October 25, 2011

In the first 60 seconds of Bomb Patrol: Afghanistan, you will be hooked. You’ll then spend the rest of episode one with an elevated heart rate and your mouth open. It’s simply the most compelling thing you’ll see on TV.

The documentary series, which premieres tonight, follows an elite eight-man U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit on their five-month deployment in Afghanistan. Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) account for more casualties among military troops in Afghanistan than anything else. These are the guys that go in to hostile territory and try to defuse them. It’s easily one of the world’s most dangerous jobs.

In the exclusive clip you see above, the team’s youngest member, Chase, is on his first mission, and he has just accidentally blown up one of their highly sophisticated robots, the Talon. He was piloting it around the site of a suspected IED, got too close, and ka-boom. Not a good first day. They sent out their other Talon to investigate—because where there’s one IED, there’s often a second—but radio interference from the first Talon stopped the second one in the tracks. Chase must now pilot a third, smaller robot-which uses a freakin’ XBOX controller-to cut the first Talon’s power supply. If he can’t, then the second Talon remains stranded, and the Chief has to go in on foot. That’s as dangerous as it sounds. (And yes, those are Contour cameras strapped to everybody’s heads.)

The 10-episode series premieres tonight at 10pm PST/EST on the G4 network. It’s rare that a TV show grabs me. I loathe reality TV, I like only a couple sit coms, and I find most documentary shows boring and/or cheesy. Bomb Patrol: Afghanistan is one of the most gripping and compelling things I’ve ever seen. Enjoy, and good luck getting to bed afterwards.

‘Bomb Patrol: Afghanistan’ is for real

October 24, 2011 by DIANE WERTS. Special to Newsday

DOCUSERIES PREMIERE ”Bomb Patrol: Afghanistan”
WHEN | WHERE Tonight at 10 on G4
REASON TO WATCH You’ll feel like your butt is on the line, too, as an elite American team tries to find and clear hidden explosive devices in Afghanistan.
WHAT IT’S ABOUT Wanna play video games, G4 fans? We’ll give you some video games. Either correctly control a remote robot to find a suspected IED (improvised explosive device), or get yourself blown up. Way fun!The show’s premiere hour does start like a thrill ride, with camera shots flashing fast, adrenaline pumping and incoming wartime fire — in fact, an immediate casualty.

But then “Bomb Patrol” jumps back five months, sending us off on deployment with the eight men of Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Platoon 342. The pace chills enough to let us get to know the guys — from a vigilant chief who has survived five combat gigs to a cocky new bomb tech who “thought it’d be fun to play with explosives and blow stuff up.”  We’re right there with them inside the cramped tank-like JERRV (Joint EOD Rapid Response Vehicle), creeping across narrow Afghan bridges, fording washed-out roads, checking containers for booby traps and generally hoping we don’t “go boom.”

MY SAY Gamers do get their day here, as the new kid uses a video game controller to send out a small robot to save two larger ones he’s already marooned in a sticky situation. Seeing it unfold via split-screen computer monitor is cool.  But very, very real. As our newbie learns, these “games” have serious stakes. And “Bomb Patrol” turns out to be an intensely human documentary. It’s economically edited and well explained (Josh Duhamel is the narrator) by producers who know how to grab your guts and not let go.

BOTTOM LINE Explosions, yes. But emotions, too.
GRADE A