The myriad events and stories of World War II may have already been captured in many films, TV programs, miniseries, and in print in the past 65 years, but unless you were actually there, you've probably never seen it before in HD.
That scenario changed last week (Nov. 15–19) when nearly 2.5 million American viewers saw "WWII in HD" aired for the first time on the History Channel. The week-long programming captured roughly twice as many viewers in its primetime slots as other History Channel fare.
The week-long series featuring mostly color footage that was digitally remastered (most of it actual war footage portrayed in sometimes graphic detail) of the major events leading to eventual Allied victories over Nazi Germany and Japan in the second world war that ended in 1945.
Even among the youngest demo groups who were not born until well after the war ended (albeit the ones most treasured these day by advertisers), the HD series gleaned an average of about 840,000 adults (ages 18–49) and 970,000 (ages 25–54).
The 10-hour miniseries was described by the History Channel as "the first-ever World War II documentary presented in full-immersive HD color" and a "new approach" to war documentary filmmaking—merging genres to create a series that is part feature film and part TV drama series.
The content is expected to be available soon on Blu-ray Disc (1080p) and DVD.
