Over There

Over There is an amazingly well acted and thought provoking show. It really brings home the people part of war and what's happening in Iraq. I'm really getting attached to these characters. The casting of this show was well done. I am a new fan of each and every one of these soldiers, although Eric Palladino has always been a favorite of mine. I'm glad to see him in this role, which he is so well suited for. As with anything, I'm sure there are aspects of it that are not completely authentic, but it's close enough to convey the spirit of what takes place in war. I also like the way the show deals with the personal lives of the soldiers, showing the struggles that occur and accelerate when people are separated in this manner.

Interesting that various people have seen this as either right or left wing propaganda, and that some see it as portraying the troops as idiots or wimps while others see it as honoring them. That indicates that some people are seeing their own biases more than what's actually on the screen. The more pre-set their views, the less they appear to like this program.

I'm a retired Marine - served 20 years, enlisted and officer, a lot of it in the infantry and related fields - and I think this is more realistic in its portrayal of the atmosphere and interactions than 90% of films about the military. I dealt with some Sgt. Screams and Lt. Mad Cows in my time, and those characters are believable. The troops strike about the right balance of smarts and immaturity, newbie awkwardness and trained-in automatic competence, for kids new to combat.

This program deserves a wider audience and more seasons.

To quote the critically acclaimed Vietnam vetern turned author Tim O'Brien, "A true story that never happened." Or at least that's what Over There looks to be attempting to be. Sure it won't be 100% factually or technically accurate (c'mon like a test season of a TV show can afford to get a UH Blackhawk rather than a UH-1 Huey etc etc) The pilot episode is enough to catch interest. While the dialogue treads familiar "war movie cliché" group, the visual presentation is excellent. The show does an excellent job in depicting the dirt, grundge, heat, and freezing nights of the desert. The most effective scenes are the ones with the barest dialogue and everything is shown.

Whatever your feelings on the war, the show is worth checking out if only for the fact has rengaged the public to think about the war again (which seems to have been relagated to the back of the collective consciousness). Hopefully it'll live up to the hype. Hopefully it will become the TV analog to the documentary Gunner Palace.

I watched the series from the beginning, and I have to say this was very well done. When I saw the trailers for the series last summer I was afraid it would be another flag waving, mindless exercise in patriotism, but that was not the case. To me, the story seemed unbiased and realistic. The characters were well thought out and diverse enough to demonstrate that conflict draws people in from every part of the world, not just from the scene of the event.

There was just enough mix between the members of the unit in Iraq and their families back home to give everyone a three dimensional view of the story from our own living rooms. The soldiers were not just mindless killing machines, they were human beings doing a job and worrying about the people they left behind all at the same time. Throughout the series, each person battles with their inner selves for various reasons, and these battles clearly demonstrate that the characters are thinkers, not just drones. The story and the characters provide the perfect mechanism to animate the true ugliness and destruction war brings without going overboard. The symbolism used in the series was well thought out and precisely executed right to the end of the series when the GI's douse their fire after finishing a hard day dealing with attacks and incompetent commanders.

This series was a true work of art on Mr. Bochco's part. I was sorry to see it end, but at the same time understood that it could not be continuous because then it would become irrelevant as we viewers became more and more complacent as the time wore on. I hope we see more quality work like this in the future, and I hope other producers who may be tempted to create yet another boring "reality" show should view this series in it's entirety and use it as a model to create more interesting and thought provoking television like this series.

Anyone who hasn't seen this should seriously consider a screening some time in their lives. . .........

I have no idea how technically accurate "Over There" is. As a soldier who rose in the ranks from "E nothing" to flag rank I can tell you I've never seen a truly technically accurate portrayal of war from Hollywood. I've been impressed with "Saving Pvt Ryan" and "Platoon" but even with their bevy of advisor's still got things wrong. To obsess over the type of helicopters used for medevac missions is kind of silly, old Hueys are easy to come by but unless your the military or a select few Blackhawks are hard to come by. What is accurate or at least close is the spirit that "Over There" portrays. The boredom, pointless orders for political reasons and the moments of abject terror are all pretty close to what goes on. Ssgt "Scream" is the quintessential NCO getting the job done and keeping his men alive. As far as the rest of the characters I've known them all, the philosopher, the malcontent, the super trooper you'll find them in any Infantry unit. I like the fact they portrays wounds very graphically. Too many people think being wounded is a minor event, get shot go to the aid station and back to the unit, that's not the way it is folks. "Over There is well acted and deserves a second season. With all the garbage on TV such as the repetitive and very boring "Nip Tuck" at least they can do is give OT a second chance.