FX and threatening boycotts. Guess I'm going to have to drop FX a line and tell them I'm going to watch every week!

[stanwyck]

68. This little glimpse into the rightwing

psyche is sending me back to bed. I'll probably have nightmares. This was the wrong way to try and handle my insomnia.
What do these incredibly stupid people think war is? Have they been so brainwashed by jingoistic nationalism that they tear apart a TV show because the soldiers are not glorified with halos and the enemy isn't vanquished without loss of American lives?
My son is "over there" right now. I only watched a little of the show...I have it on TiVo. I thought it might give me some insight into what his life is like there.
But the comments on Free Republic are totally inane. Apparently, they wanted some kind of Reifenstahl type glorious war propaganda. Not slice of life dialogue and mayhem.
Maybe some of these gung-ho sofa soldiers could enlist and find out firsthand what is "realistic" or not.
Life must be so amazingly difficult and sad for people with such withered souls.

[U4ikLefty]

51. Will we get to see a "fictional" flag-draped coffin coming home???

n/t

[Neshanic]

55. Not unless it's in the script. Lots of long shots. Slacker song du-Jour.

[OctOct1]

60. I just watched the last 20 Min

It is very realistic to me.
Brought me to tears.
To me, it showed the HUGE sacrifice these men are making.
My Son is 14 and I DO NOT (repeat) DO NOT want this to be his reality.
There is way to much truth in it for any republican to like it.
It shows war as it is and it is not pretty.
Repugs will hate it.

[Neshanic]

62. Of course they hate it. Your son is not in the target audience....

A bit older to the 27's I would say and chickenshit republicans.

You think FOX/FX would air without a test audience?

Edit: You think that shgow portrayed the real thing over there? Think again and multiply the horror by ten.

We ain't seeing those torture pics because they are late from developers.

[WhiteTara]

69. trying to get some feel good

press for the war. Trying to humanize the whole nasty business. :puke:

[rinsd]

74. As opposed to the sterilized approach?

So far this is the only thing on TV that has show how grisly the whole thing is.

[WhiteTara]

82. I haven't watched this, but my question is

are they showing Iraqi children being blown up? Prisoners being raped and tortured? Or just showing how scared and "great" these soldiers are? Otherwise, I would call this the sterilized approach.

[rinsd]

84. Well it's been one episode....

.... in that episode you had a fire fight with a Iraqi getting his entire top half blown up. You had the now "fire baptized" soldiers wandering the field of dead bodies now quite sure what to make of death face to face.

During a segment where they sent videos home, a soldier gives a rather eloquent speech on war and how we are all savages.

They then ended the show where a soldier was horrificly injured by an IED, his leg ripped to shreds(his character was the football player).

This is less sterilized than most any footage we've seen on TV, news related or otherwise. Though Frontline has done some excellent work on this stuff as well that is more of a documentary.

[WhiteTara]

85. sounds like it satisfies blood lust for the folks back home

and humanizes the killing. But then, it was just the first episode.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

86. LOL, sounds like more bloviation from somebody who aint seen it

[sakabatou]

76. I think it's pretty good

But I only saw parts of it, so I wouldn't know.

[FreedomAngel82]

79. I've heard good reviews of the movie

I'll have to catch it and tape it. Hopefully they'll play it a couple of more times so I can tape it. FX usually has great movies orginial or not.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

80. It's a series, not a movie. Wednesay, 10 PM. FX.

I'm sure they'll repeat it several times each week.

[Gayla]

81. I'll watch it again.

I thought it showed some of the horrors of war, which I believe
the American public needs to see. Maybe a little bit of Hollywood
creativity can bring some realization of what is actually going
on over there. It wasn't sanitized; it was disturbing. And if
it helps turn opinions against Bushwar, that's good enough for me.