There Are No Winners in HBO’s ‘War’
'War' could have been good for something, but unfortunately, not in this timeline.
HBO’s newest series, War, is probably going to be a hit. But that doesn’t mean the network – or really anyone involved – is particularly likely to be declared the victor.
The new series is the latest in what’s become a rush to reinvent old-school episodic procedural television. After nearly two decades of TV networks forgetting why audiences were watching as Netflix’s rise caused production studio after production studio to lose their heads, leave it to HBO to remember that all people really want are long-running medical dramas set in hospitals and courtroom dramas where clients behave badly.
The Pitt already proved the model was just as sturdy as it ever was before it was abandoned en masse for streaming glory, with HBO getting extra credit for appending the “real time format” to it, usually used in shows about hostage situations, as a twist high-end enough to be considered suitable for premium cable. Now War follows to seal the deal, again with a vaguely high-end twist, though this time it takes the standard trope and passes it through the dark looking glass Succession created and Industry managed to co-opt. Oh, and of course, with extra sex, because this is HBO.
