It’s Old. It’s Dense. It Has Some of the Most Ardent Fans in the Game. What Is It About Band of Brothers?

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This week marked two special occasions in the robust Band of Brothers universe: the 25 th anniversary of the show’s debut on HBO, and the release of a commemorative documentary, Band of Brothers: Legacy . It’s become part of the show’s origin story to note that the first episode ran two days before 9/11, but I also like to think about the fact that this was the year the network debuted Six Feet Under , and ran the second season of Curb Your Enthusiasm , the third season of the Sopranos , and the fourth season of Sex in the City. Watching Band of Brothers now, you’re blasted with a feeling of high-grade sincerity—this is because of the subject matter, of course, but also because the HBO of the time all had that distinctive “not TV, HBO” quality of self-belief. There’s plenty of Spielbergian, Hanks-ish sentimentality in this miniseries—you will never watch so many men shake hands fervently and say “Good to see you” to one another as you do when watching Band of Brothers , and you will also never feel so moved by the sight. But there’s also a sense of trust between the show’s creators and its viewers. Hanks and Spielberg expect that you’ll be leaning in, remembering the details of missions, and following the directions Dick Winters (Damien Lewis) gives the men of Easy Company, as closely as the men themselves. Certain viewers of the series have done just that, watching and rewatching, their interest in World War II amplifying their intense fandom for these eight hours of television.

If you click into the Band of Brothers section of the HBO app, you can now access not only the original show but The Pacific , Masters of the Air , and multiple extras, including the hour-long Band of Brothers: Legacy , a look back at the show’s making. Unfortunately for Band of Brothers: Legacy , I don’t want to see colorized historical photos, or hear actors talk about how their 10-day boot camp really made them feel like they were soldiers, how the show’s use of practical effects to actually explode trees brought them emotionally closer to the experience of being in combat, or how they see themselves as “a little through line” to the veterans of Easy Company—many of whom were alive in 2001, and all of whom have now passed away. What I wanted to do instead, and what many, many others often do, is rewatch the original.

In my opinion, life’s too short to rewatch TV shows. (You’re not going to get through all eight seasons of Outlander with that attitude.) But there are people out there who rewatch Band of Brothers as a yearly ritual. There are others who watch it much more than annually. (When I posted on the show’s subreddit looking to talk to people about this habit, more than one reply scoffed that “once a year” was amateur hour.) For this kind of viewer, the relative difficulty of Band of Brothers is a feature, not a bug.