Homefront

It seems as though this wonderful series received the same cavalier treatment in Australia as it did in the States. It scored a terrible late-night timeslot which chopped and changed from one week to the next - you never knew if you'd be sitting up until 1am on a weeknight in order to see it... BUT, such was the quality of the storyline, script and actors that I DID sit up until all hours to watch it (I couldn't risk setting the vcr to tape it in case they did change the start time that week!).

It's now been 10 years since it has screened here and yet I still hold it fondly in my heart as one of my favourites.

PLEASE Warner Bros, release this fine series on DVD!!

I really love a lot of the musicals that came out in the late '40's, and this show was a great series set in the same time period.

It showed the toll of waiting, that was experienced by the families of WWII soldiers. In the pilot, WWII had just ended and the soldiers were coming home. The Metcalf family included widowed mother Anne, whose eventual love affair with a Jewish union organizer shocked her grown children. Linda Metcalf worked in a factory during the war, and her future was undecided when the men came back to reclaim their jobs. Older son Hank was a returning solider, and younger son Jeff was an aspiring baseball player.

The Sloans were a rich couple mourning the loss of their only son in WWII - and dealing with the arrival of his pregnant Italian war bride, Gina.

Caroline Hailey was a British war bride, far more ambitious than her American husband, who was content with his life the way it was.

The fashions and hairstyles were wonderfully accurate - I remember one of the actresses griping in an interview that they had to wear vintage underwear, and it was uncomfortable!

Based on the time period after WW2 ended, different families, all somehow connected, strive to get on with their lives despite personal losses. The show provided proper humor while showing how people were still biased and judgemental and how it affected everyone around them. A very well written, directed, acted and produced show that kept audiences returning each week to see each new episode, only to be canned by ABC. It returned for a short time (viewer protests), again with ABC abusing it to cut back the ratings so that they could cancel it again without any complaints since no one knew when it came on anymore.

I'ts been ten years since Homefront aired here in the backside of Scandinavia, and coincidentally i've been kicking myself that same amount of time for not taping it when i had a chance. Fortunately someone in our notorious channel 3 got a brainstorm and now i have a second chance to appreciate one of the very best dramasoaps ever made. Period dramas are quite tricky and i'm still baffled that ABC ever showed green light to this one, and two seasons ain't bad in that context. If somebody would try to launch Homefront nowadays i wouldn't bet a nickel for it lasting even one full season, the times surely have changed that much since early 90's. Anyway, if you haven't visited River Run Ohio circa 1946, please do, you don't regret it! This series offered best production values, damn good drama and ensemble cast that was just amazing. Being male i must give special commendation for Kelly Rutherford portraying babelicious Judy Owens, that girl could compete with the original femme fatales any day. Let's hope that somebody somewhere will get another brainstorm and get this series in DVD format, like the man says in the song, gotta ac-cen-tu-ate the positive. Fore Daddy-O!

Homefront is powerful television that simply is not seen on TV today.Yes it was a soap opera but it covered all the bases like no other soap ever did.It takes place right after WW II ended in a small town, River Run,Ohio. Not one actor or actress is miscast, the African-American race is neither ignored nor invisible as so many shows do yet the writers don't beat you over the head with good or bad race relations.Housing shortages,labor problems,foreign war brides,loss of jobs all these topics are covered beautifully in a show that was only on two lousy years!The pairing of couples was also well done with a few pleasant surprises.Kyle Chandler(jeff)& Tammy Lauren(ginger)were only supposed to get together one time with a pregnancy scare involved.They became a breakout super couple that stole the show and whose love affair had us all laughing & crying til they wed on the very last episode.In the meantime an older actor came aboard as a love interest for Jessica Steen(linda) who is Jeff's sister.He immediately clicked with the actress playing her mother and they were paired up and also married and had a baby on the show.Two great surprises.ABC totally mishandled this show and never appreciated the audience that was watching.However ten years later folks still say this was one of the great ones and I'm glad I have my copies of the show to take me back down memory lane.Now if only we could get the show on DVD!!!!