Tour of Duty (TV series)

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Tour of Duty
Format Vietnam War/Drama
Created by Steve Duncan
L.Travis Clark
Starring Stephen Caffrey
Terence Knox
Kim Delaney
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
No. of seasons 3
No. of episodes 58
Production
Running time approx. 1 hour
Broadcast
Original channel CBS
Original run September 24, 1987 – April 28, 1990
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary


Tour of Duty was an American television drama series on CBS which ran from September 1987 to April 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.

Contents

[edit] Series Overview

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 platoon under the command of Lieutenant Myron Goldman (Stephen Caffrey), and Staff Sergeant (later Sergeant First Class) Zeke Anderson (Terence Knox). The series, and particularly the first season, can be considered the Vietnam War equivalent of the classic 1960s series Combat! which was set in World War II, with Goldman being analagous to Lieutenant Gil Hanley and Anderson being analogous to Sergeant Chip Saunders of Combat!, although Tour of Duty was even more gritty in content.

The first season opens in 1967 and follows a standard light infantry platoon. In the second season, the troops found themselves relocated to a base near Saigon while conducting the typical "search and destroy" missions. 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. In the third season, the remaining female character was killed off and 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. The third season was the show's last.

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.

In its third season, CBS moved the show to the Saturday 9:00 p.m. time slot. Being forced to compete with NBC's The Golden Girls and Empty Nest, the show's ratings dropped and the show was cancelled at the end of the season.

[edit] Music in Tour of Duty

The opening theme song was an abbreviated version of The Rolling Stones hit Paint It Black. The closing consisted of an instrumental, synthesized tune with a distinctive Asian sound mixed in with acoustic guitar; it was performed by Joseph Conlan, and was never released for public consumption other than in the series. That music was used as background music for most of the series. On DVD most of the Vietnam War era popular music was replaced by instrumental bits to cover the blank spots of music. It is most likely that the original score was not available due to copyright issues. The show was known for its classic American rock soundtrack including Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jimi Hendrix, and Jefferson Airplane. One first-season episode, "USO Down," used "live" versions of Wooly Bully and We Gotta Get Out of This Place as performed by a USO band, the latter song being used also for ironic comment. The songs in this episode were retained in the DVD soundtracks. But for copyright reasons, the VHS and DVD soundtracks of the majority of episodes 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. In the Netherlands, amongst other European nations, a total number of seven albums were released, containing most of the songs featured on the show. As a result, The Rolling Stones hit Paint It Black was re-released as a single, again hitting the number 1 position in the Dutch top 40 popchart in May 1990.

[edit] Filming

The first season was filmed on location in Hawaii at Schoffield Barracks. For the second and third seasons the series was filmed around Los Angeles, California in order to reduce costs. This also enabled the producers to redress a studio backlot as Saigon. The move also meant reusing the same locations, notably a small river with grass on one bank and woods on the other which turns up in a number of episodes. A lot of filming was undertaken on the old set of M*A*S*H. Helicopter scenes with McKay were filmed on the ground with the rotors running.

[edit] Screenings

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 adopted among other ITV regions. In 1998 the show was screened in the UK on television channel Bravo.

The Australian television network Seven ran viewings of the series typically late at night on Thursday's, normally starting at 12:00AM.

In Mexico it was aired by televisa's canal 5 as "Misión del deber"

[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] Awards

[edit] Won

  • Emmy Award
    • 1988: Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series (for "Under Siege")
  • Founders Award
    • 1989: Terence Knox

[edit] Nominated

  • Emmy Award
    • 1989: Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series (for "I Wish it Could Rain")
    • 1990: Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series (for "And Make Death Proud to Take Us")
  • Eddie Award
    • 1988: Best Edited Episode from a Television Series (for the pilot episode)

[edit] DVD

Season Release dates
Region 1
The Complete 1st Season June 8, 2004
The Complete 2nd Season December 28, 2004
The Complete 3rd 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)
  1. Baby Love - Diana Ross and The Supremes
  2. Here Comes The Night - Them
  3. We Gotta Get Out Of This Place - The Animals
  4. A Whiter Shade Of Pale - Procol Harum
  5. Itchycoo Park - Small Faces
  6. All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
  7. Hurdy Gurdy Man - Donovan
  8. Time Of The Season - Zombies
  9. And When I Die - Blood, Sweat & Tears
  10. War - Edwin Starr
  11. Ball Of Confusion - Temptations
  12. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
  13. Time Has Come Today - Chambers Brothers
  14. I Want To Take You Higher - Sly & The Family Stone
  15. Groovin' Is Easy - The Electric Flag
  16. Oye Como Va - Santana
  17. Ball And Chain - Janis Joplin
  18. Ballad Of Easy Rider - The Byrds
 Tour of Duty Soundtrack, Volume 2 (1988)
  1. Paint It Black - Performed by the Rolling Stones, Chris Farlowe (?)
  2. Tin Soldier - Small Faces
  3. Stone Free - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
  4. Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream
  5. Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf
  6. Reach Out I'll Be There - The Four Tops
  7. People Get Ready - The Impressions
  8. Jennifer Juniper - Donovan
  9. Your Precious Love - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
  10. Groovin' - The Rascals
  11. Eight Miles High - The Byrds
  12. Cloud Nine - The Temptations
  13. I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Gladys Knight & The Pips
  14. Piece Of My Heart - Janis Joplin
  15. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry - Al Kooper & Stephen Stills
  16. Ring Of Fire - Eric Burdon & The Animals
  17. Spinning Wheel - Blood, Sweat & Tears
  18. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Aretha Franklin
Tour of Duty Soundtrack, Volume 3 (1989)
  1. White Room - Cream
  2. Highway Chile - Jimi Hendrix
  3. Lazy Sunday - Small Faces
  4. Gloria - Them
  5. Sky Pilot - Eric Burdon & The Animals
  6. Natural Born Bugie - Humble Pie
  7. White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
  8. The Weight - The Band
  9. Go Now - The Moody Blues
  10. San Francisco - Scott McKenzie
  11. Draft Morning - The Byrds
  12. Evil Ways - Santana
  13. Dance To The Music - Sly & The Family Stone
  14. Tell Her No - The Zombies
  15. Barabajagal - Donovan
  16. Killing Floor - The Electric Flag
  17. Black Night - Deep Purple
  18. Paranoid - Black Sabbath
 Tour of Duty Soundtrack, Volume 4 (1989)
  1. This Wheel's On Fire - Julie Driscoll
  2. Rag Mama Rag - The Band
  3. On The Road Again - Canned Heat
  4. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? - Chicago
  5. American Woman - Guess Who
  6. Race With The Devil - The Gun
  7. Down The Dustpipe - Status Quo
  8. Living In The Past - Jethro Tull
  9. Bird On The Wire - Leonard Cohen
  10. Tears Of Rage - Bob Dylan
  11. Save The Country - Laura Nyro
  12. To Love Somebody - The Bee Gees
  13. There Won't Be Many Coming Home - Roy Orbison
  14. Melting Pot - Blue Mink
  15. Hi De Ho - Blood, Sweat & Tears
  16. Chestnut Mare - The Byrds
  17. Sweet Baby James - James Taylor
  18. 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)
  1. Born To Be Wild (Steppenwolf)
  2. Tin Soldier - Small Faces
  3. This Wheel's On Fire - Julie Driscoll
  4. Barabajagal - Donovan
  5. Time Of The Season - The Zombies
  6. The Weight - The Band
  7. Get Together - The Youngbloods
  8. Chimes Of Freedom - The Byrds
  9. A Whiter Shade Of Pale - Procol Harum
  10. Piece Of My Heart - Janis Joplin
  11. Evil Ways - Santana
  12. 25 Or 6 To 4 - Chicago
  13. Killing Floor - The Electric Flag
  14. Dance To The Music - Sly & The Family Stone
  15. And When I Die - Blood, Sweat & Tears
  16. On The Road Again - Canned Heat
  17. American Woman - The Guess Who
  18. Race With The Devil - The Gun
  19. Shapes Of Things - The YardBirds
  20. Sky Pilot - Eric Burdon & The Animals

[edit] External links