Review of Pensacola: Wings of Gold

Don't know if this really counts as a spoiler or not, since by now I think everyone knows this show was NOT shot in the real Pensacola in Florida, but at Mirimar Naval Air Station, San Diego, California. As a basic military series, yes,it's well crafted, character driven, morally sound, etc. But the real Achilles heel of this show was the less than sincere attempt to pass off San Diego as the Florida town in the title. If you couldn't have it in the real Pensacola, why not just call it MIRIMAR WINGS OF GOLD, or CORONADO WINGS OF GOLD, or just TOP GUN THE SERIES? No military person who went through Pensacola was fooled in the least. They know from experience that the real Pensacola has white sand beaches, no mountains, more magnolia trees than palms, a Pensacola News Journal daily paper (not the Pensacola Post) 6 major area hospitals--the largest being Sacred Heart, Channel 3 News at 10pm (not 11)and at the time of the show---Trader Jon's Bar & Grille, not a Kate's Bucket Bar. As I recall, the local news reported the producers of the show had every intention of shooting there, but at the time the city had no active film commissioner to handle the business arrangements. So to save a lot of location hassle, they shot in San Diego, and sent out a small camera crew to take only exterior location shots of real Pensacola landmarks,like the neon Pensacola Beach sign, the NAS main gate marquee, and the Escambia County Area Transit Bus Depot. Still, I believe putting the Pensacola mask on San Diego did more harm than good for both the show and its target audience. Most Pensacola citizens today are so insulted by the outcome,they don't even want to talk about the show anymore,much less remember it. So a DVD release just might lead to a local boycott of CBS-Eyemark in the City of Five Flags. Strictly IMHO: more location homework should have been done before launching this series.