# Tour of Duty (1987)

> A U.S. Army platoon endures the trials of fighting in the Vietnam War.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/10325

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 58
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: war, drama
- Created by: L. Travis Clark, Steve Duncan
- Network: CBS
- Cast: Terence Knox, Stephen Caffrey, Miguel A. Núñez Jr., Kim Delaney, Stan Foster, Joshua Maurer, Tony Becker, Ramón Franco
- TMDB rating: 8.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092468/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: earnest, weary, gritty, melancholic, intense

## What critics say

Viewers broadly regard Tour of Duty as a thoughtful, character-driven portrayal of an infantry platoon in Vietnam, admired for its realism and its attention to the men's personal lives.

## Synopsis

Tour of Duty (1987-1990) is a American network war drama created by L. Travis Clark and Steve Duncan for CBS. Following a U.S. Army platoon serving in the field during the Vietnam War, the series centers on Sergeant Clayton 'Zeke' Anderson (Terence Knox), the steady veteran who holds his men together, alongside Lieutenant Myron Goldman (Stephen Caffrey), Marcus Taylor (Miguel A. Núñez Jr.), and Alex Devlin (Kim Delaney). Their engine is simple and grinding: survive each patrol, keep the platoon functioning, and carry the weight of orders that rarely make sense on the ground. Each episode mixes firefights and jungle patrols with the rest periods on base, where personal histories, friendships, and frictions come into focus. Across three seasons the show moves from field-heavy realism to stories about the war's home-front consequences. The tone is earnest and weary, with a grounded, character-first atmosphere that leans on camaraderie and grief. Fans of Band of Brothers, Platoon, and China Beach will find resonance in its portrait of soldiers caught between duty and exhaustion, set in 1960s Vietnam.

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