John Adams
*****
Rarely does cable TV produce programming worth mentioning. Unfortunately most of what it is aired on cable these days revolves around a monotonous abundance of reality TV shows. Thankfully HBO still produces programming that is bearable and even entertaining. In the case of "John Adams" they have outdone themselves. The seven part miniseries, based on the best selling biography by David McCullough chronicles the extraordinary exploits of our second commander in chief, the most stubborn of our founding fathers John Adams portrayed by the tremendously talented Paul Giamatti, who literally brought Adams to life . Although the book chronicles every aspect of his life the mini series wisely introduces us to Adams right before he represents the British soldiers who were responsible for the Boston Massacre, then we are shown just how his efforts not only within the colonies but also in Europe were instrumental in bringing about America's independence. The series successfully explains why Adams contributions to American Independence were overlooked and how this tormented Adams as he seeked the recognition that to this day he is still deprived of. On the other hand we meet the founding fathers Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin played masterfully by David Morse, Stephen Dillane, and Tom Wilkinson, who make us understand why these men are as celebrated as they are. The producers which includes Tom Hanks should be commended for the way they were able to bring together such an extraordinary cast and breath life into McCullough's award winning prose. Finally Tom Hooper, the director of the series should be awarded for his awe inspiring direction of the cast as well as his unconventional approach of filming a story that could have easily been bogged down by a conservative point of view . Instead his camera never sits still and makes the viewer an active participant rather than an observer. This miniseries should definitely not suffer the same fate as John Adams, and be over looked in anyway.
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