Alas, there have been no new episodes broadcast of “Iraq, the War”, only re-runs of past episodes for quite some time now:
BAGHDAD – A total of 35 bodies were found in the last 24 hours in Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD – A U.S. soldier was killed on Tuesday when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb explosion in the northwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement.
MOSUL – A U.S. soldier was killed and two were wounded on Tuesday when their vehicle was struck by a suicide car bomber in Mosul, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.
BAGHDAD – A suicide truck bomber blew up his explosives near a police checkpoint in the southern Doura district of Baghdad, killing three police commandos and wounding 11 people, including three civilians, police said.
DIWANIYA – One civilian was killed when a roadside bomb placed on side of the road exploded in Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.
NEAR NUMANIYA – A roadside bomb placed on side of the road exploded near Numaniya, 120 km (72 miles) south of Baghdad, wounding 10 civilians as they were passing by, police said.
BAGHDAD – Four people were wounded when a mortar round landed in northeastern Baghdad, police said.
MAHAWEEL – A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi Army patrol exploded in Mahaweel, 75 km (50 miles) south of Baghdad, wounding one soldier, police said.
We keep waiting for the new season to commence for what was one of the most auspicious infotainment debuts ever back in 2003. Sadly the creators of this stunningly original production, which combined elements of both reality programming with fictional genres (such as soap opera, farce and the “Made for TV movie” format), have been unable to recreate the stunning success of their initial season’s premiere, the now famous “shock and awe” show which so captivated American audiences and boosted the ratings for all the major infotainment networks back in its initial season.
(Cont.)
For a time, innovative shows featuring the principle characters, such as President Bush (the “Misssion Accomplished” and “Bring ’em on” episodes were especially good), Saddam Hussein (the “Spider Hole” and “The Trial of Saddam” segments), and the segments which feature the hilarious stand-up comedy of Donald Rumsfeld (who can ever forget his classic routines “What we know” and Freedom is messy”), helped maintain the show’s initial appeal.
And who can forget the surprisingly dark turn the show took in it’s 2004 season when the “Abu Ghraib” torture episodes first aired. Alternating between black comedy and the most profound of tragedies, many of these shows held America’s attention riveted with their mingling of images of horror and kinky sex (some would say bordering on pornography).
Indeed, coming as it did during a Presidential election year, almost all of the 2004 season had an intensity that has rarely been matched since. From the Fallujah Attacks (the White Phosphorus subplot was particularly effective), the intrigue and skullduggery of the Downing Street Memo, to inspired individual performances by British Prime Minister Tony Blair (a Kafkaesque anti-hero) and US Vice President Cheney (clearly based on his own interpretation of classic Shakespearean villains such as Iago and Richard the III), there was never a dull moment.
Sadly, the show seemed to lose its bearings in 2005, despite purple thumbs, death squads and story lines involving corruption, fraud and even charges of possible treason among senior government officials. Perhaps the plot lines were just a little too somber, especially the whole Shi’ite/Sunni civil war thing.
And the attempt at alternating Mr. Cheney’s role between high drama and low comedy was perhaps inevitably doomed to failure. The fact that the lead character, President Bush, has become increasingly shrill and mind numbingly predictable also hasn’t helped matters any.
The 2006 season witnessed the continued decline in the show’s fortunes. Even the “good news” stories, like the air strike that killed Al Qaeda in Iraq leader al-Zarqawi, seemed to lack the panache and joie d’ vivre of past turning point episodes.
Maybe the show’s scriptwriters simply need some new creative input. Or perhaps the format itself, while certainly exciting and fresh initially, has simply grown stale over time. After all, how many IED’s and suicide bomb explosions can one watch before becoming jaded, desensitized to all the repetitive and senseless violence that seems to be the show’s overriding theme these days? Not many, it seems, for even the cable news nets have cut back on their broadcasting of many of these, by now, increasingly familiar stories.
Still, there may be a new hope for ratings success looming on the horizon for the infotainment divisions of Cable television. Rumor has it a new show is under development by the same production team that brought us “Iraq, the War.” Those in the know say it has a chance to an even bigger hit than Iraq was in 2003. The working title: “Global Strike: Iran.” However, I’m sure they’ll come of with a catchier title by the time it debuts later this Fall.
With tensions on the rise, I can hardly wait.
