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Tour of Duty
Title card (seasons 2–3)
Genre	Military drama
Created by	Steve Duncan L. Travis Clark
Starring	Terence Knox Stephen Caffrey Joshua D. Maurer Steve Akahoshi Tony Becker Eric Bruskotter Stan Foster Ramón Franco Miguel A. Núñez Jr. Kevin Conroy Kim Delaney John Dye
Music by	Joseph Conlan
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	58
Production
Executive producers	Steve Duncan L. Travis Clark Ronald L. Schwary
Producer	Zev Braun
Running time	47–49 minutes
Production companies	Zev Braun Productions New World International
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	September 24, 1987 (1987-09-24) – April 28, 1990 (1990-04-28)

Tour of Duty is an Americanmilitary drama television series based on events in theVietnam War, broadcast onCBS. The series ran for three seasons, from September 24, 1987, to April 28, 1990, for a total of 58 one-hour episodes. The show was created by Steve Duncan and L. Travis Clark and produced byZev Braun.^[1][2]

The show follows an Americaninfantryplatoon on atour of duty during the Vietnam War. It was the first television series to regularly show Americans in combat inSouth Vietnam and was one of several similarly themed series to be produced in the wake of the acclaimedOliver Stone filmPlatoon (1986).

The series won anEmmy Award in 1988 forOutstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series, and it was nominated again in 1989 and 1990.^[3]

Tour of Duty examined the issues of politics, faith, teamwork, racism, suicide,fragging,terrorism,civilian deaths, sexuality, drug abuse, and how the lives of soldiers and civilians were permanently affected by theVietnam War.^[4]

The first season began in 1987 and followed Bravocompany's secondplatoon located at Camp Ladybird. Second platoon was standardlight infantry platoon conducting "search and destroy" missions in Vietnam, under the command of2nd Lieutenant (1st Lieutenant from the start of season 2) Myron Goldman (Stephen Caffrey) andStaff Sergeant (laterSergeant First Class) Zeke Anderson (Terence Knox). It was filmed on location inHawaii atSchofield Barracks.^[3][4][5]

For the second and third seasons, the series was filmed atIndian Dunes/Newhall Orchards and Farms about 4 miles west of I-5/Santa Clarita, California between Hwy 126 and the Santa Clara River to reduce filming costs. This area was also used to filmChina Beach,Baa Baa Black Sheep and many other TV series and movies from the mid-1970s to 1990.^[6][7]

The change of location also led to a change in the show's direction. Beginning in the second season, the platoon was relocated to a base nearSaigon, Tan Son Nhut. Production staff interviewed inVietnam Magazine said this change in premise doomed the series because it shifted from being a realistic chronicle about the life of an average combat infantryman to an action/romantic/drama show.^[3]CBS wanted female characters becauseABC had premieredChina Beach, a Vietnam Army nurses drama, which was aimed directly at attracting more female viewers.

InTour of Duty's third season, the remaining female character was killed off, and the platoon was transferred to aSOG unit at Camp Barnett, under the command ofColonel Brewster (played byCarl Weathers). The unit conductedcovert operations in Vietnam andCambodia which included a fictional version of theraid on Son Tay Prison. The show was cancelled at the end of this season due to falling ratings.

Guest stars includedLee Majors,James Hong,Mako,Kelly Hu,Angela Bassett,Ving Rhames,Melora Hardin,Everett McGill,Olivia d'Abo,Alfie Wise,David Alan Grier,Richard Brooks,Malcolm-Jamal Warner,William Sadler, Carl Weathers andMichael Madsen.^[8]

Notes

The opening theme song was an abbreviated version ofthe Rolling Stones hit "Paint It Black" that had featured in the end titles of the1987 Vietnam War filmFull Metal Jacket; this was removed for the US DVD release. The closing consisted of an instrumental, synthesized tune with a distinctive Asian sound mixed in with acoustic guitar; it was performed byJoseph 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 the US DVD release, most of the Vietnam War–era popular songs were replaced by instrumental bits to cover the blank spots of music.

All three seasons that have been released in the United Kingdom feature the complete original soundtrack, including "Paint It Black".

The show was known for itsclassic American rock soundtrack includingCreedence Clearwater Revival,Jimi Hendrix, andJefferson Airplane. One first-season episode, "USO Down", used "live" versions of "Wooly Bully", and "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" as performed by aUSO band, the latter song being used also for ironic comment. The songs in this episode were retained in the DVD soundtracks. But forcopyright reasons, theVHS andDVD soundtracks of the majority of episodes were replaced with soundalikes, 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, "Paint It Black" was re-released as a single, again hitting the number 1 position in the Dutch top 40 pop charts in May 1990.^{[citation needed]}

TheTour of Duty television series soundtrack was released by CBS onColumbia Records as four different compilation albums during 1988 and 1989. The original albums are now out of print. Their track listings are as follows:

• Note: The official Australian chart was the Kent Music Report until June 1988, and which time it changed to ARIA.

In 1992,Sony Music released a compilation CD titledThe Best of 'Tour of Duty'. It contains only twenty of the songs featured in the four originalTour of Duty Soundtrack albums.

In 2004–2005,Sony Pictures released all three seasons for the first time in the US, both as individual season sets and a complete series set. Due to licensing issues, all original music was replaced with sound-alike versions, much to the dismay of fans. These releases, which have also been criticized for having substandard sound and picture quality, have since been discontinued.

In 2013, Mill Creek Entertainment acquired the US rights to various television series from the Sony Pictures library includingTour of Duty.^[67] In 2014–2015, they re-released all three seasons on DVD, again as individual season sets and a complete series set.^[68] These releases have the same poor A/V and replacement music of the Sony issues.

Between 2011 and 2013, Fabulous Films released identical DVDs in the UK and Australia, both as individual season sets and a complete series set. They have improved audio and video quality over the US issues, and retain the complete original soundtrack, including "Paint It, Black". They also contain extras including cast and crew biographies, hundreds of publicity photos and a feature-length, three-part documentary. The latter includes interviews filmed in Los Angeles in July 2011 with key cast membersTerence Knox,Joshua D. Maurer, Steve Akahoshi,Tony Becker,Eric Bruskotter,Kevin Conroy,Miguel A. Núñez Jr. andDan Gauthier, and key production crew membersZev Braun (producer)Bill L. Norton (writer/director), Steve Smith (writer/producer), Steve Duncan (creator) and Paul Sinor (military advisor).

The complete series was also released on DVD in Germany byKoch Media between 2012 and 2014, both as individual season sets and complete series sets. These releases replicate the poor quality, music-replacement and extras-free US DVDs but they do reinstate the original version of "Paint It, Black" in the opening credits.

The series won anEmmy Award in 1988 forOutstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series (for "Under Siege"), and it was nominated again in 1989 and 1990.^[3]

Emmy Award nominations:

• 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 nominations

• 1988: Best Edited Episode from a Television Series (for the pilot episode)

• China Beach, a similar series set in South Vietnam during the war
• Combat!, a similar series set in France during World War II that ran for five seasons (152 episodes) from 1962 to 1967

Wikiquote has quotations related toTour of Duty.

• Tour of Duty atIMDb
• Official Tour of Duty UK Fanhub

• 1987 American television series debuts
• 1990 American television series endings
• CBS original programming
• American English-language television shows
• American military television series
• Television series based on actual events
• Television series by New World Television
• Television series by Sony Pictures Television
• Television series set in 1967
• Television series set in 1968
• Television series set in 1969
• Television series about the Vietnam War

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