Where Hollywood is blowing it

Hollywood, as we all seem to know, is somewhat out of touch with America. Both TV and film hardly ever get it right. The thing that kills me, though, is that its so clear what they should be doing that I can't believe they haven't latched on to it. They even employ professionals to assist with making movies, and they don't bother to ask "hey, what do ya think?" They'd get the right answer for free, and they can't even grasp it. New words can be coined: dufusism, doltocracy, moronicality quotient.

Over There could have been a big hit show. It had the production value, semi-interesting characters, and current story lines...sort of. The Unit may or may not be picked up for another season, but there are some other reasons for that besides half the story lines. At any rate, it got picked up for a second season, where Over There didn't.

Why is that? There's a fundemental difference between these to shows. OT showed soldiers in bad places, doing bad things, and making questionable moral decisions. In other words, they didn't paint soldiers in a particularly good light. The Unit may not be picked up long term, but I believe one of the main reasons the show got a full season purchase is that it depicts America's top warriors doing great things as American soldiers. The holes in the show are aggravating and don't have to be there, but that's a production problem that's a little outside the scope of this missive.

If Hollywood wanted to find another huge hit, they need to do two things: first, realize what is so great about "300": honor, integrity, self sacrifice, and the warrior spirit, among other great qualities. People connect with those ideals. They understand being part of something bigger than themselves. Secondly, they need to understand that America is ripe for a new "war" movie, but one with a different focus. We're ready for a film that paints American soldiers in a positive light, and shows the great heroism and power of the American fighting man. I even have just the story for them.

ODA 555, The Triple Nickle. Everyone on that team that I've met has been a great guy; they're all stand up dudes. Funny, professional, serious. The Triple Nickle was the first ODA into Afghanistan after 9/11. It was the Triple Nickle, with CIA team Jawbreaker, that finally broke the Northern Alliance free and pushed the Taliban out of power. Who wouldn't want to see a big budget action movie about that piece of history? How awesome would that be? Completely mind blowing, is how that'd be! And they wouldn't have to write up some goofy improbable story, like the hokey love story angle that ruined Pearl Harbor. All they have to do is relay what really happened. America would love it. Of course, the same Islamic whackos that set fire to things over comics and protested "300" so vigorously would hate it, which is as good a reason as we need.

My job puts me in contact with America's heroes every day. I have come to know and love them. They're amazing people. John Wayne said about Special Forces in Viet Nam "Somebody needs to tell their story". That time has come again. These men deserve it, and America needs to at least have an idea of what they did. These heroes deserve a proper treatment with no crap added in. And it'll make billions.