While ABC/Disney’s Saving Private Ryan was busy breaking prime-time barriers with a bucketful of profanity on Veterans Day, the Pax network was airing a two-hour special episode of Doc, in which two veterans’ stories were aired without a single profanity. The Doc special paid homage to veterans by airing actual clips of Armed Service veterans and New York City firefighters at many points throughout the fictional episode. One of its story lines involved a firefighter/hero at Ground Zero during the September 11 terrorist attacks in NYC.
Both movies were masterfully produced. Both stories were gripping and emotional. And both were no doubt educational for many, highlighting the horrors of war. ABC’s Private Ryan focused on war’s impact on those on the battlefield, while Pax’s Doc focused more on its impact on families and veterans after war ends.
For all their similarities, the contrasts were startling. ABC’s battlefield settings provided a context in which producers felt impelled to interject language that has never before been heard on prime-time TV. Some insist the foul language was necessary to make war “realistic.” But Tim Wildmon, vice president of American Family Association, said, “I believe the blood-and-gore scenes would have adequately illustrated the horrors of war without the filthy language.”
In Pax’s Doc episode, one story line followed Gus, a Vietnam veteran who had returned home to live a life of bitterness and anger until faced with the need for a liver transplant. The circumstances which led to his lonely life show what war can do psychologically to its victims on the battlefield and back home as well. The second major story focused on the brother of a much-decorated man killed in World War II. It took more than 50 years for the surviving brother to finally deal with his grief and anger.
“We commend Pax for choosing the moral high road in honoring our veterans,” said Wildmon. “It’s good to know that some will hold up a standard that contrasts the path Disney/ABC chose.”
He said major advertisers on Doc included SmithKline Beecham, Bayer and Unilever, and encouraged viewers to contact them with a word of thanks.
(This article courtesy of Agape Press.)
