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Tet '68: Among top five hours in history of TV Drama


Wayloo Marie tries to keep reporting, McMurphy and KC are trapped in an officer's restroom, Beckett is held prisoner by Mai's brother and Dr. Richard and the wounded Dodger prepare to defend the hospital during the fierce fighting of the 1968 Tet offensive. Cherry comforts another Red Cross volunteer at a firebase.


There is more meat in this episode than any I've ever seen in nearly any in all of TV drama. K.C's withdrawl and tacid bonding with McMurphy amidst bomb blasts. And Cherry... This is pure gold for any actor. Each subplot transcends what we call "television entertainment"

"From now on the best of everything is good enough for me"-Sidney Falco

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Yes, I agree. And the ending where Cherry is killed is so tragic but very "real life." I didn't expect it, though, because Nan Woods was second billed in the credits after Dana Delaney.

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I agree completely. I can only think of 2 other TV series with episodes as emotionally devastating and draining.."Posse Comitatus" from West Wing and "On the Beach" from ER. Although all 3 shows had numerous episodes that hit me deeply, those are the ones I can never forget. The music...

What are your 5?

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I was 13 or so when this episode aired and at the end of it, I broke down and sobbed. Just completely wrecked me and I couldn't quite pinpoint why.

The fact that after watching it now, 21 years later, I couldn't stop the tears at the end, well, I understand why a lot better now.

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Agreed. One of the most powerful hours of television ever. I love that you lose all concept of time. It had an ending I wasn't expecting, and one stayed with me.

"Forget reality, give me a picture"-Remington Steele

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China Beach was a TV show, that's for sure - it really made an impression on me, having been part of the later Vietnam draft but never having been called (my Mom said many Rosaries), to the point that just 3 months before the final episode I found myself, unknown to me at the time, to be the location of the final scene in the series - the Vietnam Memorial, on Memorial Day weekend, no less, and to this day it was one of the more significant moments in my life...

In fact, when the final episode did air in August, 1991, it brought me to tears to find that the final scene was filmed at that very same spot - of course that wasn't known to me when there several months earlier (apparently I was there between the filming and the actual date of the last episode), so that was REALLY something, and having been a part of the draft but thankfully not having been called but still feeling a bit "left out", being there meant so much to me that to this day I feel proud to think about it...

Not sure how Dana Delaney will view her career when it's over, but hopefully she'll remember that CB was probably her best and most appreciated role...

P.S. I remember when the Tet Offensive took place - the terrible outcome seemed to make President Johnson realize that our being there was a mistake and probably helped him decide not to run for reelection a short time later - that's one of the peculiar things about getting older (Dana Delaney and I have much in common age-wise) - you're still alive on the Earth but already are a part of history, at least when it comes to being around during events that are now in the history books...

Glades2

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My favorite episode of the best TV series of all-time: Cherry's shocking, tragic death (before internet spoilers) and the revelation of K.C.'s drug addiction AND the true beginning of the Colleen/K.C. dynamics/friendship. Devastating all the way around! Just purchased Seasons 1 & 2 separately and TET'68 still packs a mean wallop during those final moments! And as heartbreaking as it was to lose Cherry like that, no other character's surprise demise would have been as gut-wrenching! And I loved the following episode entitled CHERRY, another knife in the gut! Classic. Character-driven. Timeless!

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