New! Band Of Brothers
BBC 2, 8:30 pm

TV World, October 5, 2001

While David Schwimmer plays for laughs as Ross in Friends tonight on Channel 4, he strives for something altogether more weighty in this TV follow-up to Saving Private Ryan. The movie's director Steven Spielberg and its star Tom Hanks have co-produced this 10-part World War 2 drama about the crack US paratroop Easy Company. It covers everything from the training of its men in America, to their behind-the-lines D-Day action in Normandy, and on through the Dutch "Bridge Too Far" fiasco, the Battle of the Bulge and their last swoop on Hitler's Bavarian stronghold. As the harsh and cruel Lt. Herbert Sobel, Schwimmer (above, right) develops a ferocious rivalry against Lt. Richard Winters (Damian Lewis, left) whom the men of Easy Company come to respect and admire. Explosions both personal and military are assured. ***

Caption: Not Friends: These guys are at war, but not with Adolf Hitler.