Veterans critique "Over There" series by FX

[RakuraiTenjin]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/233932_over26.html

My bro also got pissed at the first episode. He was saying how utterly stupid the show was but then it just reached a new peak when they PULLED OVER after an IED went off. Wow, I'm not even in the army and I know you probably shouldn't do that. His convoy went over like 2 or 3 IEDs so I think he knows what he's talking about, too

Although he did say the second episode was a little bit better but the characters are pissing him off. I haven't seen it yet but I want to.

 

[Recoil]

Dunno, just heard it's overly patriotic.

 

[Icarusintel]

after what little i've learned from 2 years in Army ROTC and listening to friends who've been over there the show is ridiculous, the first episode was just full of dumb, maybe they're not listening to their military advisor, or they need to get a new one

 

[mortiz]

What they should do is a show from an Iraqi persons perspective.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

What they should do is a show from an Iraqi persons perspective.

That would be boring, like watching someone just live here except with an entirely different culture, unless you made it like.. have lots of plot and stuff.. like an Iraqi friends or something, or soap opera.

Unless you mean from an insurgent's point of view of which is all over the net already, except you can't understand the arabic and you have to put up with seeing beheadings and car bombs.

 

[Tr0n]

Even tho the show may not be true or whatever...I liked it.

 

[mortiz]

That would be boring, like watching someone just live here except with an entirely different culture, unless you made it like.. have lots of plot and stuff.. like an Iraqi friends or something, or soap opera.

Unless you mean from an insurgent's point of view of which is all over the net already, except you can't understand the arabic and you have to put up with seeing beheadings and car bombs.

Have you heard of a little genre called "Drama"? Why would it be boring? Millions of people sit down to watch soap operas about people who do sod all except live in some suburbia somewhere or 19th century England (Pride of Prejudice, which incase you haven't noticed isn't really culturally similar to what we're used to). In Iraq though you'd be able to see the family's struggle for survival. Obviously you care little for the average Iraqi's struggle. Who cares right? When a soldier dies it's a tragedy, when an Iraqi dies it's just another insurgent. There's also a large Muslim contingent in the western world. I'm sure they'd be able to relate and would appreciate the drama.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

Have you heard of a little genre called "Drama"? Why would it be boring? Millions of people sit down to watch soap operas about people who do sod all except live in some suburbia somewhere or 19th century England (Pride of Prejudice, which incase you haven't noticed isn't really culturally similar to what we're used to).

If it were a soap it'd be okay, but I find soaps extremely boring, so yeah, it still would be. If it were a story on these families of the soldiers general lives this show would probably be pretty boring, too. It's the action that draws people in, and I'm just being honest.

In Iraq though you'd be able to see the family's struggle for survival. Obviously you care little for the average Iraqi's struggle. Who cares right? When a soldier dies it's a tragedy, when an Iraqi dies it's just another insurgent.

Wow, where you got that from I don't know, but that's pretty offensive for you to say that. And there is a large difference between an Iraqi civillian death and an insurgent death, civillian deaths ARE tragedies, as are the deaths of soldiers. Just because in my opinion a show about a family would be boring doesn't mean I somehow could care less what happens to them. Wanting to watch something on TV does not constitute care.

There's also a large Muslim contingent in the western world. I'm sure they'd be able to relate and would appreciate the drama.

Maybe but that's a pretty small demographic.

 

[Lucid]

[SARCASM]An Iraqi version of over there would be about 20 seconds long per show.
Iraqi : FOR ALLAH!!!!!!!!!!111 -runs into soldiers and blows up-
Credits Roll.[/SARCASM]

No offense to anyone here that's Middle Eastern.

 

[KagePrototype]

moved.

 

[SFLUFAN]

Dunno, just heard it's overly patriotic.

Actually it's not in the least overly patriotic. If anything, that's one of the few things to its credit is that it's not a "flag-waving" jingoistic type of production.

My problem with the show is that they obviously do not have a good military advisor or they don't have one at all. The tactics that I saw in the first episode were absolutely mind-numbingly awful. When I consider that Band of Brothers had extremely authentic tactics, this was an absolute disgrace.

Like Icarusintel, I went through Army ROTC before being commissioned in 1996 and if I had seen this during my ROTC days I would have been shocked by it!

 

[satch919]

I still think it's a good piece of entertainment.

I don't watch it to critique the tactics. I watch it because it looked interesting.