Understood, but this was a comparison of previous series shown on HBO. Obviously, it could mean a much higher percentage of people don't have HBO today compared to BoB or other previous shows, but for the most part draws upon the comparison of viewers to what The Pacific received. This wasn't at all an comparison to regular network programming.
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Probably also doesn't take into account that there's a much higher percentage of people who are now downloading some/most/all of their tv, something which was completely unheard of back when BoB was screened.
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I think comparing The Pacific to BOB is sort of like comparing the ETO to the PTO. Beyond the fact that they were both wars fought during the same basic time period, you can't. The two theaters were fought differently because of the geography and I think because of the emotional issues involved.

I'll explain more later. But the Germans didn't bomb Pearl Harbor so IMO that made the Pacific more personal to most of the Americans who fought there.
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To continue...

I've talked to veterans from both theaters and found that while some of the ones I spoke to from the ETO said that they didn't particularly hate the German soldiers (with the exception of the SS) and that they actually started feeling sorry for them near the end. The ones who served in the Pacific never said anything about respecting the Japanese soldiers they fought against. Every one of them hated all of the Japanese.

Now this wasn't a scientific study or anything, just the opinion of some old men I've talked to.

The other difference between the two was the geography. In Europe you had the wide open spaces that made full scale armored combat a possibility. Just look at what Patton accomplished during some of the campaigns he was involved in. And while supplying the front lines in Europe wasn't easy, it wasn't nearly as difficult as it was in the Pacific where the Marines were basically hopping from one island to the another.

Of course all this is my opinion based on speaking to some veterans and reading history books.

My point is that I would expect The Pacific to be a completely different story from BOB.
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Happened to luck into the 1st episode while spending the night en route back home. Liked it, interesting to recognize some names- this before I looked into Hugh Ambrose's book and read the backstory. Should be something to see EB Sledge's book made into an episode or two.

And, indeed, MacPappy is quite correct; many veterans still have not forgiven the Japanese for the way the fought the war. My God Mother(RIP!) interviewed for the Army returning POWs from the Japanese camps. To her dying day she used profanity to describe the Japanese and what they did to "our boys over there."

I was at an airshow where there was a fellow reenacting as a Japanese soldier. Many of the pilots there were very negative towards him, epecially those flying Corsairs and other PTO planes.

About the only thing that compares to the brutality of the PTO was the Eastern Front in Europe. No dime was given nor expected.

I look forward to ordering The Pacific on Netflix once it's available.
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I used to follow the military reenacting world on the 'net, and ironically Japanese Army reenactors (some of whom would come all the way from Japan for reenactments in the States) were regarded as some of the best reenactors of all.
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Anyone know when episode 2 will be available to watch on HBO.com?
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I really wish they did a training episode like in Band of Brothers especially because it helped character development. Ive been having a hard time keeping track of all the dudes with black hair with torn clothes.
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It is already on HBO on demand. :-)
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I thought last episode 2 was better than the first, but I don't think we're seeing the plot development like BoB had though.
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hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe.......eh

I think the free episode on HBO.com or wherever was the first time your crack is free kinda deal.
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I thought episode 2 was good, but I liked the first one better so far. The second episode just kinda ended, the intro showed it to be a long drawn out fight with near staving GIs, but I really didn't get that from this episode. They looked dirty, ate rice, and one five minute fire fight, but I think they really missed the mark with one.
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I agree...but it was nice to bring some of my Marine Corps knowledge back with the name John Basilone.
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Well, with Episode 3 we certainly got some character development. :-)
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I watched it on demand last night. Pretty good episode, and there were some funny scenes mixed in there too :-)
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Gratuitous booby shots don't hurt either. :-):-):-)
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They've gotta keep me watching somehow if there isn't any fighting going on!
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HBO.com allowed you to view the episodes for free after registering.

Seems they didn't get the ratings they wanted, so now they've stopped showing them online :-) And they've pushed back the release of the DVD/Blu-ray as well.
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I thought the last 2 episodes were a bit better. Are we just dealing with a difference in the fact that Band of Brothers was just a much better book and story as a whole than what The Pacific is taken from?
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I think it's multiple things, the primary one being that BoB was based on a single book that had taken many different individual experiences and used them to create a single cohesive storyline with a standardized narration style because it's written by a single author. The Pacific is based on 2 primary works written by very different men with different viewpoints and opinions, and that naturally leads to the story line being more disjointed than BoB. Both those works were also personal memoires written more as exercises in self-catharsis than as the historical essays/analysis which BoB was intended to be before HBO turned it into the mini-series.

Ultimately The Pacific is a very different mini-series that BoB, but that's fitting considering the PTO was a very different war and experience than the ETO.
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