PAGE 2 • TV
THE BULLETIN • OCTOBER 21 - 27, 2021
BY GEORGE DICKIE
J.R. Martinez is among
the hosts of “American
Veteran,” a four-part,
four-hour series that
premieres Tuesday on PBS.
PBS says ‘thank you for your
service’ with four-part
‘American Veteran’
There is an unspoken
understanding among combat
veterans that just escapes civilians.
PBS attempts to shed light on the
veteran experience in an upcoming
documentary series.
In “American Veteran,” a
four-part, four-hour series that
premieres Tuesday, Oct.26 (check
local listings), those who fought
in conflicts ranging from World
War II to the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan tell their stories of
military service – why they joined,
how it changed them and how
those who served should never
be forgotten. There are nearly 18
million veterans in this country
and at times throughout history
they’ve been honored, reviled,
ignored or forgotten but always
they’ve returned to a world that
doesn’t understand them. And they
always feel comfortable around
their own.
Each of the four episodes is
hosted by a veteran: former
Marine and “The Price Is
Right” host Drew Carey; Sen.
Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War
Army veteran and Purple Heart
Recipient; actor Wes Studi, a
Vietnam War veteran with the
National Guard; and actor J.R.
Martinez, an Army veteran.
“I wanted veterans who had a
range of experiences,” explains
Leah Williams, the series’ director
and producer, “to see how whatever
it is that they’re dealing with, that
someone else, another veteran
is also dealing with that as well,
whether that’s physical, emotional
wounds, highs, lows, whatever that
may be. That is literally one of the
reasons why we wanted to create
this series.”
One theme that surfaces in
“American Veteran” is boot camp.
Talk to any veteran and they’ll tell
you that you don’t come out the
same as when you went in, which
was certainly the case for Martinez
when he enlisted in the Army in
2002.
“One of the biggest things my
recruiter told me right before I
left to basic training,” Martinez
explains, “he said, ‘Whatever you
do, you do not want the drill
sergeants to know your name.’
... Within the first, I think, day
of arriving at basic training, they
knew my name, and I quickly
understood why I didn’t want them
to know my name. Because then it
just became a target on my back:
Martinez, Martinez, Martinez.
“But I believe honestly those are
the things that really allow service
members that are that naive about
the world and that innocent in
many ways to be broken down
mentally and emotionally and
find that thing inside of them
so that those drill sergeants, the
military can then shape them to
be prepared to be these incredible
service members they become.”
“American Veteran” is part of an
initiative that also includes a 10-
part series of digital shorts on the
PBS Voices YouTube Channel and
a nine-part podcast available on all
major podcast platforms.
Guide to the TV grids
TV Ratings:
‘G’: General audience
‘Y’: Young children
‘7’: Children over 7
‘14’: Children over 14
‘PG’: Parental guidance
‘M’: Mature audience only
PA: Parental advisory
DVS: Descriptive video service
EI: Educational/instructional
D: Dialogue
L: Language
S: Sexual situations
V: Violence
Common symbols :
HD scheduling, please
note:
’:I n stereo
Å: Closed captioning
iTV: Interactive TV program
N: Program is new
Schedules are based on standard-
definition (SD) channels. High-
definition (HD) channels may vary
by three hours when a West Coast
programming feed is not available to
your TV provider. Please refer to your
provider’s interactive TV guide for
detailed HD channel schedules.
For a list of cable and over-the-air
channels by zip code, as well
up-to-the-minute TV programming,
please visit www.bendbulletin.
com/tv. For questions or feedback
please call The Bulletin Circulation
Department at 541-385-5800.