March 30, 2002

6:27 PM

NYT: CBS's JAG To Explore Terror Military Tribunal
    The Pentagon is reportedly very happy with the show. The episode portraying the secret trial of a Saudi-born terrorist will air on April 30. In this week's episode, a character feels stung when his coworkers favor someone else to win a race in a betting pool. (1, 2)
posted by rschram (4 comments total)

ah orwell: "who controls the past, controls the future; who controls the present controls the past."

i'm not sure what's more disturbing: that people actually watch "jag" or that the pentagon is now using this tripe as propaganda because it works on the people who watch "jag."
posted by ronv at 6:43 PM on March 30, 2002

ronv, why would it disturb you that people watch a television show about military lawyers? What, exactly, do you think of those people?

Basically JAG is a less liberal take-off of A Few Good Men (which was written by the decidedly liberal Aaron Sorkin). In a way it was the perfect military drama for the 1990s -- heck, every targeting officer in Afghanistan had a JAG by his side -- an era in which the limits of military power seemed more apparent than its utility or effectiveness. Even so, they manage to get military action into the stories half a dozen times a season. The star is actually a defense lawyer, though (just like Cruise's), and a lot of the stories tend to revolve around the rights of defendants. It's the Navy, so they can do shipboard stories as well as stuff involving airplanes.

Reflexive dissidents disturb me. The show is popular with the millions of ex-military types, but also fans of legal shows, and maybe folks who just like watching Catherine Bell and her ... notable attributes; it hardly represents some neanderthal nadir. Maybe you could talk to some of those people once in a while, ronv, and get over your prejudices.

As for the tribunal storyline, since it is based on the actual rules promulgated by the Defense Department, it would seem likely to be a disappointment to those who expect them to be retrograde Star Chambers. Surely it's going to portray the tribunals in the best possible light, but they do actually need conflict to create drama (or maybe people really do just watch for Bell's bust or Elliott's pecs), and they take that part of the job seriously enough. I suspect if you watch you'll find reasons to criticize it from either political perspective. It is just TV.
posted by dhartung at 8:02 PM on March 30, 2002

I liked the time they caught that fat fumbling guy day-dreaming about food.

That's one classy show. Yep.
posted by holloway at 8:42 PM on March 30, 2002

JAG is still on? I thought it was cancelled years ago...
posted by feelinglistless at 8:55 AM on March 31, 2002