War is Hell (and Boring)

The Nielsen people came calling again this week, and Gina answered the phone. She was quite pleased that they had caught her at a moment when we were busy watching Ken Burns' "The War" documentary mini-series on PBS. If you recall our earlier experiences with the Nielsens, you'll know that our male-heavy household - Gina vs John (the tenant and touring comedian) and I - put a lot of sports viewing into the little ratings book, making us look like unrefined neanderthals, I guess. This time we're like college graduates or people who drink wine.

So that's been one of the benefits of taking 2+ hours nightly to learn about WWII, a subject that I'd have to admit I know surprisingly little about. Like that whole Africa leg? I had no idea.

Watching the war develop, my only frame of reference is the HBO series Band of Brothers. I don't really remember where the Band of Brothers guys went (I definitely remember they went somewhere with David Schwimmer), so I keep hoping to catch a glimpse of Marky Mark's brother so I can put the whole puzzle together.

The War doesn't move quite as fast as Band of Brothers - the stories are just as interesting and worth telling, but it seems like they're more drawn out, and I find myself wondering why I keep coming back to watch the show. Part of it is some sort of self-imposed patriotic duty, and the other part is probably because if I record it to the Tivo I'll have it deleted by the end of the week, knowing I'll never watch it.

Ironically enough, I've had experience with a Ken Burns documentary before - "Baseball". I wonder what the Nielsens though of that one.