John Adams HBO TV Show

[StudentForPaul08]

I loved the series. When they read the Declaration out loud I almost cried. Powerful stuff.

 

[muzzled dogg]

show got worse and worse but yeah, the first few are dope

 

[ClayTrainor]

show got worse and worse but yeah, the first few are dope

yea?

I hope i disagree. Im done 4 episodes and 3 to go, and i'm still loving it.

They just finally elected Washinton / Adams president, and the inauguration was so amazing that i nearly teared up.

I really hope you're wrong about the later episodes.

 

[WRellim]

yea?

I hope i disagree. Im done 4 episodes and 3 to go, and i'm still loving it.

They just finally elected Washinton / Adams president, and the inauguration was so amazing that i nearly teared up.

I really hope you're wrong about the later episodes.

It's a matter of perspective I think.

Obviously the later episodes are a bit "darker" and all -- the Revolution is over and it becomes more about governing and then the later part of his life and all.

On first viewing I didn't like the later episodes... on second and third, they have started to grow on me. The "Revolution" years were more exciting, but still, the early years of the Republic were an interesting time in their own way -- and Adam's administration is normally "skipped over" as if it somehow didn't exist (come to think of it, most of Washington's two terms also tend to be "skipped" -- we tend to focus on his election/inauguration and then his farewell "speech" and ignore the 8 years in between). Instead everyone jumps to Jefferson and the "fun" of the Louisiana Purchase, etc.

In many senses though, I do think that the series is correct -- and that we fail to give Adams the credit he is due. I think that if Jefferson had immediately followed Washington, we would be living in a much different (probably worse) world; because J was a definite Franco-phile, and France around 1796 was much different than it was in 1800 -- in 1796 Jefferson very well MIGHT have made an alliance with France and gone to war against Britain, sundering and splitting the Unites States as a result. As it was, the world had changed, and by 1800 not only had Napoleon seized power, but J also had not just ONE, but TWO president's administrations setting solid "neutrality" as a foreign policy, and enduring a lot of politcal costs to maintain that; I think that Adams being so adamant actually forced Jefferson to reconsider his views, and it certainly influenced Madison (especially via Quincy).

So while the later episodes are "different" than the earlier ones... they are still pretty substantial accomplishments (there's perhaps just more suble detail about them that you have to ferret out in later re-viewings).

 

[self-evident]

Bought this series without having seen it, and I'm glad I did. The production quality is excellent, as are the actors, writers, director, etc. It does a fantastic job of immersing you in the excitement, tension, and shakiness of the times.

It's worth seeing just for Stephen Dillane's portrayal of Jefferson. He was nominated for an Emmy, and you will see why.

 

[DeadheadForPaul]

show got worse and worse but yeah, the first few are dope

I completely disagree with this view. I think a lot of people get caught up in the excitement of the birth of our new nation. After all, who doesn't love to see the underdogs - a bunch of farmers - defeat the great modern empire of Britain?

People tend to not like the later episode as much because the revolutionaries had to accept the fact that they were now 'the establishment'. They had to deal with the boring issues of governance. Most of the people I know who disliked the later episodes, disliked them because they dealt with governance. Perhaps some people are just interested in the Revolutionary War part of the Revolution. The Revolution, however, did not end with our Independence. The American Revolution is still going on

 

[Matt Collins]

I don't deny that we committed mass genocide against the Native Americans, but I find it oddly coincidental that the only American leader who ran on the platform of removing the central bank and did so successfully was the mastermind behind the incident.

Jackson hated nullification too.

 

[Matt Collins]

As much as people on this forum call Adams and Hamilton big government statists and federalists, I would much rather have them over 99% of the jerks we have in office now. Compared to the the government today, Adams and Hamilton were practically Jeffersonian. They would be appalled.

Adams, yes, although he was a bit more of a pragmatist. But Hamilton was a sneaky snake authoritarian "intellectual" tyrannical statist who would've expanded the government every chance he had regardless of what else was going on.

He was the worst person in the history of the United States, because many of the problems we have now can be directly traced back to him

 

[green73]

LOL @ the necrobump!

 

[Jackie Moon]

LOL @ the necrobump!

Great series though... now I want to watch it again.








LOL at the title of this one, "Alexander Hamilton takes Jefferson to school"