I watched the TV show Over There on FX tonight. It's produced by Steven Bochco (Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and NYPD Blue). All I had heard about it before this evening came from a radio interview I heard on public radio. That alone was enough to make me wonder if it was something I wanted to watch. But Bochco said he wasn't trying to make a political statement and I have liked other shows he's done so I decided to give it a chance.
I liked it. It's violent, even grisly in parts but it is good drama.
Update: Instapundit links to some negative reviews of the show. They make some good points. There are inaccuracies. There are stereotypes. If I had been in the military, I might have had the same objections to it. Heck, even without being in the military I still noticed some of the problems these other bloggers mentioned. (See Joe's Dartblog, Indepundit, and Argghhh! The Home of Two of Jonah's Military Guys.)
But it's not a documentary, it's a TV show and considering what it could have been like (what I was afraid it would be like), I think it was done pretty well. After I watched it I read a Newsweek review that panned the show. I counted that as one more reason to like it.
Posted by marybeth at July 28, 2005 01:51 AM Other StuffMarybeth - you fit into Group 1 of my roundup on the subject of Over There. It really seems to depend on what baggage you bring to the show what you think about it.
That post is here:
http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/004384.html
Posted by John of Argghhh! at July 29, 2005 03:29 PMYep. I should add that I like it not just for what it is but also for what I think it has the potential to be. I hope that it can change, or at least soften, the attitudes of people who are anti-military. If it were as accurate as some might wish it to be, I don't think the anti-military people would watch long enough to give it that chance.
I may be wrong. I may end up disappointed. I hope not.
Posted by marybeth at July 29, 2005 07:27 PMYour comments in the comments section Marybeth is the reason I'll proll'y wind up watching the next 4 episodes, even if I did find much to hate about the pilot.
Posted by ry at July 30, 2005 02:47 AMAs one who is ex-military during Vietnam I Hated it, no I despised it. We're trying to turn this war into a copy of Vietnam, again.
Posted by Greg at August 1, 2005 01:40 AMBefore I watched it my expectations were pretty low. As I said in my post the only time I heard anything about it was from NPR. (I only heard brief parts of the interview.) To me, this was only a shade better than if I had heard that it was being promoted by Air America.
The only thing good it had going for it (for me) at that point was the title. I like George M. Cohan songs and Over There is one of my favorites of his.
I think it has the potential to change attitudes towards our military for the better. (Whether or not there's even an attempt to do so will only be made clear by further episodes.) But to do this, the people they need to reach are the ones who don't know anything about the military. In this case, those of you who have served aren't the target audience. Your dislike of the show might even encourage the anti-military people to watch it. Once they begin watching, any scene in the show that portrays the military in a positive light is a step to countering the anti-military news we get from the MSM. The flip side is that it also has the potential to reinforce negative stereotypes.
I'm still hoping it lives up to its name.
Posted by marybeth at August 2, 2005 12:34 PM