Home of the Free and the Brave
Over There was an American action/drama/war television series co-created by Steven Bochco and Chris Gerolmo and produced by 20th Century Fox Television. It premiered in the United States on July 27, 2005 on FX and in Canada on September 6, 2005 on the History Television channel. The series was presented in 16:9 widescreen format in the United States and the United Kingdom, and mastered in high definition.
The series followed a unit of the United States Army's 3rd Infantry Division on its first tour of duty in Iraq, and chronicled the war's effects on the soldiers' families in the United States. The Iraq sequences were filmed in the California desert, while the homefront scenes are shot in and around the Greater Los Angeles area.
The pilot was developed by Steven Bochco (who also created such acclaimed series as NYPD Blue, L.A. Law, and Hill Street Blues). Originally, the show was to be produced by UPN, who subsequently decided that international sales prospects were not good and withdrew from the project. However, according to Reuters, the series was seen around the world on pay cable channels in about 100 territories.[citation needed]
The show (Bochco's first for basic cable) was the first scripted television series set in a current, ongoing military action involving the United States. The pilot episode was released on DVD on August 2, 2005, less than a week after the show's premiere in another unusual move.