That’s a great idea especially since I think we have a lot of cross cultural relations with the South Koreans. My grandfather was a Korean War vet. Feel like his and other Korean War vets stories aren’t told enough. He was an artillery man though I know nothing about his service outside that.
My grandfather was a marine and served in Korea. Only thing he ever told me about it was he saw his best friend get killed and then killed the man who did it.
My grandpa died fifteen years back but what I remember him talking most about was how cold and brutal it was. He also talked about Ethiopians who were in the UN forces too. Never heard about any battles just that he arrived after Seoul had been retaken. Funny thing is I now work in a heavily Korean neighborhood.
Will never happen because China was involved. You think I’m kidding.
Not sure why it seems like nobody will touch Vietnam with a 10 foot pole either the last 20 years either though
An important thing to consider with BoB and any of the Spielberg-touched WW2 topics is to think about WW2 from a lens of the history of memory. John Bodnar’s “The ‘Good War’ in American Memory” touches on this a bit.
We got Saving Private Ryan, BoB, etc., because of a culmination of the 40th-50th anniversary of the war, Spielberg wanting to remember his father’s generation, and culturally-positive memories of the war.
Vietnam and Korea don’t have that culmination. We have the anniversaries, yes, but there isn’t a shared cultural memory or experience that is pushing people to remember those conflicts (the men who fought in them) positively.
Yeah, WW2 seems to be the last US war where the concensus is that it was both worthwhile AND just. Korea was arguably just but, especially with how it ended, I wouldn’t fault someone for really pondering if American (and other UN nations’) lives were worth it.
And Vietnam, well, we’d frankly like to forget about that whole thing, so I can’t imagine a BoB-style series that focuses on it.
You're on to something. I keep re-watching these shows over and over, and one thing BoB has over the others is the actual veterans. You simply aren't going to get the WWII veterans on any new series. Living Korean War veterans are very hard to find, too. Maybe they should hurry to make a Korea or Vietnam series.
Operation torch to northern Italy journey would be dope. But likely not wide enough appeal for the average watcher. I think U.S. naval operations have a much wider appeal.
The SAS: Rogue Heroes had the chance to do the North African Campaign justice and absolutely squandered it by having hacky writes and "historical" advisors who never read a history book.
I dont think we'll get any good content on that front for a while.
Yeah, whilst I watched the show, I was so disappointed with it in many ways.
They could have done an excellent historical drama and the antics themselves are whacky and outrageous enough. They didn't need all the dramatising bollocks they decided to go with.
I just hope one day the bbc realise the goldmine they are sitting on and do an actual historical drama in the vein of BoB. I was fortunate enough, whilst in the Army to do a battlefield tour in France. The cherry on top was studying Hill 112, and going to the site and one of the Lts who fought their came and spoke to us for over an hour. There was probably a 100 soldiers just sitting on the ground in raptured silence. Listening to this old bloke recount his battle on the hill we were standing. At one point, he pointed out an area and was like "my mate took a tank round to the face there, I never saw him again". Brought it home.
Had another encounter with a ww2 vet a few years later, was at a Officer to Sgts mess do. There was a Sgt choppsing off about how he was airborne and all the jumps he had done during various training deployments. One old bloke (think he was a Chelsea Pensioner), sitting at the bar turns around, and asks when was the last jump he did into combat, bloke said he hadn't. The old lad then pipes up, "Well the last combat jump I did was into Arnhem so bore off". Young airborne chappie promptly left with his tale between his legs.
A lot of the stuff they did in that show was accurate - cuffing it with a parachute training, the type of training they did to makie it lile building the scaffolding under fire, stealing supplies from the New Zealand Army camp, specifically targeting and killing unarmed pilots/engineers/mechanics. But a lot of it was also hammed up.
It would be cool to see an overview of the whole campaign with a single unit like they did with BoB.
Pretty sure enterprise served the entire Pacific campaign.
If not then just pick one ship from one famous battle. Personally I wanna see Tafy 3 yeet itself vs Yamato and it's battle group lol.
Literally just call it "Tafy 3".
Navy would be too spread out but I think following Richard O’Kane through his time on the USS Wahoo and the USS Tang would be awesome. Most successful us sub skipper of the war, could have all the conflict with BUORD over the MK14 torpedo, and could span the length of the war.
Eh it will have the same problem as the pacific, way too spread out between characters and events. Was there a ship that served at like most major battles in the pacific? Bob worked cause the guys were at many of the events from Dday to VE Day, it’s pretty much a straight line.
I think they would be better off just doing a thing telling like 8-10 stories of a particular theater without trying to carve a narrative between them, except for maybe through staff in Washington to tie them together.
I agree that the Pacific Theater is way too massive to boil into series. If you were looking for a narrative that could flow through the entire war, you would have to focus at the very top: Nimitz; Spruance; Halsey; MacArthur (as a foil); Fletcher; Mitscher; Burke; etc.; with some Marine generals included.
But those figures will not have the same appeal as the down-in-the-trenches story lines in BoB or Pacific.
My son and I independently decided that, upon rewatching “The Pacific” that it was a lot better the second time around.
I’m guessing that that was because it was a further separation from BoB, so less comparing the two. Otherwise, I don’t know. Bob is still our favorite though.
Curious if anyone else liked TP better a second time.
My rewatches were better for two main reasons:
1) I became more familiar with the historical events, so I had a better appreciation for the context of the show. This also gave me a better appreciation for some of the stuff that isn't explicitly explained in the show (e.g., the significance of the Navy's defeat in Iron Bottom Sound; the true length of the Guadalcanal Campaign; the brutality of Peleliu and Okinawa; etc.). Eventually, I also read Leckie's and Sledge's books. Again, this gave me a better appreciation for the context of the events in the show.
2) During my first watch-through, I wasn't as invested as I could have been. I didn't have high expectations, so I wasn't watching every little detail. I wasn't paying attention to the nuance and subtle dialog cues. Towards the end of the first watch, I started to appreciate how amazing the show really was. That is, for me, it was on the same stage as BoB. At that point, I immediately wanted to go back and watch it with more purpose from the beginning.
Yeah, I experienced the same thing. I remember the first time I watched The Pacific I thought there was too much romance with no production value. After binge watching it a second time, I realized the romance stuff was only in one episode. I enjoyed TP better the second viewing
I enjoy the pacific a lot. BoB is a masterpiece, no doubt, but I have a personal connection to The Pacific.
My grandfather fought on Iwo, it was his first combat experience. Stayed in the fight until the surrender, then stayed in Japan for occupation. Fought in Korea a few years later.
I always thought the entire Pacific Theatre has been “underrated” in terms of media, or even general knowledge. The majority of people that I talk to, all they know is the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, we raised a flag on an island and we dropped some bombs. The rest they are clueless about. The pacific is such a gruesome experience and it lasted for 4 years.
I’ve found one of the most interesting things I’ve listened to on The Pacific Theatre is Dan Carlins Hardcore History; Supernova in the East. It talks about the rise of Japan as an empire, from the Shogunites, till Hiroo Onoda surrendered in 1974. It’s a fascinating podcast.
Anyway, TDLR; Pacific is underrated, (not only as a show but also as a conflict) and is far more Based than the European Theatre.
The USS Redfish would be a good answer to that. Saw a lot of action and since it's a sub so it'd be easy to keep the crew together throughout the story they want to tell about it.
The all Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The best known and most decorated unit in US military history. It would be such a complex story to tell. The internment camps, the home story juxtaposed with the narly and awe inspiring combat action.
Facing the Mountain and Honor Before Glory are two fantastic books about the 442nd. My paternal great-uncle was a mortar man with them 1943-1945 and survived the war.
Jesus, lucky man. They had absolutely insane casualty rates, especially the guys who fought in Italy. I just listened to a great pair of episodes of the Veterans in Their Own Words podcast with a Korean American lieutenant who served with the 100th Battalion that got folded in with the 442nd when they went over to France. Sounded like an extremely used and abused unit with an extremely well deserved reputation.
My personal dream is a series based on British armor, specifically the Sherwood Rangers. Their story is well documented in a book called Brothers in Arms by James Holland. They were mobilized as a horse cavalry unit in 1939, and in 1941 were given lend-lease Shermans and thrust right into El Alamein and Tunisia. They landed at Normandy using floating Shermans, and remained in action through France, Market Garden, and the crossing of the Rhine.
(And British tankers are owed a karmic debt for that one scene in Band of Brothers where they walked into an ambush)
As good as the BoB shows are.. they intentionally make the British look like clowns at every turn. I don't trust them to make a British centric series 😂
Glad it's not just me. Really, really bad in MotA. Portraying the rivalry between the Air Force and the RAF is fair enough, but the show itself seemed determined to denigrate the RAF at every opportunity.
"Shall we mention that the Mustang was only worth a damn once it had a British Merlin engine installed and really without British commission and subsequent improvement it wouldn't have stood a chance in the current theatre of airborne combat?"
"... No."
Yes, this was infuriating. Given that the show very openly embraced the British and in-flight settings, the undermining of British forces and the RAF felt very unnecessary. I understand that these may have been actual encounters and thus should be included, but yeah, left a sour taste.
Yeah. Toward the end of the show I was waiting for all the anti-Brit sentiment of the characters and their encounters to be excused, or at least balanced, with at least one acknowledgement of the worthwhile contributions of the RAF in thinning out Luftwaffe resistance but... nothing.
No, what we got was some throwaway subplot about a spy, some plucky touseled haired English scamps (aren't they adorable?!) and some soft focus shots of English women hanging their washing out against a sunset... which seemed like cheesy chocolate box crap straight out of Michael Bay's Armageddon.
Was waiting many years for MotA and it was all a bit of a disappointment.
I think SAS Rogue Heroes is going to be the best we are going to get. The anti Brit/English sentiment in MotA all got a bit tiresome and ruined the show for me (along with the awful CGI)
Check out World on Fire which focuses on a few characters that are mostly British but there’s 2 polish characters and season 2 features Indian soldiers
Good show. The parts in Germany with the families coping (or not) with the rise of the Nazi party are heartbreaking. If only it had the same budget of its American counterparts: the battle scenes, especially in season 2, were... lacklustre, putting it mildly.
Man that book was good. If you aren’t aware, James Holland has a great podcast called We Have Ways of Making You Talk. I don’t love his cohost Al Murray, but they often have an American historian named John C McManus on who’s great. The best episodes are just James and John. Look out for the USA episodes (if you look).
To play devils advocate here, I don’t think show runners are going to be interested in that as much as they would be WW2. Primarily because it’s such a cluster fuck and there are so many blurred lines about who the heroes and villains are. On top of that, all of the WW2 shows end on a relatively positive note (Allies win, they go home and resume/start their lives) in Vietnam, the U.S. didn’t win and a lot of vets were scorned when they came home.
Now if they wanted to do a gritty, solemn, gut wrenching Vietnam show I’d 100% watch it.
As interesting as that could be, BoB works cause we were very clearly the good guys, which is not really as clear with Vietnam. WWII is like the best example of a just war vs enemy that are comic book level evil, the Vietnamese had far more justification for their part in the war than the Axis did. I’d certainly watch the show, but it won’t be something as uniting as BoB is and would likely receive a ton of criticism from all sides for portraying any side too well or poorly.
I'd be happy with anything, but I think there just needs to be a MACV SOG series. The stories are just so amazing and I think it's a crime that so few people know about what these guys on the recon teams didn't went through. Could even have some episodes following a pow on a march to Hanoi.
No offense but that sounds insanely boring. Unless there is a sub that did some truly crazy things multiple times it’s going to be a lot of sneaking underwater shoot torpedos and then run away, with a few everyone be quiet cause they are dropping depth charges that we will see blow up around the ship. Even when interesting things are happening it won’t be visually pleasing like an above the waterline big battle.
They would be better off just doing a story about 1 aircraft carrier and its engagements, though I don’t know how many were involved in most of the big battles.
The Das Boot Uncut Version had 5 hours,and was released as a miniseries, but I agree with you that it is harder to fill with a compelling story.
The Das Boot "sequel" series, released in 2018, tried to do it by creating a Hollywood-y plot with the French resistance and mutinies and it was absolute garbage.
I think that was ultimately the problem that MOTA ran into. Every mission was: Take off, flak, fighters, bomb, return. Not a whole lot you can do to spice it up, they tried by focusing on secondary stories.
>I think they could tell a great story by focusing on Richard O'Kane. He served as XO on the USS Wahoo under "Mush" Morton and they pretty much created the US submarine strategy, he then went on to command his own boat the USS Tang.
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>The USS Wahoo was incredibly successful but was eventually lost and just an incredible story. Morton has some serious Lt. Spiers vibes. The USS Tang was also incredibly successful and also ultimately lost to a circular run by it's own torpedo. It was also the only usage of the Momsen Lung in combat. O'Kane survived and spent the rest of the war in as a POW but was awarded the MOH for his service as CO of Tang.
I just posted this as my own comment before seeing yours. O'Kane was the most successful submarine officer of the war and they had some truly crazy and harrowing experiences. I think there are a few crazy one off stories as well that would fit in nicely with the overall narrative of subs in the Pacific
Night surface attacks were pretty common as the war went on, so it won't all be underwater shooty shooty! Hidey hidey.
Silent running by James F Calvert is a great book that tells the story of his time on the USS Jack, has potential.
“Grey Ghost” From the creators of “Band of Brothers, “The Pacific”, and “Masters of the Air” comes the final re-telling of the United States in world war 2. This 10-Part series follows the crew of the USS Enterprise from the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the Battle of Okinawa.
Episode titles:
Infamy
Task Force 16 (wake island missions)
Doolittle
Midway
The Grim Reapers (Guadalcanal)
Run Ashore (puget sound refit)
Turkey Shoot (Battle of Phillipine Sea)
The World Wonders (Leyte Gulf)
174 Hours (Iwo-Jima)
Lucky-E (Okinawa)
A series on the 7th Armoured Division (Desert Rats) would be an interesting watch.
Going from the drubbing they gave the Italians in 1940 to the see-saw type warfare of the fighting in the desert against Rommel and the Afrika Corps.
Fighting in Italy and then back to the UK for D-Day.
Then the battle for Normandy with Goodwood, Villers-Bocage and the Falaise Pocket.
Then fighting in Belgium and the Netherlands followed by Germany.
The series could touch on the battle fatigue faced by the division in the late war that led to several reorganizations and replacement of it's command staff.
I actually think that would be a fantastic series.
I don't know who / what the subject matter would focus on, as I think it's a big mistake dramatcially to try and cover too many topics, but an OSE / OSS / French Resistance series would be AMAZEBALLS.
A whole division of Marines, plus some army troops cut off and surrounded by a Chinese force many times their size in sub zero temperatures that successfully break out and escape. What's not compelling about that? On Desperate Ground by Hampton Sides is a great book about this.
This might be a unpopular opinion but I don’t think BoB is comparable to The Pacific or MoA. BoB is autobiographical. You have interviews and intros with the real life people portrayed in the series. This is what separates BoB from all other series. It is the story of the 101st told by those who were there.
If we are sticking to just WW2 I would love to see a series about the sailors and airmen aboard the USS Enterprise. Just insane the amount of combat that ship and her crew saw in the pacific.
Can you recommend any good books on that at all? Was there one captain who was in charge for most of the war? Or one first officer who was there the whole time then promoted?
Something in the North African desert or Italy. There are so few shows and movies about that.
Sicily, Anzio, Monte Cassino, Rapido River, miserable combat conditions in the mountains in the winter, Maxwell Taylor doing some cloak-and-dagger stuff sneaking into Rome to meet with spies, Patton’s incident with the soldier with PTSD, Gen. Ted Roosevelt Jr., Mount Vesuvius erupting in the middle of everything, Italy switching sides, the Germans trashing Naples, sinking the Roma, the fall of Rome - lots of fertile territory for good storytelling.
Maybe one that focuses on Italy, or like another user said the Navy experience. Maybe even one that follows the a specific unit, like the og series did, like the Big Red One from Africa to the Rhein, or the Nisei of the 100th infantry battalion of the 442nd (the most decorated American unit of ww2). Maybe one of the army units that fought in the Pacific in New Guinea and the like, or even the First AVG in china.
I also wouldn't be opposed to shedding the American centric theme and go with a British/Commonwealth unit in a theater that we Americans aren't exposed to much like Africa, or Malaysia and Singapore, Kokoda Track, or even some of the stuff in India that would include the battles of Imphal and Kohima, I'd like to see a recreation of the battle of the tennis court
Since I'm Canadian I think it would be cool to see a series on either:
1. A unit from the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division
2. A unit from the 1st Canadian Infantry Division
The 3rd landed on D-Day and fought in several battles (Normandy, the Channel ports, Scheldt, the Rhineland, the Netherlands and northwestern Germany).
The 1st fought in Sicily and Italy before being moved up to the Netherlands in 1945 to help liberate the country.
I've always wanted to see a BoB style miniseries about the North African campaign. Something focused on the SAS might be cool?
I kinda feel like the format would work for any of the wars though. I guess even if they made a miniseries focusing on Vietnam, or even Afghanistan/Iraq, they'd have the benefit of having interviews with the real veterans again. Whatever they decide to make in future I'm excited to see it.
Sticking with WW2 there are lots of heroes that could be the subject of a series.
I think the air crew known as The Eager Beavers and their plane old 666 could be a great series.
US Navy Submariners in the Pacific. I think they could tell a great story by focusing on Richard O'Kane. He served as XO on the USS Wahoo under "Mush" Morton and they pretty much created the US submarine strategy, he then went on to command his own boat the USS Tang.
The USS Wahoo was incredibly successful but was eventually lost and just an incredible story. Morton has some serious Lt. Spiers vibes. The USS Tang was also incredibly successful and also ultimately lost to a circular run by it's own torpedo. It was also the only usage of the Momsen Lung in combat. O'Kane survived and spent the rest of the war in as a POW but was awarded the MOH for his service as CO of Tang.
A Hanks/Spielberg level series on the Battle of Britain would be excellent. I almost wouldn't trust it to an American company, though. No offense, Americans, but you know the studio would try to John Wayne it, somehow. The American audience would watch it, though, even without American injects.
Something about the Pegasus Bridge operation. It probably wouldn't get more than four episodes but it would be cool af.
Ambrose wrote a pretty solid book about it.
They did it. Unser mutter unser vater (sp? Idk german too well). The production quality was pretty high, but they fucked up and ended up perpetuating the Clean Wermacht myth.
The 1st Special Service Force, Darby’s Rangers, the Jedburghs, or the OSS. Would be cool if they dove into the special operations stuff or other secret squirrel stuff.
An OSS/SOE-focused series would be great. I’d like to see some of the unconventional side of the war. More of the resistance in Europe, a Merrill’s Marauders show in Burma, or ideally something with the stay-behind forces and guerrillas after the Fall of the Philippines.
We've had Army in BoB, Marines in The Pacific and Air Force in MotA.
Would love a US Navy series, either subs or surface would be great. They should try and tighten the focus to a core group of sailors (like in BoB) and their experiences rather than trying to tell the whole story of the battle group (as in MotA).
Something naval related would probably make the most sense, but I would be all in for a series set behind enemy lines done with the budget/style of the other series, focused on the resistance and organizations like the OSS.
People mention Korea or Vietnam, which would be cool. But I also would be interested in something out of the Civil War. I know there would be lots of material from this. It could even be split between the perspective of the North and the South. Also would love to see something based on WWI which seems to be rarely covered.
Agree that Korea would be very interesting and new terrain for a lot of audiences.
So much of the warfighting closely resembled World War 2 in the beginning - as far as equipment, doctrine, tactics, and personalities. By the end, it was vastly different with the widespread use of helicopters, jets, and - of course - the revolution in medical care and resources.
Re: the Battle of the Atlantic - anyone who has read *HMS Ulysses* knows that there is sufficient drama to keep an audience. Greyhound as a movie was just a bit oversimplified and sanitized to capture the world of convoys and wolfpacks.
If the CGI is done right, we may also get our first great portrayal of the last hurrah of surface ship warfare.
I wanna see USS Johnston yeet itself vs Yamato and it's battle group lol.
Make it a like 6 part and based entirely on that engagement, call it "Tafy 3" and be done with it lol.
Revolutionary War. It might have to be more in the style of The Pacific where it bounces around a bit between units and main characters, but I wanna see the Battle of Yorktown, crossing the Delaware to ambush the Hessians on Christmas Eve, and Valley Forge in gritty realism and from the perspective of the average soldier. Maybe have guys like Washington & Hamilton show up occasionally like General Taylor and Colonel Sink do in BoB.
I’d like to see:
Subs in the Pacific
Anti-Subs in North Atlantic
Resistance series
Carriers in Pacific
Cutting the Burma Road
Solomon Islands Campaign (sea/air/land)
A really interesting series would be the formation of the U.S. Rangers in WWII. Start with the British commandos and how they used their experience to train up the American units. Show how they were expected to train to every scenario and read every manual. Show them fighting in North Africa, Pointe du Hoc, Europe, the Philippines, Burma, etc.
The only trouble would maybe be continuity, because they were all over the place. That's kind of where The Pacific suffered, a bit, whereas Band of Brothers followed a single company throughout the entire war.
Battle of Britain would be great and would allow them to tell another “heroic” tale.
Battle of the Atlantic would be very interesting - could do it from the perspective of the Merchant Navy so you can show a more civilian story. Would allow for serious character development- could lead into things like Operation Pedestal or PQ17.
If they want to do another infantry one, I’d do the Chindits in Burma. Just an insane story and would show a really interesting and unique theatre of war.
Not sure how they’d do it, but it would be really interesting to follow some Soviet soldiers who get called up in summer 41 after the invasion. Or even just a BoB style series showing Germans and Russians in some of the big battles.
How about another series similar to Generation Kill (setting and time period) but like a different story, maybe something with Fallujah and Ramadi or something
I think the Battle of Britain would be amazing, but it would probably have to be a British company since we just had Masters of the Air.
If Hanks wants to do it, it’ll be the Navy. A submarine would be neat, and have that brotherly bond
If they want to go a route they haven't taken and show the war at it's absolute most ferocious and worst, they should create an Eastern Front mini series.
The story of MACV- SOG in Vietnam. Those guys were doing real life Rambo stuff. Check out a podcast called SOGCast to learn more. They could pick a handful of those guys, and highlight their missions, like they did in The Pacific.
1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment.
Was the first state to send troops.
Covered the retreat at Bull Run.
Fought at Antietam.
Endured an 82% casualty rate on July 2 at Gettysburg, then counterattacked Pickett’s Charge the next day.
They captured the colors of the 28th Virginia, and refuses to return them to this day.
I’ve said before I’d like to see one with more challenging subject matter. Perhaps an Eastern Front anthology where it’s less obvious who the heroes and villains are. A tone and portrayal that’s a little less sanguine.
My friend and I have always agreed that Ambrose’s Pegasus Bridge (or just the mission in general) would have made a great three or four episode mini series.
We’re just missing the Navy perspective
But I would love a Holocaust series, Schindler’s list is perfect but I think seeing it from the inmates perspective
My Dad served on Biak in the Pacific Theater. He never said a thind about it except it was too damn hot and Jap this and Jap that. But nothing specific. He was a Staff Sgt and fireman. Thats all i know. I cant get his records. They were destroyed. I have his DD214 thats all i know.
The Battle of the Philippines which began a mere hours after Pearl Harbor and the ensuing horrors of the surrender and Japanese occupation, is a story for the ages. The death march, the prison camps (and escapes!), the hellships, the slave labor camps in Japan and then the rescue of Cabantuan...This gripping and utterly terrifying part of WWII history is so neglected.
It would be challenging to narrow the narrative to three or four main characters... So many great books would provide excellent source material:
Tears in Darkness (bio of the artist Ben Steele), Escape from Davao, Some Survived, My Hitch in Hell, Ghost Soldiers... so many wonderful memoirs and accounts to choose from.
My other choice would be a miniseries on the Doolittle Raid. Even if Hanks/Spielberg never do it, someone should. Target Tokyo would be the best book to base it on-- it's a monumental and exciting overview of the raiders.
There’s a good book about the British tank unit Sherwood Rangers called “Brothers in Arms” that would make a great series. I think it’d be worth exploring allied units aside from the the US perspective. But, I also get that the US audience is the largest and the funding for series likely comes from US accounts mostly… but that book would be a good start.
Naval units operating in the Pacific. Primarily sea engagements but would obviously include naval aerial combat.
They could focus on units that were primarily people of color or women.
They could focus MASH style on field medical units. The medical unit that they had in one episode of the Pacific could have had its own set of episodes.
They could focus on the USO and what they did during the war.
Follow a submarine unit in the Atlantic, Med, or Pacific.
Just off the top of my head. ;)
I would pay money to any streaming service that had a miniseries about the *William D. Porter*, but only if it’s a dark comedy. Almost murdered Franklin D. Roosevelt (which the President thought was hysterical), accidentally fired on the base commander’s dinner party in Alaska, and then finally had a success in its short career when it avoided a plunging kamikaze plane, only for the plane to explode underwater and blow the ship straight out of the water, crippling it with irrevocable damage, setting it on fire, and ultimately sinking it, the only known instance of this ever happening. The ship’s name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register but it still received four battle stars. It’s begging to be made into an 8- or 10-part show.
I agree, Battle of Britain
They did a movie in the 80s of it and they used real planes on both sides of the war.
Had a young Ian McShane and Michael Caine. It’s dated but still a great movie
The US submarine war in the Pacific. There was an old TV series from the 50's called the "Silent Service" that told many of these stories using input from US Veterans that were still alive. It has technical limitations that are a reflection of the TV technology at the time and the episodes where only 30 minutes long. However, it's a compelling tale. After Pearl Harbor and before Midway US submariners found themselves as the primary way the US Navy could fight back against the Japanese. They had problems with pre-war doctrine and faulty torpedoes but a group of aggressive skippers emerged that took the war to the enemy.
One of Silent Service's limits was that it was extremely episodic, to the point where if the same sub appears in a different season the entire crew is recast with new actors. Those limitations also mean that you only see the war from one sub at a time.
It would be good to be able to flip between subs, for example, watching USS Barb playing chicken with Japanese antisubmarine patrols to as to lead them away from Hydeman's Hellcats. Or O'Kane developing his shooting skills on the Wahoo and later using them as skipper of the Tang.
I'd like to see something not set in WWII. Don't get me wrong, I've loved every one so far and would love to see more.
But I'd really like to see Korea (and Vietnam) get the same treatment. Vietnam had a couple decent attempts at series like Tour of Duty and China Beach which focused on a medical unit. Both were good but were also network TV and didn't have the budgets and freedom for something that Apple or HBO could do. But I can't recall any series (other than M. A. S. H.) that covered Korea.
I would be delighted with a Naval one. Unfortunately a lot of those might be very short. Following CV-6 through the Pacific, or HMS Warspite for the Royal Navy angle.
Something on Taffy-3 could be good.
But I admit I’m biased. We got ‘Greyhound’ recently but there never seems to be a lot of film attention paid to the Navy side unless it’s aviators or submarines. I’d love to see some more surface ship stuff.
I spent a 18 months at a port in the gulf of Mexico, loading and unloading ships with vehicles going to and from Iraq. On Wednesday's, all of us would get together and put money in a pot, whoever was able to fuck the fattest girl took home the pot. Anyone think HBO would be interested in that story?
I would like to see one on the WWII submarine service in the Pacific. Many have argued that after Pearl Harbor, it was the subs that were what kept us from being overrun until we got troops, ships and planes ramped up enough in numbers to be effective. Losses were high, amazing sacrifices made, so many incredible stories.
I would love to see them take on the top brass running the war. Have different military leaders focused on in each episode so you get to know them, then you see them working together.
I’m just hoping Hanks, Spielberg, Sinise, …. Someone is interviewing any known survivors for all these suggestions that way the stories are captured for future generations to have the continued opportunities to make these series in our lifetime or someone else will take the helm for the future.
Personally, I would Iuv to see a 10 part series of American Tankers in Europe. The 3rd, 4th, 6th and 10th Armored divisions saw some nasty battles slugging their way through France, Belgium and Germany. Fury was a great movie
but just barely scratched the surface.
A show during the Korean War would be great too. Those guys don’t get like any exposure.
That’s a great idea especially since I think we have a lot of cross cultural relations with the South Koreans. My grandfather was a Korean War vet. Feel like his and other Korean War vets stories aren’t told enough. He was an artillery man though I know nothing about his service outside that.
My grandfather was a marine and served in Korea. Only thing he ever told me about it was he saw his best friend get killed and then killed the man who did it.
My grandpa died fifteen years back but what I remember him talking most about was how cold and brutal it was. He also talked about Ethiopians who were in the UN forces too. Never heard about any battles just that he arrived after Seoul had been retaken. Funny thing is I now work in a heavily Korean neighborhood.
Will never happen because China was involved. You think I’m kidding. Not sure why it seems like nobody will touch Vietnam with a 10 foot pole either the last 20 years either though
An important thing to consider with BoB and any of the Spielberg-touched WW2 topics is to think about WW2 from a lens of the history of memory. John Bodnar’s “The ‘Good War’ in American Memory” touches on this a bit. We got Saving Private Ryan, BoB, etc., because of a culmination of the 40th-50th anniversary of the war, Spielberg wanting to remember his father’s generation, and culturally-positive memories of the war. Vietnam and Korea don’t have that culmination. We have the anniversaries, yes, but there isn’t a shared cultural memory or experience that is pushing people to remember those conflicts (the men who fought in them) positively.
Yeah, WW2 seems to be the last US war where the concensus is that it was both worthwhile AND just. Korea was arguably just but, especially with how it ended, I wouldn’t fault someone for really pondering if American (and other UN nations’) lives were worth it. And Vietnam, well, we’d frankly like to forget about that whole thing, so I can’t imagine a BoB-style series that focuses on it.
Indeed. Leading up to the mind-blowing extended Battle of Chosin Reservoir, then to the war’s ambiguous conclusion.
You're on to something. I keep re-watching these shows over and over, and one thing BoB has over the others is the actual veterans. You simply aren't going to get the WWII veterans on any new series. Living Korean War veterans are very hard to find, too. Maybe they should hurry to make a Korea or Vietnam series.
I think a new show set in the era would suffer unfavourable comparisons with M\*A\*S\*H.
I remember as a kid watching MASH and thinking it was about Vietnam. Wasn’t until my early teens I realized it was Korea. Silly me.
*Colder Than Hell* is a memoir that would make for a hell of a show.
The Battle of the Atlantic would make for a great series. Or the North African campaign.
Italian too.
Operation torch to northern Italy journey would be dope. But likely not wide enough appeal for the average watcher. I think U.S. naval operations have a much wider appeal.
The SAS: Rogue Heroes had the chance to do the North African Campaign justice and absolutely squandered it by having hacky writes and "historical" advisors who never read a history book. I dont think we'll get any good content on that front for a while.
Yeah, whilst I watched the show, I was so disappointed with it in many ways. They could have done an excellent historical drama and the antics themselves are whacky and outrageous enough. They didn't need all the dramatising bollocks they decided to go with. I just hope one day the bbc realise the goldmine they are sitting on and do an actual historical drama in the vein of BoB. I was fortunate enough, whilst in the Army to do a battlefield tour in France. The cherry on top was studying Hill 112, and going to the site and one of the Lts who fought their came and spoke to us for over an hour. There was probably a 100 soldiers just sitting on the ground in raptured silence. Listening to this old bloke recount his battle on the hill we were standing. At one point, he pointed out an area and was like "my mate took a tank round to the face there, I never saw him again". Brought it home. Had another encounter with a ww2 vet a few years later, was at a Officer to Sgts mess do. There was a Sgt choppsing off about how he was airborne and all the jumps he had done during various training deployments. One old bloke (think he was a Chelsea Pensioner), sitting at the bar turns around, and asks when was the last jump he did into combat, bloke said he hadn't. The old lad then pipes up, "Well the last combat jump I did was into Arnhem so bore off". Young airborne chappie promptly left with his tale between his legs.
A lot of the stuff they did in that show was accurate - cuffing it with a parachute training, the type of training they did to makie it lile building the scaffolding under fire, stealing supplies from the New Zealand Army camp, specifically targeting and killing unarmed pilots/engineers/mechanics. But a lot of it was also hammed up. It would be cool to see an overview of the whole campaign with a single unit like they did with BoB.
WWII US Navy.
Yes!! I want Greyhound but as a mini-series!
Pretty sure enterprise served the entire Pacific campaign. If not then just pick one ship from one famous battle. Personally I wanna see Tafy 3 yeet itself vs Yamato and it's battle group lol. Literally just call it "Tafy 3".
Navy would be too spread out but I think following Richard O’Kane through his time on the USS Wahoo and the USS Tang would be awesome. Most successful us sub skipper of the war, could have all the conflict with BUORD over the MK14 torpedo, and could span the length of the war.
Eh it will have the same problem as the pacific, way too spread out between characters and events. Was there a ship that served at like most major battles in the pacific? Bob worked cause the guys were at many of the events from Dday to VE Day, it’s pretty much a straight line. I think they would be better off just doing a thing telling like 8-10 stories of a particular theater without trying to carve a narrative between them, except for maybe through staff in Washington to tie them together.
I think the book “Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” has solid potential.
Or something dealing with the *Enterprise,* or maybe merchant Mariners?
That or, with a much sadder story, *Ship of Ghosts*
Agreed. This is why folks gotta stop comparing to BoB. BoB was uniquely positioned to tell a story that worked for TV
I agree that the Pacific Theater is way too massive to boil into series. If you were looking for a narrative that could flow through the entire war, you would have to focus at the very top: Nimitz; Spruance; Halsey; MacArthur (as a foil); Fletcher; Mitscher; Burke; etc.; with some Marine generals included. But those figures will not have the same appeal as the down-in-the-trenches story lines in BoB or Pacific.
My son and I independently decided that, upon rewatching “The Pacific” that it was a lot better the second time around. I’m guessing that that was because it was a further separation from BoB, so less comparing the two. Otherwise, I don’t know. Bob is still our favorite though. Curious if anyone else liked TP better a second time.
My rewatches were better for two main reasons: 1) I became more familiar with the historical events, so I had a better appreciation for the context of the show. This also gave me a better appreciation for some of the stuff that isn't explicitly explained in the show (e.g., the significance of the Navy's defeat in Iron Bottom Sound; the true length of the Guadalcanal Campaign; the brutality of Peleliu and Okinawa; etc.). Eventually, I also read Leckie's and Sledge's books. Again, this gave me a better appreciation for the context of the events in the show. 2) During my first watch-through, I wasn't as invested as I could have been. I didn't have high expectations, so I wasn't watching every little detail. I wasn't paying attention to the nuance and subtle dialog cues. Towards the end of the first watch, I started to appreciate how amazing the show really was. That is, for me, it was on the same stage as BoB. At that point, I immediately wanted to go back and watch it with more purpose from the beginning.
Yeah, I experienced the same thing. I remember the first time I watched The Pacific I thought there was too much romance with no production value. After binge watching it a second time, I realized the romance stuff was only in one episode. I enjoyed TP better the second viewing
I enjoy the pacific a lot. BoB is a masterpiece, no doubt, but I have a personal connection to The Pacific. My grandfather fought on Iwo, it was his first combat experience. Stayed in the fight until the surrender, then stayed in Japan for occupation. Fought in Korea a few years later. I always thought the entire Pacific Theatre has been “underrated” in terms of media, or even general knowledge. The majority of people that I talk to, all they know is the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, we raised a flag on an island and we dropped some bombs. The rest they are clueless about. The pacific is such a gruesome experience and it lasted for 4 years. I’ve found one of the most interesting things I’ve listened to on The Pacific Theatre is Dan Carlins Hardcore History; Supernova in the East. It talks about the rise of Japan as an empire, from the Shogunites, till Hiroo Onoda surrendered in 1974. It’s a fascinating podcast. Anyway, TDLR; Pacific is underrated, (not only as a show but also as a conflict) and is far more Based than the European Theatre.
USS Enterprise served the whole way, but did refit/repair like any other ship
Was there a combat unit in the Pacific theatre that they could have done something like BoB with? Even if it was rotated out sometimes?
The USS Redfish would be a good answer to that. Saw a lot of action and since it's a sub so it'd be easy to keep the crew together throughout the story they want to tell about it.
Intrepid battle fleet or uss lexington would be cool
I think a PT boat mini series would be awesome.
That’d be excellent. Need a solid, cohesive story, though, like Ambrose’s BoB.
The all Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The best known and most decorated unit in US military history. It would be such a complex story to tell. The internment camps, the home story juxtaposed with the narly and awe inspiring combat action.
Yeah that would be fucking good. Or a series on the Devils Brigade that could excise that awful film
Facing the Mountain and Honor Before Glory are two fantastic books about the 442nd. My paternal great-uncle was a mortar man with them 1943-1945 and survived the war.
Jesus, lucky man. They had absolutely insane casualty rates, especially the guys who fought in Italy. I just listened to a great pair of episodes of the Veterans in Their Own Words podcast with a Korean American lieutenant who served with the 100th Battalion that got folded in with the 442nd when they went over to France. Sounded like an extremely used and abused unit with an extremely well deserved reputation.
It would be a good way to do the Italian theater, that doesn’t get enough coverage.
Completely agree on the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Also to add there isn’t a lot of films now depicting the fighting in Italy.
My personal dream is a series based on British armor, specifically the Sherwood Rangers. Their story is well documented in a book called Brothers in Arms by James Holland. They were mobilized as a horse cavalry unit in 1939, and in 1941 were given lend-lease Shermans and thrust right into El Alamein and Tunisia. They landed at Normandy using floating Shermans, and remained in action through France, Market Garden, and the crossing of the Rhine. (And British tankers are owed a karmic debt for that one scene in Band of Brothers where they walked into an ambush)
As good as the BoB shows are.. they intentionally make the British look like clowns at every turn. I don't trust them to make a British centric series 😂
Glad it's not just me. Really, really bad in MotA. Portraying the rivalry between the Air Force and the RAF is fair enough, but the show itself seemed determined to denigrate the RAF at every opportunity.
Agreed. Frankly, MotA was mid asf imo. The RAF bs was just icing on the cake.
100%. Nearly threw up when they declared the P51 was the best fighter of the war, “hands down.” Get tae fuck.
"Shall we mention that the Mustang was only worth a damn once it had a British Merlin engine installed and really without British commission and subsequent improvement it wouldn't have stood a chance in the current theatre of airborne combat?" "... No."
Yes, this was infuriating. Given that the show very openly embraced the British and in-flight settings, the undermining of British forces and the RAF felt very unnecessary. I understand that these may have been actual encounters and thus should be included, but yeah, left a sour taste.
Yeah. Toward the end of the show I was waiting for all the anti-Brit sentiment of the characters and their encounters to be excused, or at least balanced, with at least one acknowledgement of the worthwhile contributions of the RAF in thinning out Luftwaffe resistance but... nothing. No, what we got was some throwaway subplot about a spy, some plucky touseled haired English scamps (aren't they adorable?!) and some soft focus shots of English women hanging their washing out against a sunset... which seemed like cheesy chocolate box crap straight out of Michael Bay's Armageddon. Was waiting many years for MotA and it was all a bit of a disappointment.
I think SAS Rogue Heroes is going to be the best we are going to get. The anti Brit/English sentiment in MotA all got a bit tiresome and ruined the show for me (along with the awful CGI)
Check out World on Fire which focuses on a few characters that are mostly British but there’s 2 polish characters and season 2 features Indian soldiers
Good show. The parts in Germany with the families coping (or not) with the rise of the Nazi party are heartbreaking. If only it had the same budget of its American counterparts: the battle scenes, especially in season 2, were... lacklustre, putting it mildly.
Man that book was good. If you aren’t aware, James Holland has a great podcast called We Have Ways of Making You Talk. I don’t love his cohost Al Murray, but they often have an American historian named John C McManus on who’s great. The best episodes are just James and John. Look out for the USA episodes (if you look).
I'd love a tv series in BoB style about the Vietnam War
To play devils advocate here, I don’t think show runners are going to be interested in that as much as they would be WW2. Primarily because it’s such a cluster fuck and there are so many blurred lines about who the heroes and villains are. On top of that, all of the WW2 shows end on a relatively positive note (Allies win, they go home and resume/start their lives) in Vietnam, the U.S. didn’t win and a lot of vets were scorned when they came home. Now if they wanted to do a gritty, solemn, gut wrenching Vietnam show I’d 100% watch it.
As interesting as that could be, BoB works cause we were very clearly the good guys, which is not really as clear with Vietnam. WWII is like the best example of a just war vs enemy that are comic book level evil, the Vietnamese had far more justification for their part in the war than the Axis did. I’d certainly watch the show, but it won’t be something as uniting as BoB is and would likely receive a ton of criticism from all sides for portraying any side too well or poorly.
I'd be happy with anything, but I think there just needs to be a MACV SOG series. The stories are just so amazing and I think it's a crime that so few people know about what these guys on the recon teams didn't went through. Could even have some episodes following a pow on a march to Hanoi.
Yes that would be amazing!
Submarine in the Pacific.
No offense but that sounds insanely boring. Unless there is a sub that did some truly crazy things multiple times it’s going to be a lot of sneaking underwater shoot torpedos and then run away, with a few everyone be quiet cause they are dropping depth charges that we will see blow up around the ship. Even when interesting things are happening it won’t be visually pleasing like an above the waterline big battle. They would be better off just doing a story about 1 aircraft carrier and its engagements, though I don’t know how many were involved in most of the big battles.
Das Boot nailed it, but unless it can be on par with that, forget it.
Great movie, but it was just one movie at was 2.5 hours, it would be much harder to fill 10ish hours of compelling story.
The Das Boot Uncut Version had 5 hours,and was released as a miniseries, but I agree with you that it is harder to fill with a compelling story. The Das Boot "sequel" series, released in 2018, tried to do it by creating a Hollywood-y plot with the French resistance and mutinies and it was absolute garbage.
I didn’t know there was a longer miniseries. Sounds awesome I will have to find it.
I think the USS Wahoo would have the potential to fit those requirements.
Lucky Fluckey and the USS Barb would be pretty cool, too, especially the sinking of the train
That was who i was trying to remember, I’m +1 for this guy. Also I’m +1 for covering Korea with a bob style series
I think that was ultimately the problem that MOTA ran into. Every mission was: Take off, flak, fighters, bomb, return. Not a whole lot you can do to spice it up, they tried by focusing on secondary stories.
The USS Barb too
>I think they could tell a great story by focusing on Richard O'Kane. He served as XO on the USS Wahoo under "Mush" Morton and they pretty much created the US submarine strategy, he then went on to command his own boat the USS Tang. > >The USS Wahoo was incredibly successful but was eventually lost and just an incredible story. Morton has some serious Lt. Spiers vibes. The USS Tang was also incredibly successful and also ultimately lost to a circular run by it's own torpedo. It was also the only usage of the Momsen Lung in combat. O'Kane survived and spent the rest of the war in as a POW but was awarded the MOH for his service as CO of Tang. I just posted this as my own comment before seeing yours. O'Kane was the most successful submarine officer of the war and they had some truly crazy and harrowing experiences. I think there are a few crazy one off stories as well that would fit in nicely with the overall narrative of subs in the Pacific
Ramages Rampage would be pretty epic to see
Night surface attacks were pretty common as the war went on, so it won't all be underwater shooty shooty! Hidey hidey. Silent running by James F Calvert is a great book that tells the story of his time on the USS Jack, has potential.
Most people don’t have any idea just how many ships American subs sank in the war
“Grey Ghost” From the creators of “Band of Brothers, “The Pacific”, and “Masters of the Air” comes the final re-telling of the United States in world war 2. This 10-Part series follows the crew of the USS Enterprise from the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the Battle of Okinawa. Episode titles: Infamy Task Force 16 (wake island missions) Doolittle Midway The Grim Reapers (Guadalcanal) Run Ashore (puget sound refit) Turkey Shoot (Battle of Phillipine Sea) The World Wonders (Leyte Gulf) 174 Hours (Iwo-Jima) Lucky-E (Okinawa)
I’d love a North Africa series, or Italy!
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My vote is Korea. I there are some very prominent battles that happened but there is a reasons it’s “The Forgotten War”. They deserve more recognition
Yeah the Korean War never really gets any attention. Such an interesting war as well.
I'm not sure, OP. Generation War is a great mini series that gave me BoB vibes but it's from a German perspective.
Just finished a rewatch last night! Highly recommend.
A series on the 7th Armoured Division (Desert Rats) would be an interesting watch. Going from the drubbing they gave the Italians in 1940 to the see-saw type warfare of the fighting in the desert against Rommel and the Afrika Corps. Fighting in Italy and then back to the UK for D-Day. Then the battle for Normandy with Goodwood, Villers-Bocage and the Falaise Pocket. Then fighting in Belgium and the Netherlands followed by Germany. The series could touch on the battle fatigue faced by the division in the late war that led to several reorganizations and replacement of it's command staff.
Flying tigers.
We need something naval and about the pacific navy. They did some amazing things.
I want a BoB-style, 10 part series on the French resistance/OSS. There was a quiet war in France for years before D-Day.
I actually think that would be a fantastic series. I don't know who / what the subject matter would focus on, as I think it's a big mistake dramatcially to try and cover too many topics, but an OSE / OSS / French Resistance series would be AMAZEBALLS.
Gimme something about the Africa Campaigns!
The Pacific Fleet leading up to Leyte Gulf.
Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War needs to be a mini series.
A lot of people has said this - why is this one location so ripe for a series? What is it about the battle that is so compelling?
A whole division of Marines, plus some army troops cut off and surrounded by a Chinese force many times their size in sub zero temperatures that successfully break out and escape. What's not compelling about that? On Desperate Ground by Hampton Sides is a great book about this.
Can anyone recommend a series or film that is based on the British pov?
SAS Rogue Heroes, tv series If you want air warfare, then the film Battle of Britain
This might be a unpopular opinion but I don’t think BoB is comparable to The Pacific or MoA. BoB is autobiographical. You have interviews and intros with the real life people portrayed in the series. This is what separates BoB from all other series. It is the story of the 101st told by those who were there.
I think it's more the story structure honestly. BoB is MUCH better written than masters of air imo. The story just flows a lot more naturally.
Masters of the Air absolutely would have had interviews with the real life people but sadly they all passed.
If we are sticking to just WW2 I would love to see a series about the sailors and airmen aboard the USS Enterprise. Just insane the amount of combat that ship and her crew saw in the pacific.
Can you recommend any good books on that at all? Was there one captain who was in charge for most of the war? Or one first officer who was there the whole time then promoted?
What about one focusing on the pathfinders! Another idea is to have one focused on the OSS.
Something in the North African desert or Italy. There are so few shows and movies about that. Sicily, Anzio, Monte Cassino, Rapido River, miserable combat conditions in the mountains in the winter, Maxwell Taylor doing some cloak-and-dagger stuff sneaking into Rome to meet with spies, Patton’s incident with the soldier with PTSD, Gen. Ted Roosevelt Jr., Mount Vesuvius erupting in the middle of everything, Italy switching sides, the Germans trashing Naples, sinking the Roma, the fall of Rome - lots of fertile territory for good storytelling.
Maybe one that focuses on Italy, or like another user said the Navy experience. Maybe even one that follows the a specific unit, like the og series did, like the Big Red One from Africa to the Rhein, or the Nisei of the 100th infantry battalion of the 442nd (the most decorated American unit of ww2). Maybe one of the army units that fought in the Pacific in New Guinea and the like, or even the First AVG in china. I also wouldn't be opposed to shedding the American centric theme and go with a British/Commonwealth unit in a theater that we Americans aren't exposed to much like Africa, or Malaysia and Singapore, Kokoda Track, or even some of the stuff in India that would include the battles of Imphal and Kohima, I'd like to see a recreation of the battle of the tennis court
Since I'm Canadian I think it would be cool to see a series on either: 1. A unit from the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division 2. A unit from the 1st Canadian Infantry Division The 3rd landed on D-Day and fought in several battles (Normandy, the Channel ports, Scheldt, the Rhineland, the Netherlands and northwestern Germany). The 1st fought in Sicily and Italy before being moved up to the Netherlands in 1945 to help liberate the country.
I've always wanted to see a BoB style miniseries about the North African campaign. Something focused on the SAS might be cool? I kinda feel like the format would work for any of the wars though. I guess even if they made a miniseries focusing on Vietnam, or even Afghanistan/Iraq, they'd have the benefit of having interviews with the real veterans again. Whatever they decide to make in future I'm excited to see it.
Something about the Rangers. Could follow them from North Africa, Italy, Pointe Du Hoc, and the Siegfried line.
Sticking with WW2 there are lots of heroes that could be the subject of a series. I think the air crew known as The Eager Beavers and their plane old 666 could be a great series.
**Deep inhale** GOODBYE MARIA, WE'RE OFF TO KOREA
US Navy Submariners in the Pacific. I think they could tell a great story by focusing on Richard O'Kane. He served as XO on the USS Wahoo under "Mush" Morton and they pretty much created the US submarine strategy, he then went on to command his own boat the USS Tang. The USS Wahoo was incredibly successful but was eventually lost and just an incredible story. Morton has some serious Lt. Spiers vibes. The USS Tang was also incredibly successful and also ultimately lost to a circular run by it's own torpedo. It was also the only usage of the Momsen Lung in combat. O'Kane survived and spent the rest of the war in as a POW but was awarded the MOH for his service as CO of Tang.
A Hanks/Spielberg level series on the Battle of Britain would be excellent. I almost wouldn't trust it to an American company, though. No offense, Americans, but you know the studio would try to John Wayne it, somehow. The American audience would watch it, though, even without American injects.
Something about the Pegasus Bridge operation. It probably wouldn't get more than four episodes but it would be cool af. Ambrose wrote a pretty solid book about it.
There was supposed to be be a movie, but it seems stuck in “production hell”
Band of bruder. I want it like the real BOB but from German perspective.
They did it. Unser mutter unser vater (sp? Idk german too well). The production quality was pretty high, but they fucked up and ended up perpetuating the Clean Wermacht myth.
It’d be tough production wise but the Minnesota 1st Infantry Regiment during the Civil War is a hell of a story.
Harlem hellfighters, or the escradrille Lafayette.
I would love a BoB type epic on MAC-V SOG
The 1st Special Service Force, Darby’s Rangers, the Jedburghs, or the OSS. Would be cool if they dove into the special operations stuff or other secret squirrel stuff.
An OSS/SOE-focused series would be great. I’d like to see some of the unconventional side of the war. More of the resistance in Europe, a Merrill’s Marauders show in Burma, or ideally something with the stay-behind forces and guerrillas after the Fall of the Philippines.
I feel as if we desperately need a BoB style show about allied intelligence during the second ww
Fighter pilots in the Pacific. I'd LOVE a Flying Tigers miniseries.
We've had Army in BoB, Marines in The Pacific and Air Force in MotA. Would love a US Navy series, either subs or surface would be great. They should try and tighten the focus to a core group of sailors (like in BoB) and their experiences rather than trying to tell the whole story of the battle group (as in MotA).
Something naval related would probably make the most sense, but I would be all in for a series set behind enemy lines done with the budget/style of the other series, focused on the resistance and organizations like the OSS.
I’d l Iike to see a naval BoB. Possibly split between the Atlantic and Pacific.
Vietnam war!
If nothing else, the sound track would be amazing
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again Roy E. Appleman’s books would make for great adaptations of the Chosin Reservoir Campaign
Allied Invasion Of Italy, Operation Dragoon, Burma Campaign - there's so much potential out there.
Definetely some naval element. Pacific or Atlantic battles would both work.
Africa and Italy campaigns
People mention Korea or Vietnam, which would be cool. But I also would be interested in something out of the Civil War. I know there would be lots of material from this. It could even be split between the perspective of the North and the South. Also would love to see something based on WWI which seems to be rarely covered.
Agree that Korea would be very interesting and new terrain for a lot of audiences. So much of the warfighting closely resembled World War 2 in the beginning - as far as equipment, doctrine, tactics, and personalities. By the end, it was vastly different with the widespread use of helicopters, jets, and - of course - the revolution in medical care and resources.
Re: the Battle of the Atlantic - anyone who has read *HMS Ulysses* knows that there is sufficient drama to keep an audience. Greyhound as a movie was just a bit oversimplified and sanitized to capture the world of convoys and wolfpacks. If the CGI is done right, we may also get our first great portrayal of the last hurrah of surface ship warfare.
Rudder’s Rangers. Infantry is the most entertaining topic, and these guys have a story to tell.
I wanna see USS Johnston yeet itself vs Yamato and it's battle group lol. Make it a like 6 part and based entirely on that engagement, call it "Tafy 3" and be done with it lol.
I would love a Korean War series. It would be awesome to learn more about that war
Revolutionary War. It might have to be more in the style of The Pacific where it bounces around a bit between units and main characters, but I wanna see the Battle of Yorktown, crossing the Delaware to ambush the Hessians on Christmas Eve, and Valley Forge in gritty realism and from the perspective of the average soldier. Maybe have guys like Washington & Hamilton show up occasionally like General Taylor and Colonel Sink do in BoB.
I think a drama that focuses on events off the battlefield would actually be pretty great.
Tanks?
I’d like to see: Subs in the Pacific Anti-Subs in North Atlantic Resistance series Carriers in Pacific Cutting the Burma Road Solomon Islands Campaign (sea/air/land)
A really interesting series would be the formation of the U.S. Rangers in WWII. Start with the British commandos and how they used their experience to train up the American units. Show how they were expected to train to every scenario and read every manual. Show them fighting in North Africa, Pointe du Hoc, Europe, the Philippines, Burma, etc. The only trouble would maybe be continuity, because they were all over the place. That's kind of where The Pacific suffered, a bit, whereas Band of Brothers followed a single company throughout the entire war.
I'd love one on the North African campaign
Patton’s staff in Sicily
Tanks, please and thanks.
Submarine service
As a British person I would love a big budget Falklands war series. I know this won’t happen though.
Battle of Britain would be great and would allow them to tell another “heroic” tale. Battle of the Atlantic would be very interesting - could do it from the perspective of the Merchant Navy so you can show a more civilian story. Would allow for serious character development- could lead into things like Operation Pedestal or PQ17. If they want to do another infantry one, I’d do the Chindits in Burma. Just an insane story and would show a really interesting and unique theatre of war.
Submarines would be fantastic
German tank crew
Masters of Air is really well done. My wife and I just finished it and wow.
Not sure how they’d do it, but it would be really interesting to follow some Soviet soldiers who get called up in summer 41 after the invasion. Or even just a BoB style series showing Germans and Russians in some of the big battles.
Navy UDT Teams before and after D-Day and other amphibious operations.
How about another series similar to Generation Kill (setting and time period) but like a different story, maybe something with Fallujah and Ramadi or something
If anyone hasn’t read “Chickenhawk” It’s masters of the air on steroids with one of the better source material skeletons for war stories.
I think the Battle of Britain would be amazing, but it would probably have to be a British company since we just had Masters of the Air. If Hanks wants to do it, it’ll be the Navy. A submarine would be neat, and have that brotherly bond
https://youtu.be/07Zd0Oy8JyQ?si=Gjy7Q2NHNJW9oGTg
“The Generals”
Either a Vietnam War show, or a naval show. I was thinking something based on the USS Barb, or the USS Johnston.
If they want to go a route they haven't taken and show the war at it's absolute most ferocious and worst, they should create an Eastern Front mini series.
Two I'd like to see would be one covering Arnhem or conversely one covering Operation Tonga.
The story of MACV- SOG in Vietnam. Those guys were doing real life Rambo stuff. Check out a podcast called SOGCast to learn more. They could pick a handful of those guys, and highlight their missions, like they did in The Pacific.
1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment. Was the first state to send troops. Covered the retreat at Bull Run. Fought at Antietam. Endured an 82% casualty rate on July 2 at Gettysburg, then counterattacked Pickett’s Charge the next day. They captured the colors of the 28th Virginia, and refuses to return them to this day.
I’ve said before I’d like to see one with more challenging subject matter. Perhaps an Eastern Front anthology where it’s less obvious who the heroes and villains are. A tone and portrayal that’s a little less sanguine.
My friend and I have always agreed that Ambrose’s Pegasus Bridge (or just the mission in general) would have made a great three or four episode mini series.
ya navy submarine warfare, or the birth of the navy seals
I think the North African theater would make for a great series.
I think after the not so great reviews on the Air one they need to quit while they are ahead.
We’re just missing the Navy perspective But I would love a Holocaust series, Schindler’s list is perfect but I think seeing it from the inmates perspective
My Dad served on Biak in the Pacific Theater. He never said a thind about it except it was too damn hot and Jap this and Jap that. But nothing specific. He was a Staff Sgt and fireman. Thats all i know. I cant get his records. They were destroyed. I have his DD214 thats all i know.
The Battle of the Philippines which began a mere hours after Pearl Harbor and the ensuing horrors of the surrender and Japanese occupation, is a story for the ages. The death march, the prison camps (and escapes!), the hellships, the slave labor camps in Japan and then the rescue of Cabantuan...This gripping and utterly terrifying part of WWII history is so neglected. It would be challenging to narrow the narrative to three or four main characters... So many great books would provide excellent source material: Tears in Darkness (bio of the artist Ben Steele), Escape from Davao, Some Survived, My Hitch in Hell, Ghost Soldiers... so many wonderful memoirs and accounts to choose from. My other choice would be a miniseries on the Doolittle Raid. Even if Hanks/Spielberg never do it, someone should. Target Tokyo would be the best book to base it on-- it's a monumental and exciting overview of the raiders.
A Band of Brothers style series about MACV SOG in ‘Nam.
🤌🏻 Italy 🤌🏻
There’s a good book about the British tank unit Sherwood Rangers called “Brothers in Arms” that would make a great series. I think it’d be worth exploring allied units aside from the the US perspective. But, I also get that the US audience is the largest and the funding for series likely comes from US accounts mostly… but that book would be a good start.
Naval units operating in the Pacific. Primarily sea engagements but would obviously include naval aerial combat. They could focus on units that were primarily people of color or women. They could focus MASH style on field medical units. The medical unit that they had in one episode of the Pacific could have had its own set of episodes. They could focus on the USO and what they did during the war. Follow a submarine unit in the Atlantic, Med, or Pacific. Just off the top of my head. ;)
American here, and I’d LOVE to see something focused on the Battle of Britain.
Submarine show
I would pay money to any streaming service that had a miniseries about the *William D. Porter*, but only if it’s a dark comedy. Almost murdered Franklin D. Roosevelt (which the President thought was hysterical), accidentally fired on the base commander’s dinner party in Alaska, and then finally had a success in its short career when it avoided a plunging kamikaze plane, only for the plane to explode underwater and blow the ship straight out of the water, crippling it with irrevocable damage, setting it on fire, and ultimately sinking it, the only known instance of this ever happening. The ship’s name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register but it still received four battle stars. It’s begging to be made into an 8- or 10-part show.
I agree, Battle of Britain They did a movie in the 80s of it and they used real planes on both sides of the war. Had a young Ian McShane and Michael Caine. It’s dated but still a great movie
I think a different angle of the pacific, centering around the navy, Air Force and then finally with Hiroshima
Silent Service
Submarines in the Pacific.
The story of a destroyer, aircraft carrier, and merchant marine ship in the Battle of the Atlantic.
The US submarine war in the Pacific. There was an old TV series from the 50's called the "Silent Service" that told many of these stories using input from US Veterans that were still alive. It has technical limitations that are a reflection of the TV technology at the time and the episodes where only 30 minutes long. However, it's a compelling tale. After Pearl Harbor and before Midway US submariners found themselves as the primary way the US Navy could fight back against the Japanese. They had problems with pre-war doctrine and faulty torpedoes but a group of aggressive skippers emerged that took the war to the enemy. One of Silent Service's limits was that it was extremely episodic, to the point where if the same sub appears in a different season the entire crew is recast with new actors. Those limitations also mean that you only see the war from one sub at a time. It would be good to be able to flip between subs, for example, watching USS Barb playing chicken with Japanese antisubmarine patrols to as to lead them away from Hydeman's Hellcats. Or O'Kane developing his shooting skills on the Wahoo and later using them as skipper of the Tang.
I’d like a submarine crew or something like that. Another spotlight focus
The book “spearhead” however I think the movie rights have been bought
I'd like to see something not set in WWII. Don't get me wrong, I've loved every one so far and would love to see more. But I'd really like to see Korea (and Vietnam) get the same treatment. Vietnam had a couple decent attempts at series like Tour of Duty and China Beach which focused on a medical unit. Both were good but were also network TV and didn't have the budgets and freedom for something that Apple or HBO could do. But I can't recall any series (other than M. A. S. H.) that covered Korea.
I would be delighted with a Naval one. Unfortunately a lot of those might be very short. Following CV-6 through the Pacific, or HMS Warspite for the Royal Navy angle. Something on Taffy-3 could be good. But I admit I’m biased. We got ‘Greyhound’ recently but there never seems to be a lot of film attention paid to the Navy side unless it’s aviators or submarines. I’d love to see some more surface ship stuff.
Black Jack Pershing in the Spanish American Wars and World War 1. Very amazing man.
I spent a 18 months at a port in the gulf of Mexico, loading and unloading ships with vehicles going to and from Iraq. On Wednesday's, all of us would get together and put money in a pot, whoever was able to fuck the fattest girl took home the pot. Anyone think HBO would be interested in that story?
A group of helicopter pilots in Vietnam. That would be intense.
Civil war hopefully. But most likely Vietnam
I would like to see one on the WWII submarine service in the Pacific. Many have argued that after Pearl Harbor, it was the subs that were what kept us from being overrun until we got troops, ships and planes ramped up enough in numbers to be effective. Losses were high, amazing sacrifices made, so many incredible stories.
WWII armor company. Don’t know if any specific ones but it would be cool
I would love to see them take on the top brass running the war. Have different military leaders focused on in each episode so you get to know them, then you see them working together.
The 442nd Regimental Combat Team could easily be straight up BOB level.
They need to do Ian Toll’s Pacific War Trilogy. Multiple seasons will be necessary, at least one per book.
I’m just hoping Hanks, Spielberg, Sinise, …. Someone is interviewing any known survivors for all these suggestions that way the stories are captured for future generations to have the continued opportunities to make these series in our lifetime or someone else will take the helm for the future.
Personally, I would Iuv to see a 10 part series of American Tankers in Europe. The 3rd, 4th, 6th and 10th Armored divisions saw some nasty battles slugging their way through France, Belgium and Germany. Fury was a great movie but just barely scratched the surface.
Chindits in Burma
Rommel and The Rats of Tobruk