OK, this is without a doubt my favorite television series of all-time, and the grand finale was devastatingly bittersweet...the cast was always stellar, and I loved the additions to Season 4 especially Colleen Flynn, Finn Carter and Christine Elise. To me, this last season was Karen's story (Christine Elise deserved an Emmy!): her search for K.C. ended with the two of them finally meeting up again after several years, taking a short walk and making amends??? One of K.C.'s final lines was "I'm not really good at writing letters!", then she slipped away in her limo! OK, when I was a kid and watched it live, I had hope for the two of them, thinking that K.C.'s hidden meaning in her anti-pen pal stance was that Karen could visit or live with her (I think she was back in the Far East) BUT upon watching it again on DVD, I was totally destroyed by their ending, K.C. leaving Karen on the curb like that for McMurphy to take care of when she returned from The Wall with her young daughter. Marg Helgenberger, who along with Dana Delany were two extraordinary actresses leading a superb cast...IDK why I see her playing it both ways: that last scene, she closed the limo door when it should have been left open for Karen to maybe leave with her, or they could have waited for McM to return (I'm sure she would have a few choice words to say to K.C. if she was indeed abandoning Karen again! That truly sad last look on Karen's face said it all! I know K.C. was a cold, ruthless, selfish woman at times and I loved her despite those flaws. I guess I expected more of a resolution either way! Are they going to now be a part of one another's lives (maybe not in that moment but in the future?) or was this short little reunion all there was left for both of them? Did anyone else feel hopeful and then hopeless about the two Karens??? I want to believe there was hope! I can't watch it again for a while!

After watching the pilot episode I found, as a real life combat veteran of Vietnam, that the portrayals were propagandistic to the point of buffoonery, and could not bear to subject myself to further abuse. As example, "Chou Om" does not mean hello, it means "hello, sir" The proper term (used within the context of the nurses/donut dollies), would be "Chou Ba".Much, much, worse was the portrayal of Combat Infantrymen, who apparently head straight from the helicopter pad to the USO, still filthy and armed to the teeth. This would have been impossible in real life, as the first thing you did when returning from the field was clean and store your weapons/field gear. Not to mention that no Infantryman would want to go anywhere, let alone a place where they are certain to encounter "round eye women", without a bath and a change into clean fatigues. There was more of the same (directed at Nurses/ USO workers)but why belabor the point? If the pilot episode was any guide, this series bore as much resemblance to reality as the movie "Starship Troopers" did to the RAH book of the same name. Thumbs down from someone who was actually there.

I just purchased the first two seasons on DVD. While some of the production values are dated, the character development and acting have stood the test of time. I grew up watching the Vietnam War (at least what we were allowed to see) on television. I've worked and been friends with several Vietnam era veterans and the stories they told, when they would talk about it, are similar to the plot lines in this series. The nurses who served there spoke and the writers and actors took their stories to heart.True to war, the characters are all casualties, emotionally/physically, coming to grips with violence. I cried when Cherry's character spoke out at the sumptuous banquet about how a few hours earlier, the soldiers she visited at a fire camp dined on C rations and had to dig a hole because there were no latrines.A decade after Saigon was evacuated, this show honored the men and women who lost their innocence 10 thousand miles from home. War is inherently evil, but these teen-aged warriors who were drafted to fight deserve to be honored for their sacrifices. China Beach does that without become preachy.For a network series to broach subjects such as drug addiction, PTSD &C. at the time this show first aired was remarkable. With the glut of "reality" programming on TV these days, shows like this make me nostalgic for China Beach, Homicide and other programs where character/plot development made for must-see TV. Buy this series on DVD!

Probably the finest drama series made, superbly scripted, acted to the highest of standards and rivals the Godfather trilogy for impact on the senses. Its just tragic and to the eternal shame of all those involved that most people have never heard of it let alone seen it. This series deserves and i think its fan base demands a much wider audience. If you get to see it, enjoy it, fall in love with cast members and tell others. Dana Delany, surely one of the best actresses Hollywood has seen and under valued, Marg Hellenberger now achieving a status on TV with the CSI series, Jeff Kober who still sends a shiver down my spine,Robert Picardo whose been in everything but probably will be remembered for his classic Dr roles.Just look through the cast list and take your choice of actors and actresses who gave 100 % all the time.