National Geographic Channel has premiered a new series titled, The Long Road Home. The show is based on Martha Raddatz’s bestseller of the same title. The show chronicles the events of April 4, 2004 when a platoon was ambushed in Sadr City, Baghdad, in an attack came to be known as “Black Sunday.”
Here are ten great reasons why “The Long Road Home,”
National Geographic’s ambitious series that brings to Technicolor cutting-edge
life the harrowing yet inspiring events of April 2004, should be your next TV
addiction.
1. It’s based on a painstakingly researched
true story. Based on the New York Times best-selling book by
internationally acclaimed journalist Martha Raddatz, “The Long Road Home—A
Story of War and Family” is about Black Sunday in April 2004. Currently ABC
News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent, Raddatz book was praised by The Washington
Post as "a masterpiece of literary non-fiction that rivals any war-related
classic that has preceded it."
2. Black Sunday would change the way the
American military saw Iraq: from a simple peacekeeping mission to a fight
against domestic insurgents. Soldiers from the US 1st Cavalry Division of Fort
Hood, Texas were ambushed in Sadr City, Baghdad, with eight making the ultimate
sacrifice that day and over 65 seriously wounded.
3. It shines a light on the heroes behind the
scenes. “With The Long Road Home…[we’re] going to shine a light on the
sisterhood formed by their wives on the homefront as they [rallied] around each
other awaiting news of their husbands’ fates,” says National Geographic Channel
executive vice president and head of global scripted programming and
development Carolyn Bernstein.
4. The staff behind the series is a powerhouse
in itself, with screenwriter, showrunner, and executive producer Mikko
Alanne adapting the book’s events for TV. Direction is provided by Emmy winners
Phil Abraham and Mikael Salomon, and the series’ executive producers are Mike
Medavoy, Mikko Alanne, Jason Clark, Benjamin Anderson and Edward McGurn. For
National Geographic, Carolyn G. Bernstein is executive vice president and head
of global scripted development and production.
5. The feels you’ll get are going to be too
real. Book author Martha Raddatz, according to the New York Times, went
back “…and painstakingly reconstructed the event from every conceivable angle —
including the thing that he said/she said reactions of soldiers in Iraq and
their wives in Fort Hood, Tex. Some of those wives would receive the most
dreaded kinds of visitors after the battle. Not since the Vietnam War did the
First Cavalry suffer so many casualties in one day.”
6. Much
care has been taken to reconstruct the events as closely as they happened. Talk
about bringing you there: In addition to consulting the author herself for the
show’s production, NatGeo brought in two US Army veterans who survived the
ambush: Eric Bourquin and Aaron Fowler.
In addition, the responses to the book alone have been
overwhelmingly positive. From Goodreads to Reddit, even those who admit not to
reading about military history have been touched by the story of “The Long Road
Home” and have had their eyes opened by the harsh realities of military
operations; in a Goodreads review, “Gregory” writes about how the 1st Cavalry
Division had neither tanks nor armored Humvees despite their general, Peter
Chiarelli, begging for these to protect his people—and how he was rebuked in
public because the provision of such would “send the wrong message to the
Iraqis.”
7. The series stars Michael Kelly (“House
of Cards,” “Taboo”); Jason Ritter (“Parenthood,” “Girls”); E.J. Bonilla
(“Unforgettable”); Kate Bosworth (“Superman Returns,” “Blue Crush,” “SS-GB,”
“The Art of More”); Sarah Wayne Callies (“Prison Break,” “The Walking Dead,”
“Colony”); Noel Fisher (“Shameless”); Jeremy Sisto (“Suburgatory,” “Law &
Order,” “Six Feet Under”); Jon Beavers (“NCIS,” “Gotham,” “The Fresh Beat
Band”); and Darius Homayoun (“Tyrant”), among many others.
8. Not too long, not too short: just right.
This eight-part series reflects the eight hours that saw three desperate yet
deadly rescue missions launched to save the soldiers in the ambush.
9. It’s history in
the making: National Geographic gives viewers a unique perspective of the
toll war takes on soldiers and their families. The literary genre of creative
nonfiction comes to life in a gripping and intimate way, pushing the boundaries
of entertainment and education closer together in a new and exciting way.
Follow the action of the battle on two simultaneous
fronts—the chaotic, terror-filled streets of Sadr City, where a group of
inexperienced young soldiers faces an unexpected and unimaginable attack with
bravery they never knew they had, and the home front at Fort Hood in Texas,
where family members, desperate for news of their loved ones and fearing the
worst, discover their own courage and determination as well.
10. You can take the
show with you, wherever you are. No soldier fights alone—and you won’t be
missing a thing with the Fox+ app, available for iOS and Android devices, which
gives you access to this brilliant series. Don’t miss a moment—not even when stuck
in the everyday Carmageddon of traffic.
“The Long Road Home”
begins with the special two-hour premiere “Black Sunday” on November 5, 2017 at
10:00 p.m., with regular new episode telecasts every Wednesday at 10:00 p.m. on
National Geographic and every Sunday at 10:00p.m. for the weekend primetime
replay.
National Geographic is seen on Channel 41 (Skycable), Channel 141
(Cignal), Channel 62 (Cablelink) and Channel 153 on (GSAT). National Geographic HD is seen on Channel 195
(Skycable), Channel 240 (Cignal) and Channel 331 (Cablelink).
