- Joined
- Dec 13, 2007
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- 4,472
For anyone interested, today (Sunday) was the airing of the first episode of HBO's new 7 episode event called Generation Kill. The show is based on Evan Wright's book of the same name and is about the 1st Recon Battalion's experience in Iraq during the war's first phase in 2003.
I don't consider myself a war-buff by any means, but this show is going to be good. The writers, David Simon and Ed Burns, have a knack for journalistic perspective and realism devoid of judgement and/or moral didacticism. If any of you ever watched HBO's "The Wire", which ended it's fifth and final season earlier this year, you'll know that Simon and Burns have hawk-like perceptions when it comes to both the minutiae of interaction and dialogue, as well as the over-arching bigger picture. "The Wire" was basically a 5 season story-arc dealing with the troubles of inner-city Baltimore, and while it was often intensely gritty and somewhat abrasive, I believe the show presented the most honest depiction of the decay of urban Americana than anything I've ever seen before. David Simon and Ed Burns also worked together on a great cop show called "Homicide: Life on the Streets," where Simon's experience as a police beat writer for the Baltimore Sun, and Burns' life-long career as a homicide detective led to some of the most believable and thrilling interrogation scenes I've ever watched.
That all being said, I'm excited about this series and expect it to be elucidating. I'm interested in knowing if anyone else is watching this show, as I've eagerly awaited it, and look forward to seeing how these guys depict war--especially this highly unpopular one we're in now. The response from veterans who have seen it or were involved is that it is very honest, and I am anxious for that these days.
Pay close attention to how the characters are developed because Simon and Burns are masters at telling you next to nothing, and asking you to watch and listen in order to figure out who the characters are. To this point they have demonstrated deep understanding of human motivations and have been highly skilled at providing glimpses of what makes people act the ways they do.
In my opinion HBO makes some of the best, most daring, most ambitious shows in television.
Enough of this for now, but I'd be very interested in opinions. Oh, and I'll be watching to see if I see any Busses strapped to Molle webbing and or packs!
:thumbup:
Jason
I don't consider myself a war-buff by any means, but this show is going to be good. The writers, David Simon and Ed Burns, have a knack for journalistic perspective and realism devoid of judgement and/or moral didacticism. If any of you ever watched HBO's "The Wire", which ended it's fifth and final season earlier this year, you'll know that Simon and Burns have hawk-like perceptions when it comes to both the minutiae of interaction and dialogue, as well as the over-arching bigger picture. "The Wire" was basically a 5 season story-arc dealing with the troubles of inner-city Baltimore, and while it was often intensely gritty and somewhat abrasive, I believe the show presented the most honest depiction of the decay of urban Americana than anything I've ever seen before. David Simon and Ed Burns also worked together on a great cop show called "Homicide: Life on the Streets," where Simon's experience as a police beat writer for the Baltimore Sun, and Burns' life-long career as a homicide detective led to some of the most believable and thrilling interrogation scenes I've ever watched.
That all being said, I'm excited about this series and expect it to be elucidating. I'm interested in knowing if anyone else is watching this show, as I've eagerly awaited it, and look forward to seeing how these guys depict war--especially this highly unpopular one we're in now. The response from veterans who have seen it or were involved is that it is very honest, and I am anxious for that these days.
Pay close attention to how the characters are developed because Simon and Burns are masters at telling you next to nothing, and asking you to watch and listen in order to figure out who the characters are. To this point they have demonstrated deep understanding of human motivations and have been highly skilled at providing glimpses of what makes people act the ways they do.
In my opinion HBO makes some of the best, most daring, most ambitious shows in television.
Enough of this for now, but I'd be very interested in opinions. Oh, and I'll be watching to see if I see any Busses strapped to Molle webbing and or packs!
:thumbup:Jason
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