'John Adams' HBO Miniseries (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

However, it can cause forms of mental illnesses.

 

[ScottH]

I'm very much enjoying this well-done miniseries. My one complaint though, is how quickly and suddenly the timeline seems to jump ahead. For example, last week's episode (Unite or Die) when Adams becomes president, the graphic states it is 1790 at the start of the episode. By the end of the episode, Adams is president. Since he didn't become president until 1797, that means 7 years passed by in that one episode. I know it's been that way since the beginning of the series, and there are a lot of years to cover, but it seems perhaps the series would have benefited from more episodes.

 

[John Burton]

I've loved this mini-series, but if I had one complaint, it would be the way it is shot and directed. The camera moves and angles make me nuts! Otherwise, great job HBO.
When John Adams ends, I was going to re-watch Band of Brothers, but knowing it is coming out in HD, I'll wait

 

[Kevin Hewell]

I understand a bit about the jumping about of time, but this is about John Adams' life, so every thing else falls to the way-side.

I loved how they played the Adams/Jefferson split. Very subtle. How Abigail was much more upset about all the propaganda thrown at him while John tried to keep a cool head and keep us out of war with France, which he did, at, seeming, the cost of his office, was played very well.

But I will say the Aliens and Sedition Act was one of the greatest offenses to the Constitution except the present administration.

While Adams and Jefferson reconciled later in life, Abigail hated him till she died.

 

[Marty M]

I think one of the reasons that 7 years passed is that this is that John Adams was Vice President and as shown in that episode he didn't have much to do as Vice President and he probably didn't write much about this time of his life.

 

[Jim Rankin]

After watching the series finale - just have to say another rewarding and well done program from HBO.

While the finale was fairly sad, I guess it's inevitable when someone lives to be as old as John Adams did to experience the heartbreak that he did.

I guess when it comes down to it, whether history looks favorably or not upon his presidency, one thing that I took from this was that he was a true patriot and always had the country's best interest at heart.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

I think a surprising number of politicians do have the country's best interests at heart. It's just a really difficult thing to know how to get there.

I'm glad to hear folks liked the show. I saved them all up for a later viewing.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Just finished watching Peacefield just moments ago.

Words are difficult. When you need to keep reminding yourself
that you are watching actors then you know that you are witnessing
something extraordinary.

I'm very happy that I was persuaded to watch this series. It is
one of the very best I have ever seen for the sheer emotion it
has drawn out of me.

Really loved the cinematography. I loved the way the camera
recorded its actors from behind chairs, through blades of grass
and curtains. First time I really noticed this sort of style, and I
found it quite welcoming.

I'll be buying this on DVD to savor again in a few years.

 

[todd stone]

I must have missed it somehow, but in episode 2 did they ever explain why the mother inflicted POX on the family on purpose?

 

[Ric Easton]

You end up getting a weak form of smallpox which is easier to beat, than the full blown version. Not sure if it was an actual vaccinre, but many vaccinations work with the same principle. And no, they never explained it in the miniseries.

 

[lukejosephchung]

I'll be buying the DVD set of this miniseries come June, but I'd dearly love to get this on bluray to get the full effect of the gorgeous cinematography!!!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

As far as I could tell, it was simply a form of vaccination in
a similar manner that we are given today.

 

[Marty M]

I just purchased the soundtrack to this show. It helps me bring back my memories of this great mini-series.

 

[todbnla]

Now that the series is complete, I really enjoyed it and thought all of the actors did a great job including Paul. Sad to say there is not much else on HBO I watch unless the its the stray Soprano rerun, anything new coming down their pipeline?

 

[JonZ]

1. 12 Miles Of Bad Road (Southern Rich family drama w/ Lily Tomlin)
2. True Blood (Vampire series w/ Anna Paquin)Was supposed to be out already, but strike delayed. Debuts in Sept.
3. Another season of Entourage
4. Generation Kill (7 episode series about Iraq War by the creators of The Wire) (July I think)
5. I dont know the name but basically the show is Sex in the City in Miami with a latin cast.
6. Im wondering if Clint Eastwoods 2 WWII films have put the hold on The Pacific. It was supposed to be moving foward but I havent heard anythying in over a year about it.

 

[RAF]

Going in the opposite direction as far as television offerings are concerned, I highly recommend The Adams Chronicles which was just released to DVD this month. This Peabody and Emmy winning (4 statues) 13 hour miniseries from PBS was one of the highlights of television when released in 1976 during our BiCentennial. It does an excellent job of covering the Adams Family from Revolutionary times through the civil war and beyond. As much as I enjoyed the recently concluded series on HBO I can't help but think that The Adams Chronicles would be a nice complement to the current offering, especially for those who enjoy history and didn't happen to view the series live over 30 years ago.

Like I said, highly recommended if you fit the profile.

 

[Garrett Adams]

Read somewhere earlier this year they were filming The Pacific and their base of operation is in Australia.

 

[Jeff Pounds]

Yes... production is well underway.

IMDB already has a fairly extensive cast list.

One interesting note is that one of the main "characters" of The Pacific will be Marine Eugene Sledge, who wrote home extenisvely during his campaign through the Pacfic.

This is notable because if you watched Ken Burns' The War earlier this year, Sledge and his letters home were featured prominently.

Actor Joseph Mazello (former child star of Jurassic Park) is playing Sledge.

 

[JonZ]

Seems 12 Miles of Bad Road has been cancalled.

They produced 6 episodes and decided not to air the show.

At 3.5 mil a episode.... that could have almost paid for 1/2 a season of Deadwood

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I second the recommendation of The Adams Chronicles. I loved it 30 years ago and watched the whole thing again on DVD over the Memorial Day holiday, finishing up on Tuesday night. (It made up for the lack of new series episodes on the networks. )

The DVDs were taken from the master tapes created for the 1986 re-broadcast, which coincided with the centennial of the Statue of Liberty, and which was the last time the series aired. Unfortunately the intervening 10 years had caused even PBS to devote more time to non-program material, so they cut the opening title sequence for the individual episodes, leaving only the stub of the original "150 years" opening and fading out after the page in the Adams Chronicles "book" turns to reveal a portrait of that episode's subject with the title superimposed. Luckily the wonderful main theme does still play over the end credits (although these, too, seem trimmed slightly, to my eye) and over the DVD's menu.

I somehow missed the 1986 rerun, but never forgot that music from the first broadcast, and have often found myself humming or whistling it in the last 32 years.

It is also unfortunate that there are no extras beyond a 12-page booklet, but just getting the episodes themselves after all these years (they've never been offered on home video to the general public, and were only released in a pricey public-performance-allowed set for schools and universites) is a great treat.

I don't have HBO, so I'm looking forward to the release of the John Adams DVDs to join The Adams Chronicles on my bookshelf. (I still have a Circuity City Gift Card left over from Christmas that I plan to use for the HBO series.)

Regards,

Joe