My excuse is that I don’t own HBO myself. Maybe subconsciously I don’t want you to enjoy something I can’t.

Yes, this post is so damn pointless after the fact, but I felt the need to dedicate a post to what is guaranteed to be the new television series of the year. Or at least even with Archer.

In case you don’t know, The Pacific is the spiritual successor to Band of Brothers, what with the same guys behind it, and it also being set in World War II. You might have guessed that it does not cover the European theater, though. No, this is about Marines killing lots of Japs –three Marine badasses in particular. I thought about paying for HBO for however long it was necessary to watch the series, but then I saw the package was 26 bucks a month; perhaps there are cheaper packages, but that sight alone was enough to make me wait until the Blu-ray. To watch it legally, at least.

I made a post about this upcoming mini-series a long time ago, but now there is finally a (terrible quality) trailer for it. I think it’s pretty obvious that it’s ripped from Australian television. Sure, the footage isn’t much, and is basically a variation of the beginning of Saving Private Ryan, but I guess that shit went down over in the Pacific theater as well — every single time they had to take an island. And there are a lot of islands over there.

There is no reason not to start getting excited about this. It should air within the next 12 months, it’s by the same guys that made Band of Brothers, and apparently the soldiers it centers around were total badasses. HBO won’t allow this to be anything less than phenomenal.

Amazon has this set on sale for $34.99. It is the Gold Box deal of the day, apparently part of an HBO week of sales. If you are reading this on January 29, 2009, you are already too late. I’m sure no one will read this in time. It’s funny, I was going to make a post in a couple of days after I completely finished my most recent and most awesome viewing of this incredible series, so I figure I might as well make it now.

This is probably my fourth run through the show — the first in a number of years — and it’s just as great as I remembered, if not better. Some of the CGI is showing its age, not being helped by the higher resolution of Blu-ray, but such a minor quabble is outweighed by each beautiful shot that is magnified by the sharper picture. “Bastogne”, the last episode I watched, was particularly amazing. The snow, the tree bursts, the ruins of the town — everything looked better than I thought it ever could.

But the real star of the Blu-ray set is the interactive field guide. I actually turn off the interactive part while watching, letting the disc run its automated version of pop-up video that includes brief soldier bios, military information, actual training and propaganda videos from the 40s, and other cool tidbits. Basically, if you don’t own this set, you are not an American. What? You don’t own a Blu-ray player? That only adds to the evidence pointing to you not being American. You have not embraced your inner consumerist yet.

Best Buy is having its (bi?)annual 50% off HBO DVD sets sale. I put the question mark because I only seem to notice the deal around Christmas every year. I hear they do it biannually, though. And since Amazon is pretty much the greatest commercial entity ever created, they are matching Best Buy’s sale with almost every set. That means you can buy The Wire Complete Series for 90 bucks almost any which way you prefer. Other awesome deals that I highly recommend, going by their Amazon prices:

Curb Your Enthusiasm (Seasons 1-6): $15.99 each
Rome (Seasons 1 & 2): $29.99 each
Band of Brothers (Blu-ray): $37.49

Of course, there’s The Sopranos, Entourage, Deadwood, etc. I actually haven’t seen Rome, but I’m not buying it because I’m crossing for my fingers for a Blu-ray release. Gratuitous gore and nudity in HD? Yes, please.