Over There
So much to talk about with FX's new original series Over There (FX, Wednesday 10 pm EDT). The hour long drama from producer Steven Bochco (of NYPD Blue and Hill Street Blues fame) is, as far as I am aware, the first piece of televisual/cinematic fiction to deal with an American war (or "armed conflict") as it is going on. The first episode begins with a group of marines "shipping off" from their base in the US headed for Iraq. They are immediately cast into the fray of a standoff outside of a mosque being held by an insurgent leader. It ends with their convey rolling over a mine which claims the leg of what the audience had assumed would be the main character. The second episode mainly revolves around a checkpoint where the new marines are forced to gun down a young girl and two Syrian teenagers who are being used as decoys/bait/cannon fodder by another insurgent leader trying to smuggle himself out of the area.
As a piece of dramatic fiction, the show has some major problems. The main gigantic and unavoidable issue is the atrocious writing. Most of the dialogue is so profoundly un-subtle that noone can take it seriously. Instead of characters being introduced through scenes, they simply announce themselves in dialogue that is just far too contrived for a 21st century audience. These lines might be acceptable in another context but they don't fit with the intense realism of the show's action. Furthermore, there is an African American character that is absolutely unforgivable. He does nothing but spout racial cliches in an effort to offer "the Black perspective," something the screen writer has clearly not put any effort into uncovering.
Where the show really shines is in cinematograpy. If you turned the volume off, you might be convinced you were watching a movie. But we don't tune in each week to see stunning shots of the Iraqi (Californian) sun's descent. We react to character and story... so I'm not sure if Over There is going to cut it.
What's more interesting than all of this coffee-house talk, of course, is the political impacts of watching a depiction of a war that is going on as we speek. The right and left are no doubt going to town already. I'll let them hold down that fort for now. Unless anyone out there has an opinon ;-)
As a piece of dramatic fiction, the show has some major problems. The main gigantic and unavoidable issue is the atrocious writing. Most of the dialogue is so profoundly un-subtle that noone can take it seriously. Instead of characters being introduced through scenes, they simply announce themselves in dialogue that is just far too contrived for a 21st century audience. These lines might be acceptable in another context but they don't fit with the intense realism of the show's action. Furthermore, there is an African American character that is absolutely unforgivable. He does nothing but spout racial cliches in an effort to offer "the Black perspective," something the screen writer has clearly not put any effort into uncovering.
Where the show really shines is in cinematograpy. If you turned the volume off, you might be convinced you were watching a movie. But we don't tune in each week to see stunning shots of the Iraqi (Californian) sun's descent. We react to character and story... so I'm not sure if Over There is going to cut it.
What's more interesting than all of this coffee-house talk, of course, is the political impacts of watching a depiction of a war that is going on as we speek. The right and left are no doubt going to town already. I'll let them hold down that fort for now. Unless anyone out there has an opinon ;-)
posted by AG at 2:06 PM
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