HBO Planning Comedy Set in ... Baghdad? (Hotel Palestine)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=29806

Several cable networks have contemplated dramatic projects set against the war in Iraq, but only HBO is daring enough to consider a comedy.

The premium network is developing "Hotel Palestine," a half-hour comedy about a group of wartime journalists living in a Baghdad hotel.

The Palestine Hotel is the real-life residence of dozens of journalists covering the war and has been attacked several times by insurgents. "Hotel Palestine" was sold by ICM and produced by Peter Baynham, a writer on the upcoming Ali G movie "Borat."

If brought to air, the series would be one of the few war-themed comedy series in television history and one of very few in recent years. Shows such as 1960s staples "Hogan's Heroes" and "McHale's Navy" and, most significantly, 1970s-era "M*A*S*H," succeeded with the format. Other efforts failed, such as the 1980 Vietnam sitcom "Six O'Clock Follies" and the 1998 Civil War effort "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer."

HBO had no comment on the project but last week announced a dramatic Iraq war movie, "Taking Chance" based on the first-person account of a lieutenant assigned to accompany the body of a 19-year-old solider killed in action on a trip across America to the soldier's hometown.

HBO also has Baghdad ER later this month.

Iraq: the bloody face of war

Warfare as It Really Is -- by Bob Herbert

In the first few moments of the documentary film "Baghdad ER," we see a man dressed in hospital scrubs carrying a bloodied arm that has been amputated above the elbow. He deposits it in a large red plastic bag.

This HBO production is reality television with a vengeance - warfare as it really is. And while it is frightening, harrowing and deeply painful to watch, it should be required viewing for all but the youngest Americans. It will premiere May 21.

For two months in 2005, the directors Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill were given unprecedented access by the Army to the 86th Combat Support Hospital in the Green Zone in Baghdad. Working 12-hour shifts, they watched - and taped - the heroic struggle of doctors, nurses and other medical personnel to salvage as many lives as possible from what amounted to a nonstop conveyor be?t of bloodied, broken and burned G.I.'s.

At one point in the film, a specialist who survived a roadside bomb attack murmurs from a stretcher, "It was the worst thing I ever saw in my life, sir."

http://adamash.blogspot.com/2006/05/iraq-bloody-face-of-war.html

[KyndCulture]

1. That is VERY wrong.

Each of those war comedies were YEARS after the war ended. Not DURING it.

I have been very suspicious with Baghdad ER....

this just tears it for me. A comedy - during a war?

WTF

[RamboLiberal]

2. I wish I had HBO so I could see Baghdad ER

I trust Bob Herbert's judgement in recommending it. He, Frank Rich and Paul Krugman are the only reason I caved to the NY Times extortion and paid so I could read their columns. Unfortunately I can't afford to pay extra to get cable to watch an occassional worthwhile show on HBO.

And if done right - Hotel Palestine might be very good. M.A.S.H. IMHO helped influence the futility of war for mainstream America during the latter years of Vietnam even though it was set in Korea.