Comments on: HBO's Generation Kill Can't Touch John Adams

By: Lazarus Long

Lazarus Long — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:47:14 +0000

“Iraq doesn't sell.” So let me understand this: we are perfectly willing to compel our sons and daughters to murder hundreds of thousands of innocent strangers in our name, ….we just don't want to see what that looks like?

So you're saying, we Americans today are unwilling to think about the consequences of our inactions EITHER before OR after the fact?

Back in the Viet Nam era, nobody wanted to see a war about Viet Nam either….UNTIL consensus was reached that we should be ashamed of ourselves for being there, after which point we all urgently WANTED to see COMING HOME and THE DEER HUNTER and APOCALYPSE NOW–to know just what our ignorance had done, how badly we had screwed up.

Being stupid is bad enough. Being a coward about facing that is ten times worse. We OWE it to all those killed for no reason to watch honest dramas about it like GENERATION KILL….not just the staged hypocrisies shown on Fox that Event Horizon refers to below.

By: Lazarus Long

Lazarus Long — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:47:14 +0000

So you're saying, we Americans today are unwilling to think about the consequences of our inactions EITHER before OR after the fact?

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:09:11 +0000

Diana, I was a huge Rome fan as well.

From Wikipedia:

First season
According to the Nielsen ratings system, the pilot attracted more than 8.9 million viewers over eleven broadcasts, and achieved a 9.1 household rating for Sunday primetime.

Second season
The second season premiered January 14, 2007, with the first episode attracting 7.5 million viewers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome_(TV_series)#S...

By: Diana

Diana — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:08:00 +0000

I’d be surprised if the series’ ratings ever get much better based of the general popular mood. Out of curiosity, what sort of ratings did ROME get? Now THERE was a great series!

By: kayarn

kayarn — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:16:56 +0000

actually, event, this was really down-the-middle. it was so much about whether war is wrong on right, it was about what the soldiers were going through and what life is like in that kind of situation.

the numbers dont shock me at all, you have to figure hbo is doing this for the emmy awards next year more than getting people to watch. positive brand reinforcement keeps them getting new customers and keeping ones. but, of course, they need to combine this with shows customers actually watch

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:00:00 +0000

I don’t think the comparisons w/John Adams are really fair (heavy winter/spring TV viewing versus summer). That said, I agree with Event Horizon — Iraq just doesn’t sell. I watched the opener via On Demand on Monday. I didn’t love it, but I may give it another episode.

By: Event Horizon

Event Horizon — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:14:00 +0000

When will Hollyweird learn? Iraq movies dont sell – particularly when they focus almost entirely on the negative. How about some balance where US troops/contractors are shown building bridges, hospitals and schools? And providing care for sick and injured Iraqi civilians? I see clips of such activities on FOX but thats about the only place. According to the other media outlets US troops are just killing machines mowing down hapless peace loving Iraqi’s.

By: Jack_Shephard

Jack_Shephard — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:45:09 +0000

ROFL, HBO has been good only when The Wire was on.

By: Steven

Steven — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:42:56 +0000

HBO has been terrrible since Sex and The City ended.