Posted on Sun, Jun. 26, 2005
Nervy network
Cable’s FX is winning viewers with intense contemporary dramas
By AARON BARNHART
The Kansas City Star
The last prime-time television drama about war, the Vietnam-era “China Beach,” went off the air 14 years ago. The long-running hit “M*A*S*H,” set in 1950s Korea, ended in 1983.
That makes “Over There,” a new drama airing on cable’s FX network in July, doubly audacious.
Not only does it graphically depict in words and images the hellishness of combat, but it is set in the here and now — specifically Iraq, where Americans are being shot, blown up, wounded and killed for real.
The show is produced by Steven Bochco, who revolutionized cop shows in the 1980s with “Hill Street Blues,” then did it again in the ’90s with “NYPD Blue.” No matter how impressive its pedigree, however, “Over There” was such a potential hot potato that it stood no chance of getting on the air unless some well-placed person really wanted it there
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http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/11969696.htm