The Fighting Season: Boots on the Ground during the 2014 Election

The 2014 Presidential election represented a major security challenge for the Coalition forces and the Kabul City Police Center (KCPC). A successful election would be an important step in the nation’s healing process, embarrassing the Taliban determined to undermine it. Top brass and the White House also would also be happy facilitate Karzai’s exit from public life. Viewers will watch U.S. Army units across the war-torn country risk their lives to protect Afghanistan’s fragile democratic institutions in The Fighting Season (promo here), which premieres tomorrow night on DirecTV’s Audience network.

Inconveniently, the election largely coincides with the so-called “Fighting Season,” a rather unfortunate tradition wherein Taliban terrorists take advantage of the spring thaw to come down from the mountains to cause death and destruction. The men of Bravo Company stationed near Forward Operating Base (FOB) Shank will try to stop such Jihadis before they reach Kabul. For those that slip thorough, special teams working for Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson will try to coach and reinforce the KCPC officers maintaining the three concentric rings of check-points known as Kabul’s “Ring of Steel.”

Based on the initial installment, the six part Fighting Season might be one of the best embedded, boots-on-the-ground documents of the Afghanistan Theater that has yet been produced for television. There will be real firefights, but the most compelling part of episode one is the messy uncertainty of intelligence-gathering and reconnaissance. A considerable difference in perspective emerges between Col. John Graham, who believes in face-to-face contact for winning over the Kabul citizenry, and his more battle-hardened task force colleagues, who are concerned about the security risks involved in his spontaneous approach. The problem is, viewers watching Season will be quickly convinced they are both right.

There is some amazing camera work in Season, including some night vision sequences that are so clear and easy to follow, one might think they were lifted from an action film. Executive producer Ricky Schroder’s voice-overs also perfectly suit the program. Instead of a silky smooth narrator, he sounds like enlisted man. It is also clear Schroder and the rest of the Season team respect the troops and believe in the War on Terror considerably more than Jeb Bush.

There is plenty of uncensored warfighting in Season, as well as the sort of salty language military personnel will use from time to time. It is real in a way that is really real, but it also gives a detailed look at the infrastructure and levels of command involved in each mission. Based on the first compelling episode, The Fighting Season is very highly recommended when it debuts tomorrow (5/19) on DirecTV’s Audience Network.

Kingdom: MMA Family Values

This is one family drama that could not take place in New York, because that pesky ban on mixed martial arts bouts remains in effect. Instead, the Kulina family weighs-in in Venice, California, where hardnoses and stoners live in close proximity. Time will tell whether the family that cage-fights together, stays together in creator-showrunner Byron Balasco’s Kingdom (promo here), which premieres on DirecTV’s Audience Network this coming Wednesday.

Alvey Kulina came up in the wild and woolly days of MMA, faring just well enough to earn a small but devoted fanbase. Retired from the ring, but still seriously bad, Kulina now owns and operates Navy St. MMA, where he trains the general public and potential contenders alike. Currently, the best fighter in his gym is his youngest son, Nate. Kulina’s eldest son Jay also used to train at Navy St., but his father gave him the boot because of his bad attitude and hard partying.

Into their lives some drama will fall when Ryan Wheeler is released from prison. Kulina used to manage the natural born fighter, but Wheeler abruptly dumped him just as his career ignited. When Wheeler’s drug-fueled rage landed him a stint up the river, his girlfriend Lisa Prince understandably cut her losses. Regretfully, he came to realize she was probably “the one,” but she has since become involved with Alvey Kulina. So yeah, awkward. There also happen to be a couple of drug dealers out for revenge after the beatdown old man Kulina lays on them in the opening minutes of the show. He’s such a badass, he hardly gives it any thought, but they seem rather put out by it.

Without question, Frank Grillo (from Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Warrior) is the key piece to this puzzle. He has all kinds of grit and presence as the senior Kulina, bringing legit action chops to the party as well. Frankly, Kingdom is a perfect example why you need to see a fair number of episodes before passing judgment on a series, because Jay Kulina is like fingernails on the blackboard in the first episode, but in the next three installments, Jonathan Tucker gets a solid handle on the character, making his irresponsible self-destructiveness sympathetic and sometimes even fun.

Likewise, Kiele Sanchez’s Prince initially only seems to be around to lecture Alvey regarding money issues as Navy St.’s business manager, but she develops in insightful ways, particularly with respects to the older Kulina siblings. There is an understanding she probably has more in common with the Kulina brothers, but finds herself a maternal role, by virtue of her relationship with the father. Unfortunately, Nick Jonas’s moody energy-killing brooding is still pretty boring, but there is time to figure out something better for Nate to do.

Frankly, given Prince’s proactive nature and the surprisingly high ratio of interpersonal drama to MMA, Kingdom appears to be targeting women as much as men. There are certainly plenty of shirtless guys, but there is also some well staged MMA sequences and the occasional bit of female nudity, in order to establish its cable-satellite edginess.

Not surprisingly, as a blend of MMA and family melodrama, Kingdom is somewhat uneven, but briskly watchable, firmly held together by Grillo’s grizzled coolness. At risk of abusing metaphors, you might argue it wins a split decision. Sort of a slightly guilty pleasure for fans of the sport, Kingdom premieres this Wednesday (10/8) on DirecTV’s Audience Network.