Seen "Over There" Yet?--Don't Bother

For some reason, my husband recorded the premier of "Over There," a show about our soldiers in Iraq now playing on FX. I hadn't intended to watch since I could tell from the previews that it was going to being the usual anti-war Vietnam-cliched crap from Hollywood. But since I could watch it sans commercial, I thought I'd give it a chance since the creator, Steven Bochco had claimed that it wouldn't be political.

Well, my instincts were correct. It was filled with every stereotype from every anti-war Vietnam movie ever made. None of the soldiers except the token dumb white-boy from the South wanted to be in the military. Most of the characters were either super-whiny and obnoxiousm (Mrs. B) or gung-ho crazy (Sgt. Scream). The officers were depicted as incompetent fools or oblivious to the needs of their men. I have never been in the military, but several of my family members have been, so I know a little bit about how the military does things.

The biggest error I could see was that none of the soldiers fighting together seemed to know each other either. They kept asking each other how they got their nicknames, which got very annoying. From what I understand, soldiers are deployed in units, so they've been training together and thus know each other well which allows them to work together efficiently. The soldiers in "Over There" were portrayed as bumbling idiots that were basically abbondoned by the rest of the military. Plus, the show was boring due to a weak plot and poor character development.

Of course, the show had to open with a gratuitous sex scene (thank heavens for fast-forward), which is a pet peeve of mine. I'm ok with sex (obviously since I have a kid), but I think it is a private and personal thing. I'm so sick of Hollywood liberals that say that what people do in their bedroom is their business and then constantly plaster up bedroom scenes all over the big and little screen. Ok, so Bochco wanted to show the newlyweds with the husband shipping out to Iraq. I think it could have been done a little more tastefully. Sheesh!

I'm not the only one who though "Over There" was horrible. Milbloggers like Blackfive and deployed soldiers interviewed in the Seattle PI had similar reactions. When is Hollywood going to get clue? I though HBO's Band of Brothers was very well done. I'd much rather see "Over There" modeled on that show than on Platoon.