History YMMV / BandOfBrothers

* NarmCharm: Is it a little much that the last we see of these bonafide, All-American war heroes is them laughing and playing ''baseball'', America's pastime, as Winters tells the audience in voiceover about their lives after the war? Yes. After everything we just watched them go through, is it heartwarming af to see them having such wholesome fun? Yes.

* RetroactiveRecognition: The series features a ''ton'' of actors who weren't well known at the time, but went on to great careers of their own. These days, it can be hard to believe that at the time, the biggest name in the cast was Creator/DavidSchwimmer.

** Sobel could be considered one in RealLife, according to Website/TheOtherWiki. He was a DrillSergeantNasty who proved himself wholly incompetent in the field, but eventually tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in the temple. The bullet severed both optic nerves, permanently blinding him before exiting the other temple, and he lived for another twenty years. Worse yet, when he finally did die, no one came to his funeral. No one from Easy Company, not his ex-wife, and none of his children. The only person to show him any concern is Guarnere, who pays his membership dues into a veterans group composed of Easy Company vets, but otherwise has nothing to do with the man. Even worse is the manner of his death: malnutrition in a VA assisted-living facility. The reason he was buried without a service is because the VA didn't actually contact his children until after he was buried.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: It doesn't get much more villainous than original recipe Nazis, but in this series they're not given any individual characterization; they're just the opposing force in the war. Captain Sobel, on the other hand, is a grade-A HateSink despite being Easy Company's commanding officer. He revokes weekend pass for the entire company for a few minor uniform infractions, he makes one soldier repeat a 12-mile march for the crime of ''drinking from his canteen,'' he interrupts a spaghetti dinner to make the company run Currahee (a 6 mile trail up and down a mountain) with full stomachs, causing many of them to vomit, and he tries to impose Article 15 punishment on Winters for the crime of not reporting when summoned, despite the fact that Winters never received the message. Winters finally has enough of his shit and requests trial by court martial, leaving Sobel gobsmacked.

** Norman Dike is thought of as cowardly and lazy given how many losses Easy Company suffered under his leadership. But many real life figures like to point out that Dike was essentially thrust into a position he was not prepared for -- and his reaction is an entirely human one. But then again, the men's disdain of him is contrasted with someone like Lt Peacock -- who was liked despite his ineptitude because he was a NiceGuy -- and Lt Jones, who was in a similar position but earned the respect of the men quickly. The scene where Dike talks to Lipton about personal things can be read as Dike either trying to get to know his men, or trying to look like he is. The show also has Dike 'break' under pressure during an attack, when that appeared to be a mistake in research, and instead of freezing under fire, he was actually severely wounded.

** Skip Muck and Don Malarkey were friends with Frederick "Fritz" Niland, a sergeant from another unit in the 101st and the inspiration for the title character in ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan''. The book notes that both men were with Fritz when he learned of his brothers' deaths and that he was consequently being sent home; no mention of Fritz or this incident are in the series.

* In "Crossroads", when Easy Company makes its final charge against the German positions, Winters reaches the embankment well ahead of the rest of the men due to a combination of a smoke grenade with an unexpectedly long fuse and a rigid interpretation of the order to, "Go on the red smoke." In reality, Winters simply ran so fast that he outpaced everyone else.

* GeniusBonus: Approaching Bertchesgarten, Webster is seen writing in his journal. His journals were a large source of the information that was used by Ambrose to write ''Band Of Brothers''.

** The general reaction to Creator/DavidSchwimmer being cast as Sobel was WhatTheHellCastingAgency -- which went away within a few minutes of Sobel's first scene.

* DracoInLeatherPants: To a lesser extent, Sobel of all people. Despite his jerkass tendencies and incompetence, he's often given some admiration for his training abilities, even by the vets who served under him who attributed it to their survival. This despite the fact that any competent drill instructor could have done just as good a job at it, while not severely compromising the morale and fighting ability of their unit to the point where every single NCO up and mutinies just before a major offensive as Sobel did. It may help that in a fit of depression, he tried to kill himself later in life, but missed and ended up [[AlasPoorScrappy blinding himself for the last 20 years of his life.]]

** George Luz was one in real life too ([[spoiler:since he had 1600 people attending his funeral]]). Since he provides about 85% of the funny moments, it's understandable.

** Skip Muck is beloved by female fans too. Quite impressive for a supporting character who only has minimal lines [[spoiler: and is killed off in the seventh episode]]. According to Malarkey's book, he was quite the NiceGuy in real life too.