JAG is complete garbage from start to finish. I don't mind shows that depict the problems within the military or the mistakes we have made, but this show is complete fantasy. The stuff that happens in this show and how the characters handle it is so unbelievable I simply can't stand to watch it.
All the officers and NCOs are completely unproffessional glory hounds who shamelessly break military regulations, sleep with subordinates, take drugs, etc, etc. This isn't just a distorted view of the military, it isn't a view of the military at all! This is how Big Hollywood wishes the military was and how they preceive it to be. It's pure entertainment -- and not very good -- and has nothing whatsoever to do with what life is actually like in the service.
The truth of the matter is that life in the US military is fairly dull most of the time. Lots of repetitive training and dealing with the same recurring problems over and over again. Even the things that look "exciting" are in point of fact anything but most of the time. Even a single jump out of an aircraft takes weeks of planning, meetings, paperwork, and repetitive training. Before the actual jump occurs there are hours and hours of preparation that turn into a mind numbing task. By the time the actual jump comes around it's usually a challenge just to stay awake and perform every task to standard.
That's the reality of military life. Even in Iraq where there is lots of action there is also a lot more mundane work that is done by ordinary soldiers on a daily basis. JAG attempts to center on one or two "glamorous" events and then blows them completely out of proportion. That may be fine entertainment, but I hope no one is relying on these type of TV shows for information on what it's really like.
As far as the acting goes in JAG, real soldiers and marines don't act like that. These people are playing caricatures of sterotypes that hardly ever exist. JAG is a soap opra.
