In 2001, HBO delivered its landmark mini-series Band of Brothers, creating far more than a television show. Along with Saving Private Ryan in 1998, the series can be held responsible for a cultural re-awakening of appreciation for the American soldier during World War II.

Based on best-selling author Steven Ambrose's novel of the same name, produced by Saving Private Ryan's Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, the series would be the most expensive television production ever undertaken, topping $125 million.

The series follows the 101st Airborne Division from its green beginnings in 1942 at Ft. Toccoa, Georgia, all the way to Hilter's Alpine retreat in Austria in 1945. In between are the operations of Overlord and Market-Garden, as well as the fabled Battle of the Bulge.

The focus of the mini-series is 'Easy Company', one of many units in the 101st Airborne comprised of young, naive, and often simple men who heeded the call of their country and went off to war, and thus the history books. With battle scenes that are adrenaline-pumping and terrifying, Band of Brothers is unequaled in its recreation of war. At the same time, the major backbone of the series is its characters, and how they all deal with learning to be soldiers, coping with battle horrors, overcoming obstacles, enduring the unendurable, and then reconciling themselves with peacetime.

Easily a must-see for any war movie fan, Band of Brothers is also clearly educational, showing the innocence and clarity of the generation that fought World War II, especially if one compares the series with HBO's other offering, the modern-day Generation Kill.