Pentagon & Disney/ABC Turn War Into Gung Ho TV Entertainment

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"The Pentagon is giving two Hollywood producers access to troops in Afghanistan and around the world to promote its war effort through television's genre of the moment, the reality series. The result is expected to be a 13-part series shown in prime time by ABC entertainment division this year. The producers - Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the movies "Black Hawk Down' and 'Pearl Harbor,' and Bertram van Munster, whose credits include the reality series ... 'Cops' - intend to tell the 'compelling personal stories of the U.S. military men and women who bear the burden of this fighting,' according to an ABC news release. ... A senior ABC executive who declined to be identified said yesterday that the network's news division complained to top officials at its parent company, Walt Disney, several weeks ago about entertainment producers' handling a documentary series about the war for the network. These complaints, the executive said, were rebuffed."