Posted on 04/19/2008 6:50:30 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
“John Adams” is just about the best things to come out of television in recent years. I’m planning on buying the DVDs when it comes out.
It was clear in the series that Washington served two terms, and refused a third. The LA Slimes made the error.
My husband and I have really enjoyed the show.
The sets and clothing are beautiful, the acting superb, and the the story interesting.
It treats the audience like they actually have a brain.
The series got it right. Times was wrong. In fact, Abigail Adams (in the series) says: “TO step down after two terms when he could have served for the rest of his life. General Washington is an extraordinary man.”
The series has been great, if anything, they could have made it 1.5 times its current length and done an even better job.
But don’t diss a wonderful show (McCullough spoke at Hillsdale, we should be proud he had his book made into a series) because the LA Times writer is a moron or misunderstands that there WERE protests against Washington during his term of office.
“John Adams” is just about the best things to come out of television in recent years. I’m planning on buying the DVDs when it comes out.
That is good to hear. I hope other media would take the hint and do more of this stuff. I don't subscribe to HBO, but I will order the DVD's
I am about a 1/4 of the way through the book. It is awesome reading. After I finish the book, I can’t wait to watch the mini-series on DVD.
To me, it’s all like spilled milk off a duck’s back.
Series comes out on DVD on June 10. It has been excellent.
I never seen milk spilled on a duck, but I have seen a bunny with a pancake on its head.
He did
I know many here loved it but I found it too peppered with modern politically correct sensibilities especailly of course about slavery......taking liberty with the facts to sate the neverending white urge.
Giametti....I love him but not as this angst ridden hyper-Adams.
Laura Linney.....pretty in a healthy rosy cheeked way and a decent actress but so self righteous and strident and earnest....I can’t take it.
The English who plays Jefferson is great.
As is the Franklin player.....Tom something....spectacular he is.
Seems like most recent mainstream views of history are overshadowed by slavery - VDHansen, McPherson, and others. Probably the influence of leftist ideaology.
The John Adams series has been excellent. Thomas Jefferson played a prominent role in the series, and is a compelling character for me, as a conservative.
IMHO the dumb arse LA Slimes got it wrong about HBO — I have subscribed to it for years, and I like it. The series, “Rome”, which ended some months back, was just excellent, and was a history lesson as well. And Deadwood was just one of the best series ever (they didn’t sugarcoat early life in the West).
Not today. If you feel like he served 1 term you are correct and not only that you are very special as well.
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My wife and I rarely watch the same shows, but we’ve held on to HBO to catch this excellent series and look forward to it every week. The show is wonderful. It puts a lot of the facts of history into context.
Buying the DVD’s as gifts for non-HBO types is a great idea.
How the LA times blew a simple fact like this is stunning, even for them. She clearly didn’t know the history, and wasn’t paying much attention to the show. Perhaps she didn’t even watch it, but just gathered enough facts to write the article from the internet.
Wow, that’s an ignorant post.
I quote a client of John Adams, who was successfully defended from a charge of fathering an illegitimate child:
“I F___ed once but minded my pullbacks. I swear I did not get her with child.”
The F word has been around for quite a long time. THe reason they used those curses is because Deadwood was famous for the profanity of its residents. Keep in mind that not all the characters swore at all or so profusely. That you let it bother you says more about you than the show.
As for MF, it probably started around that time or just a bit later, so that may have been a liberty taken by the show but it might not have been.
Also, you should look into the fact that Calamity Jane was well-known for her filthy mouth.
As for it being juvenile, it was hailed for its writing, acting and production.
While I’m not sure about what facts you speak of, Abigail Adams in particular was known for pretty strong abolitionist views. John wasn’t (and I think you see this in the show) as ardent but did not believe slavery should continue.
Seeing as how slavery and the treatment of ‘negroes’ as a race was from the founding of our Republic an important issue, I fail to see how too much attention to be given to it.
That’s not a white urge, that’s just the urge that the Laurenses (Father and son,) George Washington and Thomas Jefferson among others felt. To say nothing of the feelings of Lafayette on the matter of abolition and the equality of blacks in American society.
It was one of Thomas Jefferson’s main preoccupations, his hypocritically paternalistic views towards blacks aside (whereas Washington felt the condition of enslavement made blacks ‘seem’ inferior in certain respects.) It is not for nothing that he submitted abolitionist bills when part of the VA legislature and wrote a stridently anti-slavery passage as part of the original draft of the Constitution.
Hell, John Adams son is famous for taking on the case of Cinque and others on the Amistad, in addition to his already having been President.
I’m not one who has tolerance for current black racism towards whites and I think you may have seen this in the past. But it would be almost impossible to
BTW, 1/4 of the final numbers of the Continental Army were black troops and the Battle of Yorktown saw a disproportionate number of blacks killed (both American and those fighting for the British-—both for their freedom.) They actually had to pass a bill forcing some slaveowners (only about 8, unfortunately) to free slaves they had promised freedom to if they enlisted in the fight against the British.
I just finished reading AJ Langguth’s PAtriots but also the book Imperfect God about Washington, his slaves and his evolving attitude towards blacks and slavery. BTW, Washington felt anyone, no matter the religion (or lack of,) should be able to live and be citizens, so long as they followed the law of the land (stated this in a letter to the congregation of a synagogue.)
Many of the founders rightly pointed out that the continuation of slavery after Independence would not only be a great stain upon the honor of the country and its founding ideals but would lead to a conflict between the states that could dissolve the union and bring a destructive end to the cause of liberty as embodied in the American experiment.
And yes, Tom Wilkinson is quite good in most of what he does.
Agreed on just about all points.
I find it sad that the Democrats attempt to trace their roots to Jefferson, who represents almost nothing I can think of, other than some general hostility to ‘monied’ interests (but not really for the same reasons.)
As I watched the series and went back to re-read and discover Jefferson anew, I found myself thinking: “I am a Jeffersonian Anti-Federalist Republican.” He was wrong on the ability of blacks to be a part of the US but he was absolutely always right about slavery and that it needed to be ended. He also was right, I believe, about the urban, monied interests and that the independent farmer (or small business person for contemporary persons, I think) is the bulwark of freedom. It is interesting just how vigorously he opposed national debt and the formation of a National Bank. IN this he sounds very much like a Rothbard or Doctor Paul (or Greenspan before he sold out.)
Unfortunately, Hamilton lost the battle but seemingly won the war when it comes to interpretations of the Constitution and the role of the State, especially the Federal government, in our society and economy.
About Stephen Dillane (who plays Jefferson) he is apparently a new favorite of the ladies but I have found his portrayal MOST compelling because I think sometimes we forget the individuality of the American Gods. Dillane is just doing a fabulous job and I’ve never seen Jefferson or anyone of his stature, really, played this way. It’s one of the most unique characters and probably somewhat closer to the real Jefferson than what we’ve seen before, though I don’t have any videotape on hand, unfortunately.
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