TV Review: "John Adams"

Normally, I am not one to do TV reviews. Most of you do not even know which TV series I follow. This is because television has really let me down as a medium. The television viewing experience has devolved into a neverending carousel of voyeuristic "reality" TV where the viewers are drawn not so much by positive messages but to the pathos and suffering endured by the participants. Even that most notable exception to the reality TV genre, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition", is fraught with inconsistencies. I was disappointed to hear that many of the families are suing the producers of "EM" because the contractors never finished their homes! As a matter of fact, many of the homes are not up to code and have been deemed uninhabitable by the local municipalities. At least the families could have lived in the homes prior to the makeovers, but now what are they to do? Meanwhile, the show continues.

I admit to watching "Top Chef" as a reality show, as I was fished in by the challenges and the chef personalities. Part of the fun is watching the chefs at the judging table, and the tension in the room is palpable. Because I have an exception to my rule of "no 'reality' TV", I suppose that makes me a hypocrit. Oh well. I still find solace in identifying good television when it occurs.

As many of you may know, I LOVE history. I love learning about the past, about ancient cultures, and about the founding of our VERY young republic. I was lucky to grow up in Virginia, as the history of Virginia is closely intertwined with the founding of the nation. 5 of the first 10 presidents of the United States hailed from Virginia (Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Tyler). Virginians were instrumental in the writing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Patrick Henry was the Virginian who gave the famous "give me liberty or give me death" speech. The only problem with Virginian history is that, like most state histories, it tends to be a bit skewed towards the Virginians when recounting the historical events of the American Revolution (no, it is NOT the Revolutionary War, for there is nothing whatsoever revolutionary about war!). As such, I always wondered about the OTHER influential state of the Revolution, the state where the "shot heard 'round the world" was fired, where the men were even more bent on Independence than even those men of Virginia. Massachusetts is the true birthplace of the Revolution, yet I had never truly learned about the influential men behind it. I knew of them (Samuel Adams, his cousin John Adams, and John Hancock, just to name a few), but I never knew of their stories. John Adams, as far as I knew, was the first president to only serve a single term in office, as Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe all served 2 terms. Adams never seemed to be at the forefront of the Revolution; I only knew him as one of the founding members of the Federalist Party. There HAD to be more to the story.

Author David McCullough's biography, John Adams, was universally hailed as an invaluable resource to American Revolution scholars. This meticulously researched book painted a complete picture of Adams as a man resolute in his principles who sacrificed a great deal for his belief in the independence of the United States. Tom Hanks' Playtone production banner produced an HBO series based on McCullough's book, and I had the opportunity to watch the first 5 episodes over the last 2 days.

We first meet Adams (Paul Giamatti) as an earnest young Boston lawyer with a lovely wife named Abigail (Laura Linney) and 3 small children. It is the night of the Boston massacre, and Adams comes on the scene after the massacre. He is shocked and saddened by what he sees, and he sees his cousin Samuel watching in the background, looking almost pleased by what has transpired. Samuel is a "fiery" revolutionary, a man who wants to start fighting NOW. John is more moderate, a man of the law and principles who believes that the formation of a country without a firm foundation of law can only lead to chaos. This immediately comes into play when Adams is approached to represent the British officers accused in the massacre. Until I saw this, I had no idea that Adams had defended the men. It echoed his son John Quincy's defense of the slave from the ship "Amistad." A man takes on an unpopular case and is able to rise above it through the power of the law itself. In a hostile courtroom, Adams successfully defends the men, but the cost is his practice. Because he took the case, Adams has become unpopular with many of his countrymen, but Adams believes in the law to the point where his own reputation is secondary to everything.

These events are recounted in the FIRST episode of the series. Needless to say, I was hooked. The second episode focused on the Declaration of Independence and the beginnings of Adams long terms away from home in the name of liberty. The third episode followed Adams efforts in Paris with Benjamin Franklin and his early lessons in diplomacy and political intrigue. The fourth episode begins with the end of the Revolution and Adams' appointment as the first Ambassador to the British Empire and ends with his return to the United States and election to the vice presidency.

The portrait of the man that emerges is quite impressive. Adams had a strong sense of duty to his country and love of liberty, yet his honesty and forthright approach to issues made him ill suited for the world of politics, where political infighting and backstabbing are still the norm as they were in the days of Adams. The series does not shirk from also showing the man's true failings, as Adams was an absentee father who still insisted that his children do as he says. He was completely disconnected from his children, yet Giamatti does an excellent job of showing the pain of the man when he realizes this fact. Adams was an honest man who tried to be a politician, and it was this that prevented him from securing a second term in office. I no longer see Adams as a "one term loser"; instead, I see him as a man weary of fighting a war of subterfuge and betrayal. Adams truly gave his life for his country, yet he has never been viewed on the same plane as Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Hopefully, this impressive miniseries will establish his important place in history outside of New England alone.

One final note. As I was watching the series, I thought about how this would never be on network television, and that saddened me. There was nothing about the series that was objectionable (other than perhaps the tarring of the tax agent in Boston Harbor in episode 1), yet the series would not be considered a big enough "ratings grabber" for a network to take a chance on it. I remember watching a wonderful miniseries on John F. Kennedy, called "Kennedy" growing up, and these sorts of miniseries are few and far between. When was the last time there was a miniseries on network TV? I am glad that networks such as HBO take chances on series such as "John Adams", but I wish that the series were on regular television. There is a whole generation of children who would benefit by learning of the life of John Adams.