"John Adams" (2008) TV mini-series

User Rating:

9.0/10   

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

16 March 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

Join or Die

Plot:

A miniseries on the life of John Adams and the first 50 years of the United States.

Plot Keywords:

Boston Massachusetts | Cannon | Pennsylvania | 18th Century | Ship

Awards:

Won 13 Primetime Emmys. Another 4 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Paul Giamatti	...	John Adams (7 episodes, 2008)
Laura Linney	...	Abigail Adams (7 episodes, 2008)
Stephen Dillane	...	Thomas Jefferson (6 episodes, 2008)
John Dossett	...	Benjamin Rush (6 episodes, 2008)
David Morse	...	George Washington (4 episodes, 2008)
Sarah Polley	...	Abigail 'Nabby' Adams (4 episodes, 2008)
Samuel Barnett	...	Thomas Adams (4 episodes, 2008)
Danny Huston	...	Samuel Adams (3 episodes, 2008)
Tom Wilkinson	...	Benjamin Franklin (3 episodes, 2008)
Madeline Taylor	...	Young Nabby Adams (3 episodes, 2008)
Michael Hall D'Addario	...	Young Charles Adams (3 episodes, 2008)
Steven Hinkle	...	Young John Quincy Adams (3 episodes, 2008)
Landon Ashworth	...	The Senator (3 episodes, 2008)
Mamie Gummer	...	Sally Smith Adams (3 episodes, 2008)
Ebon Moss-Bachrach	...	John Quincy Adams (3 episodes, 2008)
Andrew Scott	...	Colonel William Smith (3 episodes, 2008)
Kevin Trainor	...	Charles Adams (3 episodes, 2008)
Justin Theroux	...	John Hancock (2 episodes, 2008)
Brennan Brown	...	Robert Treat Paine (2 episodes, 2008)
Rufus Sewell	...	Alexander Hamilton (2 episodes, 2008)
Judith Magre	...	Madame Helvitius (2 episodes, 2008)
Tom Beckett	...	Elbridge Gerry (2 episodes, 2008)
John Keating	...	Timothy Pickering (2 episodes, 2008)
Thomas Langston	...	Young Thomas Adams (2 episodes, 2008)

Also Known As:

Untitled John Adams Miniseries (USA) (working title)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

HBO Films

Trivia:

History buffs might recall that a British Navy surgeon shortly before 1750 concluded that sailors, by sucking on limes, could reduce the incidence of painful and debilitating scurvy. Concurrent experiments involving sailors taking vinegar or sea water failed. Eighteenth century medicine was unaware that limes contained Vitamin C (a substance not really understood until the 1930s) and also did not fully comprehend scurvy as a nutritional disease, but crews were issued limes in their rations after the field study. British sailors and later British people generally were nicknamed "limeys" shortly afterward. At the film's dock set, around a peck of sucked-on cut limes litter the ground as if discarded by sailors.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: A camera is reflected in the carriage window glass during a close-up of young John Quincy Adams just before his departure for Russia. Even the lettering (reversed in the reflection but readable) of the camera's make and model are clearly visible: ARRIFLEX 35.

Quotes:

Abigail Adams: Half-fed slaves building our nation's Capitol. What possible good can come from such a place?

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Chester

Magnificent in every detail

The attention to detail in this mini-series only caps off the brilliant writing and acting, top to bottom. So refreshing to see this attention in simple things like seeing the cannons fire in the distance, THEN hearing the blasts several seconds later, as it is in real life... ditto thunder and lightning... brilliant. Even more importantly, seeing how our founding fathers (and mothers!) laid it all out on the line, risking life and property for ideas and ideals. This series should be mandatory watching in high school history classes from now on. It should also be mandatory viewing for our Congress, if only to remind them of what guts, personal conviction, and personal sacrifice in service to your COUNTRY is. Maybe today's leaders wouldn't be so quick to dismantle the Constitution if they see accurately what our ancestors went through to secure it in the first place. HBO, Tom Hanks, et al ... you are to be genuinely congratulated! And special thanks to David McCullough for the book, and the writers for their screenplays.