9 – Band of Brothers - The amazing story of Easy Company, paratroopers of United States Army and their dedication to our country during World War II. What makes this so unique is that we follow easy company from the beginning of their training and deployment all the way through the battles up until the end of the World War all-together. Action packed and filled with lots of passion. The most climatic and touching episode was the discovery of the Nazi concentration camp. This was the most dramatic part for me to watch and to see the reaction of  soldiers. Up until the death of Hitler at the Eagles Nest this series spared nothing.

8 – Curb Your Enthusiasm - It is very hard to curb your enthusiasm when Larry David is acting like what I imagine himself to be. The most interesting part of this show is that there is no script. Everything is done on the spot, thanks to the comedic skills of all the actors including Larry David himself. This sets it apart from all the rest of the shows because it gives you an awkward funny feeling. Larry David constantly has confrontations and predicaments with all sorts of characters, from celebrities to regular people. He says what most of us are just thinking, most of the time just spurting it out there. He makes lots of friends and lots of enemies because of this, often turning people against one another and himself. David makes us uncomfortable, warm, happy, mad, entertained, laugh and much more!

7 – South Park – one of the funniest animated series I have ever had the pleasure of watching. This stars four little boys from the town of South Park, Colorado. We have Cartman, a fat, spoiled and manipulative character always talking people into doing things they don’t want to. We have Stan, your typical American kid who seems like to possess the leadership qualities of the group. We have Kyle, the Jew with morale values, and lastly we have Kenny, the poor lower class boy who we never quite understand or see the face of because he is constantly wearing his hood. They are constantly getting into predicaments and plotting up schemes and ideas. Plenty of satirical comedy often times poking fun at political events as well as our current “pop” culture. They seem to abuse on everyone from celebrities like Britney Spears and Kanye West, to shows like Whale Wars. Sometimes they take things to far to show us the stupidity of some people and it takes a couple of 10 year old boys to be the intelligent ones in all of this.

6 – Simpsons - One of my most favorite animated sitcoms next to South Park and Family Guy (which didn’t make my list) This show stars a very dysfunctional family. We are introduced to Bart, the troublemaker who always seems to get himself into predicaments due to him always undermining authority. Lisa the intelligent and overachieving one in the family. Maggie, the baby who seems like she is smarter than she looks. Marge, the housewife and mother. Last but definitely not least we have Homer Simpson, he drinks too much, hes way too lazy and obviously overweight. Call him the American dream because I don’t know what to call him. Popular for the father and son bonding when he is choking Bart this series is hilarious to watch. The constant adventures make you keep watching.

5 – Weeds – What makes a regular suburban family irregular? A mother who is also a weed dealer on the side. Sure it sounds dangerous, immoral and completely the wrong environment to raise your children in, this show gives us both the comedic and dramatic side of such a lifestyle. Nancy Botwin played by Mary Louis Parker, the mother / marijuana entrepreneur sells weed to basically everyone in the town, often times people you would least expect. The funniest person on the show is definitely Doug Wilson, played by Kevin Nealon. Burnt out accountant who’s business expertise is constantly getting clouded by his infatuation and indulgence with marijuana. This show goes from more or less a comedy to more of a drama when murder and revenge start happening, something expected of this profession. Either way this show is interesting to watch.

4 – Californication - When I first watched this I was like ehh, its David Duchovny, agent Molder from the X-files, how interesting could this possibly be? However, as I continued watching this I suddenly realized the character Hank Moody was not what to expect from Duchovny’s previous roles. The show literally means Fornication in Cali, because ALL he seems to do is fornicate with any and all women who he stumbles onto, or into. This show has a spin on the comedy with the addition with some drama. Hank Moody has a daughter with the women he is desperately in love with, even if he doesn’t realize it at first. Despite all the women he sleeps with, he is still most attracted to the mother of his child and wants to be with her and only her. However they aren’t married, so Hank constantly has a night on the town with various different women who get easily attached to him. Interesting part he is also a writer who is lazy and doesn’t want to write anything new. In the last season he ends up teaching in a private school. In that time he manages to sleep with the Dean’s wife, his Teachers Assistant and a student, all in the course of just a few episodes. How does he do it

3 – True Blood – The fantasy show of the life of Vampires and their night to night interactions with people of the “real world” thanks to the help of a synthetic blood drink called True Blood. This series takes away the idea that vampires are these dark and savage creatures who live in the depths of hell. Instead it tries to focus on the ability of them to be able to operate like normal citizens and people of the town. Another part of the show is Sookie, the main character who is a normal person who happens to hear everyone else’s thoughts. Other characters also play their roles but there are a few characters who are not as they seem. The owner of the bar that Sookie works in, Sam Merlot is actually a shapeshifter, and can change into animals. In this fantasy town where murder, deceit, love and despair are all normal everyday functions. The drama plus the fantasy make this something that I can’t stop watching

2 – The Wire – I didn’t know how Baltimore really was until watching this show. What makes this show extremely interesting is that it focuses on three different parts of Baltimore’s “corruption”. One part is the police and the corruption some of them would engage in order to catch a perpetrator or to adjust the stats of their crime rate. The other part is the school system and how corrupt that could be. They also try to adjust their stats so they look more appealing to the public when in fact they are just deteriorating. The third and most interesting part of the show is the drug dealers who run the streets of Baltimore.  How they get rich from dealing drugs on the streets to how they try to dominate by killing and other acts of violence. What is most interesting is the way these 3 different parts tend to merge together because of cause and effect. Students of the schools engage in the drug trade and as a result the police are involved. An excellent crime drama with alot of climatic parts!

1 – The Sopranos – No I am not Italian nor do I know anyone in the crime family but this is my favorite Tv-Show of this decade. Set in New Jersey, Sopranos is a drama about a crime boss, his crime family and his actual family, wife and kids. It shows that these cold blooded killers are just people too. Often times it is amusing, but other times it is grotesque and savage. Yet this is how it actually was. People got “whacked” left and right. It stars James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano the crime boss. He is the head honcho, supposedly the strongest of his associates but it shows how mentally unstable he is. He is having an affair with his psychiatrist. What an interesting twist. The whole show the entire family both crime and real, deal with the hardships of the police and the occupational hazards associated with being at the top of the food chain. Great series with a horrible final season finale. Still #1 for me

The Company then proceed to whats known as “The Eagles Nest”. What is basically a palace at the top of a huge mountain built by Hitler with Nazi Party money, accessible by a gold plated elevator. It was a beautiful scene and the writers and directors did a magnificent job of portraying it. They spared nothing to detail. At the Eagles Nest is where Capt. Speirs found the dead body of Adolf Hitler with his Luger on the floor beside him, the weapon he used to kill himself with. Major Winters gets word that the troops have to stay at their present positions, like on standby. He then tells Nixon that he has a surprise in store for him. Winters brings Nixon to an ENORMOUS wine cellar which housed 10,000 bottles of the fines liquor, wine and champagne. It showed that although Winters was not fond of Nixon’s drinking habits (Winters never had a drink even when offered) he still wanted to celebrate the end of the war in Europe. We see more of Winters compassionate side when the Colonel of the German Army personally surrendered and offered Winters his weapon. Major Winters replied, “You may keep your sidearm Colonel”. This showed that Winters, although the victorious leader had no intention of humiliating the Colonel of the Germans by stripping him of his weapon. This showed that as a man in his positon, Winters understood the hardships of leading your troops in war.

A focus of this episode was the boredom of the men. They were all on standby, having no duties at all. They did not have to fight anymore, did not have to patrol or train. All they did was drink and engage in meaningless activities. As a result some died, two from a car accident when their car flips. “The war was over but somehow men were still dying”, narrates Winters. The main focus was Points. These were awarded to soldiers. Once a soldier had enough points, he was allowed to go back home. Like a bored high school student who constantly looks at the clock, all the soldiers were doing was counting their points knowing that home was only a few “points” away. This made the death of a soldier who was only a few points away from being allowed to go home only that much more tragic and upsetting.

Then the climatic part happened. A soldier who was BEYOND drunk killed two innocent people. He was discovered by another group of soldiers going out for a midnight drive. When he was asked for his weapon he shot his fellow troop in the head, got back into his car and drove away. It immediately turned into a zoo amongst the men. They were already bored and had nothing to do plus they wanted the traitor who would shoot his own man, so it just fueled their fire even more. When they found the guy a handful of the men took turns beating the living shit out of him, something he clearly deserved for his heinous crime.

Another major scene was when the German Colonel was speaking to his troops while Cpl. Liebgott translated to Winters and the other men. In his speech, he described how the men fought well with each other during the war and how brave they truly were. He also mentioned how proud he was to serve among them. This scene is a reflection of exactly how Winters felt but never told his own men and we, as an audience are allowed to see into his heart, through the speech of the German Colonel. The show ends with the men being told the war is COMPLETELY over, even in Japan. This meant that regardless of points, regardless of rank, they were ALL going home.

Finally the end we get the interviews with the Veterans. Except this time we are given the respective names, finally being able to link the actual person to the characters that they were played. It was amazing too see the men and amazing to wonder about what they had ACTUALLY went through, not through a lens with a director, but in real life on the actual battlefield. I was also amazed by how Bill Guarnere was portrayed right down to his unique I believe Italian voice. What an great end to a great series. I definitely enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much this last blog is almost 1,000 words

- Watched in the comfort of my own home @ 11 pm

- Rated 5/5 – Beautiful scenery coupled with so many different events. With some twists and turns this series comes to an end perfectly with the war being over. Almost like a weight off MY shoulders.

I see one of the most comical scenes in the very beginning, when one of the soldiers was having sex with some blonde. All of a sudden he hears footsteps as Capt. Spiers enters the room. The soldier jumps out of bed and salutes Speirs, probably still having his hard-on from the blonde. Spiers doesn’t even seem moved by what he saw, just continues doing his errands. We then see the rest of the soldiers, somewhat happy the war is coming to an end, but fatigued at heart from all the bloodshed and death. These feelings are expressed by Sgt. Frank Perconte as he explains to the trigger happy replacement O’Keef that he is just an expandable replacement. He will survive for 3 days at most and can never replace real Easy Company Paratroopers because they are in fact the real soldiers, the ones who endured the war for 3 years. Perconte explains the best part of was is when he has hot showers, warm bed and how he got to wipe his ass with real toilet paper. This is an important part speech because it helps us understand how simple things like a shower is taken for granted in a time where a soldier may not be able to take one for several months at a time.

Most of the other soldiers are more or less in good spirits. Singing in harmony as they laugh and joke with one another. Capt. Nixon is on the hunt to find a certain type of whiskey. Capt. Spiers is shipping silverware back home. Everyone seems to have war off their mind. Everything is pretty much calm until the most devastating, emotional and nauseating part of the entire series emerges; the discovery of a Jewish concentration camp.

It was confusion in the eyes of Sgt. Perconte as he goes back to the base to let the rest of the men know that they have found “something”, not knowing exactly how to explain it. They all arrive to the concentration camps with confusion in their eyes as well, looking at hundreds of starved, dying, sick and wounded Jews. I was amazed at how real this all looked. I knew i was just watching a show but it was impossible not to feel an intense amount of emotion. These Jews looked like the living dead, complete zombies. This is probably exactly how they looked in real life, perhaps even worse. Considering I am Jewish and have a Grandmother that is a Holocaust survivor it was very painful for me to watch. As I know from history, America knew that Hitler was mistreating and isolating Jews but they did NOT know he was putting them in such death camps to wither away and die. This unkown was very well portrayed and acted by all the soldiers who did not understand why they would treat people this way.

We see the most emotion from Cpl. Joseph Liebgott who was translating the account of one of the Jews in the camp to Dick Winters who looked on in confusion and awe as how these people were mistreated. The worst part came when the soldiers were given orders to put the men back in the camp to “monitor their health, food and water intake”. The person who had to tell the Jews of the concentration camps that they had to enclose them back was the translator and only Jew of the Paratroopers, Cpl. Liebgott. After he told the exploited survivors he immediately sat down in the truck and began to cry because what he experienced at that camp was too overwhelming for him. The episode ends with the people of the town in Germany having to clean up all the dead bodies at the concentration camp leaving us with that visual in our heads.

Watched in the comfort of my own home @ 2 pm

Rated 5/5 – What started off as a relief that there would be no killing or dying finally turns into the most emotional whirlwind when the concentration camp is discovered. The most moving scene of the entire series.

Although not really a newcomer, Pvt. Webstar came back from the hospital to a completely changed Easy Company. Alot of good men were lost in Bastogne as well as the other battles in the months during his absence from the front line. The men that survived weren’t the same. They seemed irritated and fatigued. Webstar on the other hand looked fresh and invigorated. He looked ready to join the men in whatever assignment was given to him.

The men who were at the front lines, who have seen the blood and gore, knew that the war was coming to an end. They were no longer as enthusiastic about petty patrol missions. All they wanted to do was stay alive, at least long enough to get back home. They knew the effects of war and a patrol mission was just a chance to get killed pointlessly. There was alot that happened in “The Breaking Point”. Men that were lost were not only soldiers, they were close friends. We see the effects of this the most from Sgt. Malarkey. When we are first introduced to Malarkey in the previous episodes he is a completely different character. He was childish, immature and always joking. What better way to depict the change than from the eyes of Webstar, a character that hadn’t been around for the chaos and despair that now Malarkey carried on his shoulders.

Although missing alot, Webstar still volunteered to go on the patrol mission when he didn’t have to. He showed determination and respect for his fellow soldiers. He clearly saw the change in them and the fatigue they all faced. Webstar understood some of them really needed a break. He even chose not to take a shower because there were other men that haven’t showered in a very long time.

One of my favorite parts if this episode is a small scene before the patrol as the men were preparing their weapons. Soothing music was playing as the soldiers carefully and delicately cleaned and assembled their weapons. It was almost like a serenade of peace for them as though it was the last time of harmony. It was very beautiful to watch. The patrol itself had some action with a climax of a soldier dying fr om the blast of his own grenade. The rest of it was very exhausting to watch. Perhaps because of the negative spirits of the soldiers. The only uplifting part and the reason for the title of  episode was when Major Winters tells the men they will not go on the second patrol. Instead Winters told them to say they did and did not find any prisoners. So in fact the “Last Patrol” was in fact a free pass and no actual patrol. It was like a gift and reward that I definitely believe the men deserved. They may need the sleep for the episodes to come.

- Watched in the comfort of my own home @ 12:15 am

- Rated 3/5 – Interesting to see the change and maturing of characters through the eyes of Webstar, who missed most of the war. Not packed with action like the previous episode, but that would be impossible to top.

Similar to the last episode, Bastogne; “The Breaking Point” took on the point of view of 1^st Sergeant Carwood Lipton. Last episode we were following the Medic, Doc Roe, as we looked less at the combat itself but more at the gore and consequences of bullets and explosions as they cause many casualties and often fatalities to the soldiers. The Breaking Point on the other hand, put us in the heat of the battle, inside the foxholes with the men as they stayed awake in the freezing cold, just waiting for a sudden attack. All this was narrated by Sgt. Lipton. I felt a narration by Lipton the whole episode was not necessary. Often times I would be interested in what the other men were thinking instead of just having Lipton’s point of view and us, the viewers, constantly inside his head.
This however added to the context of the episode and highlighted the selfless leadership qualities of Sgt. Lipton himself. This episode allowed me to notice some very important aspects of all the soldiers, their fears, their weakness and also their bravery. All this as there were some huge explosions and plenty of gore to go along with it. As the explosions in the forest began, one soldier, Ssgt. Joseph Toye got hit and lost his leg. As the men took cover, Ssgt William Guarnere, hearing the voice of his fellow soldier in agony, ran to his rescue. As a result, Guarnere ended up losing his leg as well due to another explosion. After all the explosions finish, the men crowd around the soldiers, 1^st Lt. Buck Compton, seeing his friends and fellow soldiers with limbs missing, breaks down emotionally. As a result he is removed from the line because he cannot lead the men in combat in such a state of mind. This shows the different characters of the men. Guarnere, although missing a leg trying to save his friend, jokes saying “I told you I would make it back home before you.” This shows his unbreakable spirit and his undeniable bravery.

Lt. Buck on the other hand could not as easily brush off what he had seen. One man’s strength is another man’s weakness.

We see this again later in the episode when Major Winters appoints Lt. Dike to command the troops in battle. As the soldiers run towards the enemy, Lt. Dike tells the men to hold, a huge mistake on his part because it causes a lot of casualties to the men. This was a horrible leadership decision on his part. Then; out of nowhere, he too emotionally breaks down right in the heat of combat.  Major Winters who is watching all these events unfold almost goes in to combat himself, showing his bravery and leadership. His superiors however would not allow him to do that considering he is no longer on the battlefield but in different position. Winters immediately calls out to Capt. Speirs who immediately runs toward the men without any hesitation. Yet another example of a man with undeniable bravery. As Speirs chargers full speed he evades being shot and exploded despite explosions around him and in front of his face. Once he reaches Lt. Dike he relives him of his command as Dike looks blank and confused. Here again we see the different characteristics of the men. Speirs is strong minded and controlled in his actions while Dike, under pressure just folds.
The episode ends pretty wildly as crazy Capt. Speirs runs back and forth through the enemies without being shot to relay a message to the other men. He did this without hesitation and showed true bravery and leadership. One of my favorite episodes thus far! I wonder if this will be my MOST Favorite. Only 3 episodes left to find out.

- Watched in the comfort of my own home @ 7:30pm

- Rated 5/5 – Excellent focus on leadership. Helped me understand all the men and their characters. With plenty of amazing special effects and lots of gore.  This episode seemed to spare nothing !

Since we were never introduced to Eugene Roe in such a way, I never really took the time to analyze the role of a Medic. I always felt that a Medic was a cowardly position, where he wouldn’t be in the line of fire, wouldn’t have to shoot anyone but just runs around in the shadows trying not to be detected. This however was not the case. “Doc” Roe was ALWAYS in the line of fire, so much so, I couldn’t believe he’s still alive. In one of the scenes he runs from soldier to soldier asking for spare morphine. “What a junkie”, I thought to myself. Another assumption that was not correct. Instead Eugene Roe seemed to be the most selfless character in the entire Company. While everyone rested, he ran around checking on everyone’s vital conditions. Rarely did he actually close his eyes to doze off. While everyone was shooting the enemies, he was elbow high in the blood of his own men, trying to stop what seemed to be endless bleeding.

Throughout the whole episode Eugene stayed serious, at times almost emotionless. We only see a reaction out of him when he couldn’t save a soldiers life. The soldier bled to death in his arms and it made him furious he couldn’t change that. Another interesting plot developing moment was when Eugene and another medic were in the ditch together and the medic told him how the medic position was assigned to him and he hated it. He then asks Eugene and we never get a response. This leads me to believe that Eugene Roe chose to be a medic. We can see this by his constant selfless acts, his courage and bravery, and the love he has for his fellow soldiers. He would risk his own life to save another’s!

- Watched in the comfort of my own home @ 11pm

- Rated 4/5 – Some decent action but more important watching the repulsive  side of war through the eyes of someone who see’s the gore first hand and his job is to save the soldiers who suffer casualties. Very emotional !

There were constant flashbacks going back and forth from Winters typing on his typewriter to him being in the heat of combat. Constantly in the middle of all the conflict, commanding the troops at times to their doom. Then a sudden turn of events, Major Winters now promoted to Captain, no longer controlled the company in battle. He was now more or less controlling the troops from behind a desk. Not too fond of this promotion, he was constantly remembering the heat of battle, followed by a flashback sequence.

Constantly jumping from scene to scene, we see Winters’ riding the subway and then a sudden flashback to the company crouching, waiting to fire at the enemy. There seems to be a contrast as to how peaceful and almost boring his life seems to be now, and how fast paced and aggressive it was. We can see this toward the final scene where we see Major Winters charging first across the field, with his whole company barely following behind as he runs behind that enemy and shoots him dead. The end explained the beginning scene and put into focus the life of Major Winters.

- Watched in the comfort of my own home

- Rated 3/5 – Some good action  coupled with the governing part of the company

Next we see the paratroopers jumping, some of the replacements struggling with the equipment as they land. After they orient themselves they walk into Holland where they are greeted by men, women and children who were parading in the street. Everything seemed to be very quiet and calm until suddenly the action and battle started. We see the massive power of the enemy tanks and the damage they can do. We also see as the Germans flank and overpower the troops. Every scene it seems that the Germans keep pushing the paratroopers into a corner until finally they have no choice but to retreat.

Left behind in the middle of everything was Sergeant “Bull” Randleman. The soldiers were unsure if he was alive or dead, but were ready to risk their lives to find him. In fact Sgt. Bull was quietly hiding in a barn. The most interesting part came when a few German soldiers entered the barn to check if it was cleared. After the check, one stayed behind to relieve himself. He heard a noise and just as he turned his back, Sgt Bull attacked with his bayonet. In a great hand to hand combat scene he finally overpowers the German soldier and kills him. The whole episode was upsetting to watch because it was Easy Company and the rest of the paratroopers completely powerless against the German forces. It was not until the last scene with Sgt. Bull that makes me think there is still a great chance for us to prevail and kill the rest of those Germans!

- Watched in the comfort of my own home

- Rated 3/5 – Started without much action dove deeper into the storyline

Call me old fashioned but watching a grenade blowing a guys leg right off his body is something that definitely keeps me pinned to my seat. I was however rooting for our Band of Brothers when they walk right into an ambush. I was hoping none of them get hurt yet at the same time got excited when more soldiers suffered fatal bloody wounds. The soldiers seemed brave and determined to overtake the enemy.

Yet this episode seemed to orbit around one soldier stricken with fear, Private Albert Blithe. At the very first scene he was hopelessly looking up at the clouds. I had no idea what that was even about. I thought to myself, is this guy looking for the angels to come and protect him? We continued to see him here and there, most of the time he looked stunned from the fear of war. This made me furious because I felt he was acting like a coward and as a result, a traitor to his own men. My feelings for him changed when he described his emotions to his commanding officer, Captain Ronald Speirs. Blithe described his fears so honestly that I felt compassion for him. Speirs replied with probably the best speech of all time, “We’re all scared…you think there’s still hope but the only hope you have is to accept the fact you’re already dead. And the sooner you accept that then the sooner you’ll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function. Without mercy, without compassion, without remorse. All war depends upon it” Speirs nods at Blithe and just walks away, without feelings, without compassion, like a true soldier of fortune.

Although I was correct about Blithe not surviving because he wasn’t emotionally strong enough, I still felt the compassion his fellow men had for him. As far as Captain Speirs, I think he’s a reckless renegade. I just wonder if his mentality and actions will get the rest of his company in trouble.

- Watched in the comfort of my own home

- Rated 4/5 – Got deeper into the storyline with plenty of action and gore.

The most exciting part from all the explosions and special effects was the first person perspective of the Paratrooper jumping out of the plane. All you see is the dangling feet while underneath on the ground explosions and bullets are flying. The action then jumps back to the pilots and the planes getting shot down until we get back into focus to Major Winters as he touches down on the ground floor.

The troops reassemble after all landing in scattered areas and formulate a strategy to flank the enemies. Following this scene, although pumping with action was quite boring to me. Sure there was lots of shooting, killing, adrenaline pumped running soldiers and explosions. But the whole time watching this I didn’t feel I  was actually watching something I haven’t seen before. There have been countless movies with more or less similar action so this was just another similar scene although never watching it before. Guess I will just be patient and see if the plot thickens with drama or the action takes a huge spin!

- Watched in the comfort of my own home

- Rated 1/5 – Slow to unfold. Seemed to be the typical war scenes from other movies. Not very interesting to watch.