Tour of Duty (TV series)

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Tour of Duty was an American television drama series on air from 1987 to 1990. The show follows an American infantry platoon on a tour of duty during the Vietnam War. It was the first television series to regularly show Americans in combat in Vietnam and was one of several similarly-themed series to be produced in the wake of the acclaimed Oliver Stone film, Platoon.

The show was created by Steve Duncan and L. Travis Clark, and produced by Zev Braun. It ran for three seasons as 58 one-hour episodes, broadcast on CBS. The Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" was the theme song of the series, and the show was known for its classic American rock soundtrack including Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jimi Hendrix, and Jefferson Airplane. The series won an Emmy Award in 1988 for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series, and it was nominated again in 1989 and 1990. For copyright reasons, the VHS and DVD soundtracks were replaced with more generic music by lesser-known bands -- a move which was widely protested by buyers, and resulted in a significantly lower sales volume for the third-season DVD set than for the first two.

Not simply an action program, Tour of Duty was also groundbreaking as it addressed the issues of racism, suicide, fragging, terrorism, civilian deaths, drug abuse, and the shattered lives and confused feelings of those troops who finally made it home alive.

The story focuses mainly on Bravo company's third squad under the command of Lt. Myron Goldman, and SSGT. Zeke Anderson. In the first season, the program showed the G.I.s as a standard platoon operating in Vietnam. In the second season, the troops found themselves relocated to a base near Saigon while conducting the typical "search and destroy" missions. In the third season, the platoon was transferred to a SOG (Studies and Observation) unit under the command of Colonel Brewster, conducting covert operations in Vietnam and in Cambodia, culminating in the fictional version of the raid on Son Tay Prison. Production staff interviewed in VIETNAM Magazine cited this change as a change in premise that doomed the series, as female characters were also introduced (in hopes of gaining more female viewership) and the show ceased to be a realistic chronicle of life in the field for the average line infantryman in favor of being more romance- and action/adventure-oriented. The third season was the show's last.

In the United Kingdom Tour of Duty was screened regionally among the 14 contractors of the ITV Network. The show was typically shown with two commercial breaks inserted around 1.20am on a Sunday morning by Central Television and at 11.35pm on Tuesday nights by Yorkshire Television. The Yorkshire time was the most commonly adopoted among other ITV regions.

1 Cast members
2 DVD
3 Soundtrack
- 3.1 The Original Soundtrack Albums
- 3.2 The Compilation Soundtrack CD
4 External links

[edit] Cast members

Terence Knox as Clayton Ezekiel "Zeke" Anderson
Stephen Caffrey as Myron Goldman
Tony Becker as Daniel "Danny" Purcell
Ramón Franco as Alberto Ruiz
Miguel A. Núñez Jr. as Marcus Taylor
Kim Delaney as Alex Devlin (1989–1990)
Steve Akahoshi as Randy "Doc" Matsuda (1987–1988)
Betsy Brantley as Dr. Jennifer Seymour (1989)
Richard Brestoff as Darling (1989)
Eric Bruskotter as Scott Baker (1987–1988)
Kyle Chandler as William Griner (1990)
Michael B. Christy as Duncan (1989–1990)
Kevin Conroy as Rusty Wallace (1987–1988)
John Dye as Francis "Doc Hoc" Hockenbury (1989–1990)
Stan Foster as Marvin Johnson
Dan Gauthier as John McKay (1989–1990)
Patrick Kilpatrick as CIA Agent Duke Fontaine (1989–1990)
Lee Majors as Thomas "Pop" Scarlett (1990)
Joshua D. Maurer as Roger Horn (1987–1988)
Maria Mayenzet as Sister Bernardette (1989–1990)
Alan Scarfe as Stringer (1990)
Peter Vogt as Elliot (1989–1990)
Carl Weathers as Brewster (1989–1990)

[edit] DVD

Season	Release dates	Cover Art
Season	Region 1
The Complete 1^st Season	June 8, 2004
The Complete 2^nd Season	December 28, 2004
The Complete 3^rd Season	July 5, 2005

[edit] Soundtrack

[edit] The Original Soundtrack Albums

The Tour of Duty television series soundtrack was released by CBS on Columbia Records as four different compilation albums during 1988 and 1989. The original albums are now out of print. Their track listings are as follows:

Tour of Duty Soundtrack, Volume 1 (1988) Baby Love - Diana Ross and The Supremes Here Comes The Night - Them We Gotta Get Out Of This Place - The Animals A Whiter Shade Of Pale - Procol Harum Itchycoo Park - Small Faces All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix Hurdy Gurdy Man - Donovan Time Of The Season - Zombies And When I Die - Blood, Sweat & Tears War - Edwin Starr Ball Of Confusion - Temptations What's Going On - Marvin Gaye Time Has Come Today - Chambers Brothers I Want To Take You Higher - Sly & The Family Stone Groovin' Is Easy - The Electric Flag Oye Como Va - Santana Ball And Chain - Janis Joplin Ballad Of Easy Rider - The Byrds	Tour of Duty Soundtrack, Volume 2 (1988) Paint It Black - Chris Farlowe Tin Soldier - Small Faces Stone Free - The Jimi Hendrix Experience Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf Reach Out I'll Be There - The Four Tops People Get Ready - The Impressions Jennifer Juniper - Donovan Your Precious Love - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell Groovin' - The Rascals Eight Miles High - The Byrds Cloud Nine - The Temptations I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Gladys Knight & The Pips Piece Of My Heart - Janis Joplin It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry - Al Kooper & Stephen Stills Ring Of Fire - Eric Burdon & The Animals Spinning Wheel - Blood, Sweat & Tears Bridge Over Troubled Water - Aretha Franklin
Tour of Duty Soundtrack, Volume 3 (1989) White Room - Cream Highway Chile - Jimi Hendrix Lazy Sunday - Small Faces Gloria - Them Sky Pilot - Eric Burdon & The Animals Natural Born Bugie - Humble Pie White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane The Weight - The Band Go Now - The Moody Blues San Francisco - Scott McKenzie Draft Morning - The Byrds Evil Ways - Santana Dance To The Music - Sly & The Family Stone Tell Her No - The Zombies Barabajagal - Donovan Killing Floor - The Electric Flag Black Night - Deep Purple Paranoid - Black Sabbath	Tour of Duty Soundtrack, Volume 4 (1989) This Wheel's On Fire - Julie Driscoll Rag Mama Rag - The Band On The Road Again - Canned Heat Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? - Chicago American Woman - Guess Who Race With The Devil - The Gun Down The Dustpipe - Status Quo Living In The Past - Jethro Tull Bird On The Wire - Leonard Cohen Tears Of Rage - Bob Dylan Save The Country - Laura Nyro To Love Somebody - The Bee Gees There Won't Be Many Coming Home - Roy Orbison Melting Pot - Blue Mink Hi De Ho - Blood, Sweat & Tears Chestnut Mare - The Byrds Sweet Baby James - James Taylor Listen To The Music - The Doobie Brothers

[edit] The Compilation Soundtrack CD

In 1992, Sony Music released a compilation CD titled "The Best of 'Tour of Duty'". It contains only twenty of the songs featured in the four original "Tour of Duty" Soundtrack albums.

The Best of Tour of Duty (1992) Born To Be Wild (Steppenwolf) Tin Soldier - Small Faces This Wheel's On Fire - Julie Driscoll Barabajagal - Donovan Time Of The Season - The Zombies The Weight - The Band Get Together - The Youngbloods Chimes Of Freedom - The Byrds A Whiter Shade Of Pale - Procol Harum Piece Of My Heart - Janis Joplin Evil Ways - Santana 25 Or 6 To 4 - Chicago Killing Floor - The Electric Flag Dance To The Music - Sly & The Family Stone And When I Die - Blood, Sweat & Tears On The Road Again - Canned Heat American Woman - The Guess Who Race With The Devil - The Gun Shapes Of Things - The YardBirds Sky Pilot - Eric Burdon & The Animals