History YMMV / BandOfBrothers

* AcceptableTargets: Averted. The show takes on a BlackAndGrayMorality with its approach to World War II. The finale even pulls off a NotSoDifferent moment with a German commander and his men.

* CastTheExpert: Marine Capt. Dale Dye (Colonel Sink), who went on to start the top consultancy in Hollywood for war films. He's had roles in the movies he's worked on since ''{{Film/Platoon}}''.

** Doc Roe has quite the collection of female fans. When people were organising the ten-year-reunion interviews, a huge number of fans were inquiring about his actor Shane Taylor. In the actual interview, they comment that most of them were female. It's discussed in other interviews too, theorising that it must be down to the Cajun accent. It also helps that he's known to be one of the friendliest and affable cast members at reunions and conventions.

-->'''German MP:''' It is the end of my second war.
-->'''Janovec:''' ''Jesus!''

* ActorShipping: Given that the series has only about two female characters with speaking parts, there's rather a lot of same-sex ships. Eion Bailey (Webster) and Ross [=McCall=] (Liebgott) get a bit of it, due to playing the two translators. The most popular ship seems to be Michael Cudlitz and Creator/NealMcDonough, possibly because they were significantly older than most of the cast. Someone in the ten year reunion interviews asked Cudlitz if he could fight Neal [[GuyOnGuyIsHot shirtless]]. James Madio gets shipped with lots of his cast members, after numerous stories about him on set were told. One in particular says he once bit Neal [=McDonough=] on the chest for no real reason.

* ActorShipping: Given that the series has only about two female characters with speaking parts, there's rather a lot of same-sex ships. Eion Bailey (Webster) and Ross [=McCall=] (Liebgott) get a bit of it, due to playing the two translators. The most popular ship seems to be Michael Cudlitz and Neal [=McDonough=], possibly because they were significantly older than most of the cast. Someone in the ten year reunion interviews asked Cudlitz if he could fight Neal [[GuyOnGuyIsHot shirtless]]. James Madio gets shipped with lots of his cast members, after numerous stories about him on set were told. One in particular says he once bit Neal [=McDonough=] on the chest for no real reason.

* BetterOnDVD: Since the miniseries is essentially a ten hour long WarMovie, it's a lot easier to keep track of the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and CallBacks when watching all the episodes back-to-back.

* HateSink: The homicidal I Company replacement from Episode 10 is treated as such in-universe. After drunkenly murdering two Germans and a British officer for not giving him gas, he then shoots Sgt. Grant in the head for trying to apprehend him. Grant would somehow survive, but this did nothing to stop the other members of E Company (including Spears) from collectively beating the replacement within an inch of his life after he had been brought into custody.[[note]]The book further reveals that after being thrown into the stockade, his guard proceeded to brutally beat him further upon hearing about his crimes.[[/note]]

** General reaction to David Schwimmer being cast as Sobel was WhatTheHellCastingAgency -- which went away within a few minutes of Sobel's first scene.
** At the time, most people felt that the only reason Colin Hanks was cast as Lt. Henry Jones was because [[Creator/TomHanks his dad]] was one of the series producers. However, he managed to prove himself as well.

** Both James [=McAvoy=] and Michael Fassbender have small roles in different episodes. Yep, this stars both [[Film/XMenFirstClass Professor X and Magneto]] before they were famous. In a dark bit of coincidental irony, Fassbender can be seen among the soldiers who discover the Concentration Camp. On a lighter note, Fassbender's character doesn't speak German -- when in real life he's half German and fluent in the language. Likewise, Fassbender has said that he went in originally to read for the role of Speirs. If he had gotten the part, his role as Magneto would be all the more hilarious.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: How the Easy Company men come to see Lt Henry Jones after he acquits himself well on his first patrol and the chaos that follows it.

* RewatchBonus:
** Watching the interviews of the real members of Easy Company at the beginning of each episode becomes more interesting after finding out who is who in the final episode.
** As the miniseries has LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, watching the episodes back allows the viewer to pick up little details they may have missed that also double as {{Genius Bonus}}es for those who know about the history. For example, the first episode briefly shows Liebgott shaving another man's head into a mohawk -- the real Liebgott was a barber by trade and helped shave some of the men's heads.

* VindicatedByReruns: While the miniseries was critically acclaimed from the beginning and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries, its viewership was rather low due to [[TooSoon the events of 9/11]] and HBO halting its entire marketing campaign as a result. Reruns and home video releases allowed it to reach more viewers and become one of the most popular miniseries of all time.

** 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.

** The book itself contains several major examples, a lot of which [[AuthorsSavingThrow the TV series actually prunes]]; Ambrose refers to every German tank as a Tiger[[labelnote:In fact]]Tigers were quite rare during the Normandy campaign (5.3% of all German armor committed) and Commonwealth forces faced most of the ones that were there.[[/labelnote]], he says the 101st had 5000 men on D-Day[[labelnote:In fact]]Records show it had less than half that number.[[/labelnote]], he frequently gets various technical details wrong, such as gun caliber, every German unit is described as "crack" or "elite"[[labelnote:In fact]]German records show Easy Company fought mainly regular Wehrmacht forces.[[/labelnote]], both he and Winters criticize Major-General Taylor (the 101st's commander) for being "on holiday" during the Ardennes assault[[labelnote:In fact]]He was on Christmas leave - something he had in common with Eisenhower - and was also attending various Pentagon conferences on how to improve the US Airborne divisions.[[/labelnote]], he claims Easy Company was dropped by inexperienced pilots who had never flown at night and who did not have experience dropping partroopers and who took evasive action to save themselves[[labelnote:In fact]]The troop carriers were all proficient in dropping paratroopers and night flying. No pilot has less than 450 hours. Airborne complaints about the rough drop likely have more to do with the fact that the wind at the [=DZs=] was 20-30 knots (the present day safe limit is 13 knots). Incidentally, the complaints mostly came from the 101st; the 82nd, who had jumped before, actually commended the pilots.[[/labelnote]] and he misidentifies the British colonel rescued by Easy as "O. Dobey"[[labelnote:In fact]]His name was David Dobie.[[/labelnote]]

** Speirs actually appears far less than you'd expect - not really joining Easy Company until Episode 7. You wouldn't know it from the amount of fans he has. It helps that he's a MemeticBadass in and out of universe.

** Out of the actors themselves, James Madio (Frank Perconte) after numerous stories about him on set surfaced. When the ten year reunion interviews were organised, Madio was one of the first interviewed and then got brought back for a second - after the rest of the cast had so many good things to say about him. Likewise while filming, the role of Perconte was originally very small. But Madio's performance impressed them enough to give him more lines - which explains the character's extended screen time in Episode 9.
** Matt Hickey who played Private O'Keefe was surprised that his character was so remembered - despite appearing mostly in the 9th episode and only having one scene in the 10th.

* FriendlyFandoms: Weirdly enough with ''{{Series/Supernatural}}'' of all things. There are more crossover fan fictions than you'd expect. It's even more surprising, given that the only connection the two shows have is that Richard Speight Jr stars in both - and in minor roles at that.

** The opening interviews in the very first episode, "Currahee," feature one of the men saying "Well, our country was attacked. It's different--it wasn't like Korea or Vietnam; we was attacked. And, you know, it was a feeling that, uh, maybe we're just dumb country people, where I come from, but a lot of us volunteered." The day that episode premiered? 9 September 2001. Promos were actually pulled post 9/11 due to the combat violence shown and how it might upset people.

** General reaction to David Schwimmer being cast as Sobel was WhatTheHellCastingAgency - which went away within a few minutes of Sobel's first scene.

** Creator/RossMcCall was mainly known for bit parts in TV shows and small movies beforehand. He credits the miniseries with helping him start a career over in America. In real life many people expressed shock at discovering he was actually British - his FakeAmerican accent being just that convincing.

** Both James [=McAvoy=] and Michael Fassbender have small roles in different episodes. Yep, this stars both [[Film/XMenFirstClass Professor X and Magneto]] before they were famous. In a dark bit of coincidental irony, Fassbender can be seen among the soldiers who discover the Concentration Camp. On a lighter note, Fassbender's character doesn't speak German - when in real life he's half German and fluent in the language. Likewise Fassbender has said that he went in originally to read for the role of Speirs. If he had gotten the part, his role as Magneto would be all the more hilarious.

** Eion Bailey plays a Harvard student of Literature, who went on to become a writer. Fast forward to ''Series/OnceUponATime'' when he's once again playing a writer who carries around a manual typewriter with him - and actually ''is'' a storybook character ([[spoiler:Pinocchio]]). What's more is that the real life Webster wrote a book about sharks and Bailey's character in ''Once Upon A Time'' nearly gets eaten by a whale.

** Ross [=McCall=] (Liebgott) ended up engaged to Jennifer Love Hewitt for a while. Fellow cast member Scott Grimes (Malarkey) had previously starred alongside Hewitt on ''Series/PartyOfFive'' and tried to date her - unsuccessfully. That's not to mention that he lived with Matthew Settle for a while too - who played a RomanticFalseLead of Hewitt in ''Film/IStillKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer''.

* NeverLiveItDown: Eugene Roe is frequently remembered for his OOCIsSeriousBusiness moment where he yells at Winters and Welsh for their WorstAid. You'd think it was his only scene - and it doesn't even happen in his POV episode.

* PeripheryDemographic: Despite being aimed at middle aged men, the series has a huge amount of female fans - some of whom are drawn by the appeal of numerous men in uniform (if the amount of {{Shipping}} videos on Youtube are anything to go by). Additionally it's not uncommon to find younger fans who are interested in the history - and indeed may have been introduced to it by seeing it in school.

** As the miniseries has LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, watching the episodes back allows the viewer to pick up little details they may have missed that also double as {{Genius Bonus}}es for those who know about the history. For example, the first episode briefly shows Liebgott shaving another man's head into a mohawk - the real Liebgott was a barber by trade and helped shave some of the men's heads.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: [[spoiler: Julian's]] death in "Bastogne" would have been more meaningful had they gone with the real life account of how he and Babe had been friends who went through basic training together instead of him being a replacement who was partnered with Babe during the battle. What makes this especially strange is that Babe still says they both promised they would see the other's mother if they were killed - so for all intents and purposes they act as if they were long friends in spite of the throwaway line about [[spoiler:Julian]] being a replacement.
* ToughActToFollow: This miniseries was critically acclaimed and is one of the highest rated shows on IMDB - with fans continuing to grow over the years. A SpiritualSuccessor in ''Series/ThePacific'' - chronicling the exploits in the Pacific Theatre - didn't make as much of an impact.

** The book itself contains several major examples, a lot of which the TV series actually prunes; Ambrose refers to every German tank as a Tiger[[labelnote:In fact]]Tigers were quite rare during the Normandy campaign (5.3% of all German armor committed) and Commonwealth forces faced most of the ones that were there.[[/labelnote]], he says the 101st had 5000 men on D-Day[[labelnote:In fact]]Records show it had less than half that number.[[/labelnote]], he frequently gets various technical details wrong, such as gun caliber, every German unit is described as "crack" or "elite"[[labelnote:In fact]]German records show Easy Company fought mainly regular Wehrmacht forces.[[/labelnote]], both he and Winters criticize Major-General Taylor (the 101st's commander) for being "on holiday" during the Ardennes assault[[labelnote:In fact]]He was on Christmas leave - something he had in common with Eisenhower - and was also attending various Pentagon conferences on how to improve the US Airborne divisions.[[/labelnote]], he claims Easy Company was dropped by inexperienced pilots who had never flown at night and who did not have experience dropping partroopers and who took evasive action to save themselves[[labelnote:In fact]]The troop carriers were all proficient in dropping paratroopers and night flying. No pilot has less than 450 hours. Airborne complaints about the rough drop likely have more to do with the fact that the wind at the [=DZs=] was 20-30 knots (the present day safe limit is 13 knots). Incidentally, the complaints mostly came from the 101st; the 82nd, who had jumped before, actually commended the pilots.[[/labelnote]] and he misidentifies the British colonel rescued by Easy as "O. Dobey"[[labelnote:In fact]]His name was David Dobie.[[/labelnote]]

** The absolutely nonchalant Sherman tank gunman from "Carentan".

** 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.

* HeReallyCanAct:

** David Kenyon Webster. According to Creator/EionBailey, Webster enlisted despite being a Harvard student, out of a sense of duty. He didn't want any special privileges from being a {{WASP}} but still had to endure those taunts anyway. He didn't let that deter him and earned their respect.

* 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 David Schwimmer.

** Creator/JamesMadio was coming off a SoBadItsGood sitcom called ''USA High''. Needless to say people who were used to seeing him as Bobby Lazzarini were pleasantly surprised at his ReasonYouSuckSpeech to O'Keefe in Episode 9.

** Sobel could be considered one in RealLife, according to 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.

** Ross [=McCall=] (Liebgott) ended up engaged to Jennifer Love Hewitt for a while. Fellow cast member Scott Grimes (Malarkey) had previously starred alongside Hewitt on ''Series/PartyOfFive'' and tried to date her - unsuccessfully. That's not to mention that he lived with Matthew Settle for a while too - who played a RomanticFalseLead of Hewitt in ''I Still Know What You Did Last Summer''.

** Ross [=McCall=] (Liebgott) ended up engaged to Jennifer Love Hewitt for a while. Fellow cast member Scott Grimes (Malarkey) had previously starred alongside Hewitt on ''Series/PartyOfFive'' and tried to date her - unsuccessfully. That's not to mention that he lived with Matthew Settle for a while too - who played the love interest of Hewitt on ''I Still Know What You Did Last Summer''.

** Doc Roe has quite the collection of female fans. When people were organising the ten-year-reunion interviews, a huge number of fans were inquiring about his actor Shane Taylor. In the actual interview, they comment that most of them were female. It's discussed in other interviews too, theorising that it must be down to the Cajun accent.

** Creator/DamianLewis's most notable job before getting cast in this was as a ''telemarketer''. Dick Winters became his career defining role.

** Both James [=McAvoy=] and Michael Fassbender have small roles in different episodes. Yep, this stars both [[Film/XMenFirstClass Professor X and Magneto]] before they were famous. In a dark bit of coincidental irony, Fassbender can be seen among the soldiers who discover the Concentration Camp. On a lighter note, Fassbender's character doesn't speak German - when in real life he's half German and fluent in the language.
** Likewise Fassbender has said that he went in originally to read for the role of Speirs. If he had gotten the part, his role as Magneto would be all the more hilarious.

** Ross [=McCall=] (Liebgott) ended up engaged to Jennifer Love Hewitt for a while. Fellow cast member Scott Grimes (Malarkey) had previously starred alongside Hewitt on ''Series/PartyOfFive'' and tried to date her - unsuccessfully.

* RewatchBonus: Watching the interviews of the real members of Easy Company at the beginning of each episode becomes more interesting after finding out who is who in the final episode.

** In the first episode, Muck comments that the men fighting in the Pacific Theater have it easier than them since they'll be on tropical islands with native girls feeding them coconuts. Then ''Series/ThePacific'' came out and showed that the fighting against the Japanese was ''just as bad'' as anything that occurred in Europe.

* AwesomeMusic:

** Liebgott for being the only Jew in the company and having to see what the Germans did to his people.

** In the first episode, Muck comments that the men fighting in the Pacific Theater have it easier than them since they'll be on tropical islands with native girls feeding them coconuts. Then ''Series/ThePacific'' came out and showed that the fighting against the Japanese was ''worse'' than anything that occurred in Europe.