Well, they came, they geared up, they zip-lined and they gushed about getting a taste of the military life. In a two-hour premiere last night, “Stars Earn Stripes†paired eight stars with experts including a former Navy Seal, a member of the Army's Delta Force and a SWAT commander.
Our colleague Neil Genzlinger writes in his review:
The teams race to complete missions under conditions that include live ammunition and explosives, the claim being that this will give the stars a taste of what real soldiers experience. That is an absurd overstatement, of course, since no one is shooting back or planting roadside bombs intended for them.
The premiere, though, does include a few moments when the stars genuinely seem to be getting more than they bargained for. The mission involves destroying a cache of enemy ammunition, and reaching it requires leaping from a helicopter into water while wearing heav y gear. Two of the stars learn that this is a dangerous maneuver even when it isn't being done under enemy fire.
Wesley Clark, the retired Army general, is a welcome presence overseeing the proceedings and evaluating the performances. He has an easy manner on camera and, as you'd expect, plenty of real-world knowledge to bring to these fake soldier games.
Everyone else isn't given much of a chance to establish a persona beyond platitudes, at least not in the premiere, and so viewers have no way to develop a rooting interest unless they were fans of one star or another going in.
Other reviews on the Web have been lukewarm to dismissive to apoplectic. Nobel peace laureates including Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu and Shirin Ebadi called on NBC to cancel the show.
“Nothing prepares you for battle like a boy band.â€
- Nick Lachey
But we'd like to hear f rom you, our military readers. What do you think? Was the show any good? Does this glossy Hollywood version of combat offer a good opportunity to remember the sacrifices of the members of the armed forces? Or is it just a marketing ploy cloaked in false patriotism?
Here's an embed of the episode.
No comments:
Post a Comment