COMBAT! Ten Times better

Combat was good, I agree. It was my younger bro's favorite show & I remember it fondly. But it's like comparing apples & oranges. China Beach was meant to explore & highlight the roles & experiences of women during this particular war. This was done in a very meaningful way, using absolutely superb actors.

Dana Delaney has never done anything as good since; Marg Helgenberger was just outstanding. Concetta Tomei, Megan Gallegher, Chloe Webb, Nan Woods. All were so well-cast & believable that you forgot they were actors. They became their characters for 60 minutes every week. The guys were no slouches but it was the women who carried the show because they were SUPPOSED TO. On Combat, Vic Morrow was so well known & such a strong personality that you never forgot that you were watching Vic Morrow, you didn't disappear into a new world created by the actors.

China Beach went beyond the 'Nam experience to explore what war does to human beings & could have taken place during any conflict. People coming apart at the seams happens yesterday, today & tomorrow. It's a timeless concept which for the purposes of China Beach happened when & where it did. The whole aura of the show (writing, music, plot twists, characters' strengths, fears, weaknesses) was so engaging. I was hooked the first night & never missed an episode. I even enjoyed the stateside & follow-up storylines.

I'm predicting that this series will look as good in 20, 30 or 40 years as it did when originally aired. It just was a quality product, a classic. These are just my opinions, I don't mean to be confrontational.

So was Tour of Duty season 1
different focus TOD was action season 1, more females season 2, and more special ops season 3. China Beach was about females and emotions from the start.

COMBAT for the Atari 2600 was 100 times better

[deleted]

Combat?! Ten times better? Seriously? I'd ask what quantification system you employed to arrive at this conclusion, but I won't because (a) your post is so old that there is a good chance that you are dead, senile, or both, and (b) because we both know that you pulled that round number out of your ass, whence come many round things, in company with your flat head. Combat was a run-of-the-mill whitebread network potboiler on the level of The Rat Patrol, troglodyte. China Beach is a thoughtful, well-written and -acted and -cast examination of the emotional and political contradictions of the Vietnam War and of the important roles that women played therein. It's like comparing a Hot Dog to Steak Tartare. Elsewhere on this topic, someone says something to the effect that this show didn't get much attention. I was an adult when this series was broadcast, so I know the reception that it received. That poster's impression is like saying that nobody paid much attention to Marilyn Monroe. China Beache rocks to this day. Evidence: you're here, reading this right now.

China Beach was not about combat. China Beach was about living.