It would be a pity if an inane comment from Tom Hanks in Time regarding The Pacific caused people to dismiss the HBO miniseries as nothing but Hollywood-style, “politically correct” revisionist history. In fact, if the first episode is any indication, the series promises to be another Band of Brothers, Hanks’ earlier program for HBO. Hollywood makes people stupid on occasion, but if they are fundamentally decent and patriotic — and Hanks is — they can still make riveting, history-based drama.

As for me, I’ll have to wait for it to hit Netflix. Looking forward to it.