Join or Die…or simply watch HBO’s John Adams

Very often we watch television to escape reality. Whether you like Jersey Shore, ironically labelled ‘reality TV’, or prefer the good old Seinfeld or even Family Guy, TV is that friend we turn to after a hard day of work in order to live someone else’s scripted romanticized life for an hour or so.

John Adams, the 2008 HBO series named after the 2nd President of the United States, is not that type of TV show.

I’m taking you back to a show that was on the air in 2008 because for anyone interested in American history like I am, John Adams is both a superb display of acting skills by Paul Giamatti (John Adams) and Laura Lenney (Abigail Adams) as well as the rest of the cast. More importantly, John Adams is an amazing depiction of revolutionary times and the first 50 years or so of the United States of America.

John Adams will not help you numb your mind to forget the horror of your daily routine but it may immerse you into colonial America and the historical roots of the creation of the United States. In doing so, the producers of John Adams, including Tom Hanks, have managed to avoid falling into the trap of glorifying the founding fathers or even the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary war itself and yet, kept all the mystic and the right dose of patriotism that makes you fight tears of admiration and that should be attached with this part of American history.

For those that are not into history, John Adams is still a gem to watch for its acting as Giamatti and Lenney won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor and Outstanding Lead Actress respectively and the show as a whole won 13 Emmy awards, a record, including best miniseries of 2008. If it wasn’t enough, even the soundtrack received multiple Emmys.

One last thought…If I was blown away by John Adams, the show and the man himself, I couldn’t help but notice how oratory skills were highly valued in those days. It’s clearly a lost art with today’s politicians…