'Masters of the Air' Sees Most Watched Apple TV+ Launch to Date

[Bonte]

It's a great show, I really love it.

A lot of Apple TV+ shows are overly clean and descend into mediocre young adult wannabes. Masters of the Air is luckily an exception to the rule, maybe overdid it a bit on the colorgrading but that's about it.

 

[philstubbington]

Lots of filming locations close to me in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire in the UK. I look forward to spotting them - and the unrealistic journey times between one and the next 😂.

 

[Bonte]

I find this pretty surprising and funny since I skipped over this show after literally JUST getting back into watching AppleTV+. But I was watching Monarch. WW2 shows are kinda boring to me. To each their own I guess. I might give it a watch after I finish Monarch, which started kinda horrible but is getting better as of episode 3

Good to hear, i quit Monarch before episode 3, i will try again.

Masters of the Air has some of the best air-action i have ever seen regarding WWII bombers. It looks realistic and the CGI isn't in your face compared to the Marvel atrocities of late. The personal stories are nice but forgettable and not the focus of the series.

 

[Makosuke]

Curious. I wonder how much longer WWII dramas will be relevant? We’re approaching a time when no one from the war era survives. I’m a little surprised that the demand for WWII related content continues to draw so much demand.

Given all the content made about the Roman Empire as an example, I'd say at least 1500 years.

Even if we're only going for wars involving the United States, there has been a slow but steady stream of Civil War movies extending at least 150 years after the end of that war, and the revolutionary war movie here and there for 250 years.

To be fair, however, people still making movies about a time period does not necessarily make it "relevant", only "popular" or "of interest"--Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter takes place during the Civil War, but it's not exactly what you'd call relevant.

That said, I'd argue Civil War and Revolutionary War stories are still relevant in many ways even though no one involved in either has been alive for a long time, so there's no real reason WWII is any different.

An interesting aside: Gone with the Wind was released closer to the end of the Civil War than this series was to the end of WWII.

 

[nikaru]

Good productions attract new customers to try the service. Large library of content for every taste is what keeps customers subscribed to the service.

 

[clv101]

I've watched it, it's good but not great. Severance and Silo were much better.

 

[HMFIC03]

To me, the standout showcase of the series thus far is the audio. Those here that say they watched and didn’t fully enjoy may not have had a good sound setup. If they have capable atmos AirPods they should try that via Apple TV vs their $100 soundbar from 2015. It’s definitely a series where full immersion of audio and picture in aerial combats is the major draw. — sad to hear about Tom Hank’s here..hope it’s not true

 

[timber]

I have been following the show as I have great interest in both WW2 and the air part.

It's not over yet so it may improve (and it has been improving) but while a pretty good show it isn't Band of Brothers good (which by episode 2 already reaches legend level).

Everything could be improved, even the production and CGI which I always taught they would nail.

The air combat part is better and worse than I expected. It's better because until now I think it's doing justice to the sacrifices of those that participated. The only thing that doesn't completely come through is how much "boring" flying would be done before a few minutes of terror. The worse part is the visuals which look like there just wasn't enough money and everything looks a bit too shiny and polished. Still, the combat is definitely a win so far.

 

[Avatar74]

To me, the standout showcase of the series thus far is the audio. Those here that say they watched and didn’t fully enjoy may not have had a good sound setup. If they have capable atmos AirPods they should try that via Apple TV vs their $100 soundbar from 2015. It’s definitely a series where full immersion of audio and picture in aerial combats is the major draw. — sad to hear about Tom Hank’s here..hope it’s not true

It's not the audio setup...

I have Tannoy studio monitors (200 watts active bi-amplified each) connected to a Focusrite 18i20 interface with a 24/192 DAC (I'm sitting at a desk with over $50,000 of studio equipment). These speakers have a flatter frequency response than my $6000 KEF full-range theater speakers (1000W total). I use them for mixing and mastering original content.

I also have a licensing agreement with Dolby Laboratories (I can produce mixes that meet their fidelity criteria and carry their logo).

The sound mix for Masters is not layered enough (the cockpit scenes take you out of the moment because there's barely enough foley; it just sounds like guys in a studio with a chroma keyed backdrop, heavily noise gated to eliminate too much room tone for a studio) nor is it mastered correctly... dialogue needs to be mixed at least 2-3dB higher so that it is just atop the foley, not over-emphasized but not underneath it either.

 

[Steve121178]

Curious. I wonder how much longer WWII dramas will be relevant? We’re approaching a time when no one from the war era survives. I’m a little surprised that the demand for WWII related content continues to draw so much demand.

I visit Normandy often as it's just across the English channel and it's always full of tourists keen to learn and visit important D-Day locations. I suggest you do the same sometime.

As for Masters of the Air, it's very meh. The last episode was very good but the rest of the series has just been like a poor mans extended version of Memphis Belle. Very disappointing.

Band of Brothers is still the benchmark WW2 mini-series.

 

[Bigkool2inSC]

waiting on season finale so i can watch all the episodes as quickly as possible over a couple of days time.

 

[BillGates1969]

My grandfather and his brother were killed by Nazi's September 29, 1943 in Naples, Italy. My dad picked him out of a pile of dead bodies when he was 13. There's a small monument to the people they killed that day in Naples.. the ages of the killed ranged from a little boy to an old lady. Anything WWII needs to be remembered especially when animals are flying that Nazi flag here in the USA nowadays.

My grandfather was also killed in the war in Naples (my mother is from there). I wonder if it was the same time. Apparently from what I remember being told, either he was killed in a bomb shelter or on the way to one. Unfortunately, my mother and her brother have now passed away too, but I will investigate further from my Italian cousins who still live in the Napoli area.

 

[rikki_t]

I live in Northamptonshire UK, were many air bases locally, Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable were stationed fairly locally, the remains of these airbases are still visible even today, my father was in the RAF, was posted to the same location Glen Miller once played for the American servicemen stationed over here, think there is still value in this stuff.

 

[JippaLippa]

B-17 bomber

 

[Avatar74]

Paging Silas Warner...

 

[Rychiar]

Of course “TV-MA” like 95% of their content. Not much family friendly programming.

Good lol

 

[victorvictoria]

Curious. I wonder how much longer WWII dramas will be relevant? We’re approaching a time when no one from the war era survives. I’m a little surprised that the demand for WWII related content continues to draw so much demand.

Well, Ken Burns produced a miniseries called "The Civil War" in 1990. Doubt anyone from that conflict era was alive at that time. Prime Video aired the miniseries "Grant" in 2020. Then there was one of the finest movies of 2022, "All Quiet on the Western Front," which won 4 academy awards. Apple also produced a war series called "Napoleon" this year.

WWI, WWII and our Civil War, along with countless others will remain relevant as long as humanity's bloodlust for slaughter remains relevant. And Right This Very Moment, soldiers are murdering innocents all over Europe, Asia, Africa and South America.

"Relevant" is what needs to be defined. It doesn't mean "relevant to me." It means important in the perspective of how past events inform society's current activities. It isn't irrelevant because one person (you) isn't interested in it.

 

[Steve121178]

Of course “TV-MA” like 95% of their content. Not much family friendly programming.

That's a good thing. Not everyone wants to watch watered down family friendly tripe. It's also very hard to make a realistic WW2 mini series that doesn't include elements of battle & fighting. It wasn't a tickling contest...

 

[randyhudson]

I know most people laughed at Apple TV+ when it was first announced (me included), but it seems like Apple has built up a pretty good library

This is the funniest post I've seen on MR 😂

 

[randyhudson]

You know it's Apple TV+ from the poor exposure

 

[MauiPa]

Maybe I'm the only one who hates this genre, but, ya, I really do. I call it "cheap war crap"

 

[swm]

well, it doesn’t even come near to pacific, not to mention band of brothers.
the show literally has no character development.
looks good, but it’s more like an action flick drama, absolutely not up to the level of its predecessors

 

[k1121j]

so far i love it... Still not sure id pay 9.99 for a subscription as a standalone the quantity of content is just not there yet. The quality is in my opinion.

 

[dgdosen]

Apple is going to Apple. They want to gin up interest in their show.

I watched a couple of episodes and rate it just below the Pacific Band of Brothers. That doesn't make it bad, but also doesn't make super compelling. There were so many interesting aspects of the 8th AF - The Masters of the Air book was a page turner - but much of that isn't covered in the show. So blame the show runners? I mean, how did a bicycle race make it, but more description on the bomb sight not?

 

[Codeseven]

My father was also in WW2, served on a Destroyer in the Pacific and was involved in many of the major island battles including bombarding Iwo Jima and picking up what was left of Marine bodies as they got washed out from the beach.

Being the 3rd in the trilogy, I think Masters rates last. It’s ‘ok‘, the air battle scenes are great but as someone else pointed out, unlike Bob or Pacific, there is very little character development so very little reason to become interested in following any of them. And I don't know if it’s just me or my sound setup but the lead characters voice seems fake and dubbed in. When he is raising his voice in the cockpit during battle it’s believable and normal, but otherwise just seems fake.