John Leonard of New York magazine also commended the miniseries, stating that though the documentary covers areas of the subject that have already been tackled in other World War II documentaries, "it's the nuanced, retrospective witness that makes the series so affecting, the testimonies of survivors who remember both who it is they used to be and the 408,000 fellow Americans who didn't make it." Brian Lowry, writing for Variety, praised the miniseries as "a major victory for PBS", stating that it is "[a] monumental undertaking filled with moments of tremendous poignancy", though he noted that "The most significant quibble here is structural.... just when some stories begin to get interesting, that character is left, only to be returned to hours (and given the broadcast pattern, nights) later." Robert Koehler, another critic for Variety, found fault in the miniseries focusing mainly on the United States' role in World War II, emphasizing that it was unable to explore the various other conflicts in the war in depth such as the Japanese invasion of East and Southeast Asia and Operation Barbarossa. Alessandra Stanley, writing for the New York Times, gave the series a mixed review, praising it as a "respectful, moving and meticulously illustrated anthology of small-town lives turned upside down by what one elderly veteran calls 'a necessary war,'" while also faulting it for "view[ing] the Second World War as a mostly domestic concern" in which "the London blitz, Stalingrad, Bergen-Belsen and the Warsaw uprising are parentheses." Slate's Beverly Gage echoed these thoughts saying "it's rousing and meaningful and not technically inaccurate, but not exactly the whole truth." Jonathan Storm of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, "Once-in-a-lifetime viewing." Keith David received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his narration of the series. Controversy The War came under fire after previews during the editing process indicated no mention of the contributions of Hispanics to the war effort, whose representation in the war itself is estimated at up to half a million people; complaints followed later as to omissions of Hispanic and Native American contributions and those of women in uniform. Originally the premiere was scheduled for September 16, 2007; the fact that this date is both Mexican Independence Day and the start of U.S. observance of National Hispanic Heritage Month drew additional fire from its detractors, and the initial airdate was later moved to September 23, 2007, with no comment