Nathan on American TV tonight!

POSTED BY: gojiro
UPDATED: Monday, November 15, 2004 15:19
VIEWED: 6222
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GOJIRO

Thursday, November 11, 2004 3:36 PM

First I heard ABC was showing Saving Private Ryan tonight. Then I heard they weren't, because of the FCC. Now, apparently, they are.

So that means tonight at 8pm EST on ABC, we'll get to see Nathan Fillion on our TVs again -- albeit briefly.

For them as don't know, Nathan plays the "wrong" Private Ryan.

Set your VCRs and pop your popcorn. And be sure not to miss the first ten minutes -- it gives you a whole new respect for what those guys went through on D-Day. And an insight into what they are going through over in Iraq.

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GOJIRO

Thursday, November 11, 2004 4:22 PM

Apparently, I posted too ing soon. I just saw this on CNN:

Quote:
In Ohio, WCPO-TV of Cincinnati and WSYX-TV of Columbus will not show the movie.

Since I live in Cincinnati, I guess I won't be watching Nathan tonight, after all.

Screw it. I'm going out today and buy the damn DVD. Stupid self-censoring hundan.

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ZOID

Thursday, November 11, 2004 5:13 PM

gojiro wrote:

Quote:
...And an insight into what they are going through over in Iraq.

Nah. The German Army knew how to fight; were well-equipped, trained and organized; and were almost properly entrenched to repel invaders. If Hitler (the crazy little sh*thouse rat) had not been fooled by the rubber dummy forces being built up across the Channel ('commanded' by Patton, whom the Germans feared even more than the Allied High Command did) and an accompanying disinformation campaign into believing that Calais was where the landing would take place, they might have been immovable in Normandy. For that matter, had Hitler not so badly bungled Germany's advanced aircraft R&D program for the previous 5 years, the Luftwaffe might have put up a large multiple of the 400 aircraft -- in jet fighters alone -- that they managed to deploy over the beachhead. Had the Wehrmacht received proper air support on D-Day, the entire European continent might be speaking German today.

For a better idea of what our forces in Iraq are experiencing, watch "Blackhawk Down". 'Who's a civilian and who's a combatant?' was a central problem for the soldiers in the film, and in the current situation. In "Saving Private Ryan", you could easily differentiate friend from foe, and the enemy soldier was courageous and honorable (in the main).

Still, everyone should see "SPR" on a yearly basis, although my preference would be on Memorial Day. And yes, the first scene's landing on the Normandy beaches was as close to verisimilitude as is likely to ever be achieved on film. My father and uncles who were still alive at the time the movie premiered, testified to the accuracy of its depiction of the carnage that accompanies an amphibious assault on an entrenched opponent. The amphibious assaults on Japanese-held beachheads tended to be at least as ghastly as those against their Axis allies.

Only one of my uncles served as a foot soldier in the ETO (exclusive of those who served in the USN and USAAC), and he reported having to leave the movie theatre with a bad case of the shakes. Some things should not have to be relived, fifty-some years downstream...

Respectfully,

zoid
_________________________________________________

"Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me." The Ballad of Serenity

Only 161 days, 11 hours, 56 minutes, and 32 seconds left until The BDM!

NERVOUSPETE

Thursday, November 11, 2004 6:02 PM

Sorry for the blatant hijacking! But this being 11/11/04 Remembrance day and everything... (something that always makes me think most of all of the Somme and all the poppies, and the 60,000 British dead in one day's fighting)

What is surprising is that a considerable number of the Axis troops at Omaha were from Ost divisions - Russians and Poles pressed into service early in Hitler's eastern campaign and transferred to shore up the numbers on the Northern sea wall. They were badly motivated and trained, and a sargent stood behind them with a pistol to make sure they stayed at their posts. This doesn't affect the bravery of the US troops however, as the machine guns were presighted and aligned, and the mortars et al already zeroed. A murderous hail of fire that must have been hellish.

I think the film's opening sequence is the closest in accuracy we really want to get to what happened there, though obviously the effect on anyone who wasn't there - or went through a similar experience - will be greatly diminished.

(Annoyingly, the film never quite capitalises on the first half hour, and strays in to cliched, broadstroke territory. 'Band of Brothers' is a better overall testament', as is the harsh and lyrical 1955 British film 'The Cruel Sea' for the naval forces - a film I cannot over-rate)

Zoid: Bang on about the lack of support for the luftwaffe - an outfit designed for the planned short, sharp war that Hitler envisaged at first and fatally never modified for the strategic long haul - which meant that they had no strategic bombers like the Lancaster or Fortress, and the deadly jet fighter program was bungled too.

*Phew* eh?

Still always thought it a bit harsh over the quandry over whether to put the tanks in reserve or on the coast. Coast = get bombarded by naval fire, reserve = get bombed from air making way to front.

Cripes, this is some digression, eh?

I wish the 1941 Dieppe landings would get some recognition as well, as it was as hellish as Omaha with greater casualties - the Canadian landing forces were massacred for absolutely no gain. Over 5,000 in one morning.

And yes, Black Hawk Down will probably get you your best impression of fighting in Iraq - a good but flawed film.

Pete

P.S: Lost a grand-uncle in Normandy myself, holding one of the bridges later in the campaign. His head was blown off by a booby-trapped tank hatch. My grandmother was in Arnhem during Market garden as well, which she describes as hellish. Later on she was in a village nearby, when the Germans were retreating. A German lieutenant ordered all the men to dig anti-tank ditches - gave them it in writing - though it was an area of little strategic value and there was no point to it, and then fled in his jeep. Later some SS men came along and tried to take the men away for labour camps, but the men gave them the lieutenants name and said that he had told them to dig trenches, showing them the signed order. The SS men nodded and went on their way. The Dutch found out later that apparently this lieutenant had been giving out useless orders to men in every village he had passed through, saving them from being dragged off. Some villages he missed though, and they were'nt so lucky. He must have been trying to atone. My grandma has forgiven him.

P.P.S: Now back to your regular programming.

"If you can keep your head whilst others... eurgh! Ack! I've spilt my ink! Ugh! Ink on my trousers! Agh! Ink on my shirt! My only hope! The window! Aieeeeee!" (Falls to death)
- Jonathan Nash

CEPHME

Thursday, November 11, 2004 8:24 PM

(bringing this back to our normal silly level)

OOOHH! They should have known it was not the "right" Private Ryan, but rather Private Tightpants.

RHYMEPHILE

Thursday, November 11, 2004 9:15 PM

Don't feel bad: 19 different ABC stations won't air the movie. Many of the big marktes will miss out on the film.

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"My office! Burgled! Plundered! Purloined! Ha ha ha...loins."

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GUILDSISTER

Thursday, November 11, 2004 10:26 PM

Quote:
Stupid self-censoring hundan.

Not at all. The censoring thing is just an excuse. A movie that age isn't going to draw high ratings for the local affiliates (ratings=$$$), so the television stations make more money by preempting the network and going local with their own movie that night. Instead of one short local commercial break per half hour in the network movie, the TV stations can have all the commercial breaks for themselves. The content quibbles give them the excuse to do so.

GOJIRO

Thursday, November 11, 2004 11:41 PM

You are probably right, G-sis. Instead of SPR, we get to see (or boycott, in my case) "Thanksgiving Across America" with Naomi Judd and A Month of Sundays. Both are pablum.

Thanks, WCPO!

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ALIENZOOKEEPER

Friday, November 12, 2004 5:06 AM

Y'all have helped me make up my mind-

I'm going to go buy that DVD tomorrow, if they have any on the shelves, and order it if they don't.

Blackhawk Down, too, I guess.

Watched 'We Were Soldiers' this weekend, that was not what I expected. Got it on tape, but will watch it again, soon.

The Iraq War i'm dancing about. on the whole. We seem to be killing an awful lot of hotheads (in Cairo, they're calling them 'contractors', not freedom fighters or holy warriors, which i hope is a good sign) from other parts of the ME, as well as Iraqis

QUICKSAND

Friday, November 12, 2004 5:28 AM

I'm in Dallas, and I thought to myself "I'll at least have it on, so whoever keeps track of these things will note that I watched it, showing there IS support for showing this on TV."

Except, it WASN'T ON HERE, EITHER. They showed "Hoosiers," cuz, y'know, that movie ALSO makes me think of World War II. (Hello, Veterans' Day?)

All you freakshows on the Right can rant all you want, but this movie depicts the horrors of war, and was CENSORED by people on your side, because they're too stupid to think that there might actually be some education in all this. Terrified, reactionary crap. What are they afraid of? Kids will see this and go beat up some Germans?

I didn't even like this movie-- contrived, melodramatic throughout, and double goes for the ending. But if you picket something like this, you are ANTI-FREE SPEECH. If you object to it, DON'T WATCH IT. If you decide I shouldn't see it either, I will fight you until my dying breath. And I'll win, too, because I learned war tactics from movies like this one.

Hmm, this is supposed to be a light-hearted board. Hmmm. Um.... hey, John Kerry, you have poofy hair!!

XOXO
Qs

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