When RvB first came out I remember laughing so hard my face hurt. My children were little then and because I'm probably a bad Dad I let them watch it too, bad language and all. (They both managed to grow up to be decent, caring young adults so I guess I didn't screw it up too badly.) For my part, I think I relate to the show so much because I'm an infantry veteran myself and get frustrated by whiz bang boom action movies that don't get the soldier's life at all, which consists of long periods of boredom punctuated by intense moments of fear and excitement. Somehow RvB manages to capture the real feel of military culture. That's a rare thing.A Literature professor of mine in college--a supremely talented writer herself--was always careful to differentiate between what she considered genuine literature and genre fiction. According to her, the major delineation between the two is that characters grow in literary works while in genre books--SF, horror, mysteries and so on--the characters remain the same throughout and exist solely to advance the plot.If growth and change are essential criteria then I argue RvB is art, the real thing. For example, Tucker's transformation from wisecracking slacker to reluctant leader and brave and resourceful warrior is as growthy-changey as you're likely to experience anywhere.I worry if I go on then I'll give something away, so I won't. I will say the ending is extraordinary and the closing song on the soundtrack, 'Contact Redux (featuring Meredith Hagan)' is amazingly beautiful. (I bought it, too.)Caboose rocks.