Needs More Cowbell*

*cowbell = action and drama

John Adams on HBO is an unfortunate product: high budget, great cast, in-depth, but plodding and dull. It is an unfortunate world where one of the most intriguing Presidents -- an incredibly flawed egomaniac with a penchant for fit-throwing and wig-stomping, as well as incredible self-sacrifice in service to his country, and an extended letter-writing correspondence with Jefferson that provides amazing insight into the minds of the Founding Fathers -- is reduced to a mumbling, emo-parody of the real man.

I think Adams is also one of the less cinematic of the Founding Fathers. My preference is Alexander Hamilton, whose rise and fall was much more dramatic. But even Adams, though less cinematic, has a great story. An incredible character as flawed as great. But HBO doesn't do any of that. No. Not at all.

Rather it's a stoic and grim version of history, showing us every little detail and remaining as utterly "true to history" as possible. But playing history out as it happened is often not dramatic enough -- even the Cuban Missile Crisis happened over thirteen days, and while a great movie has been made about it, it condenses 312 hours into 2 and a half. And it has action sequences. 

But the founding of the country is a great setting for Drama. The Founding Fathers are perhaps the most interesting of American politicians because they were regular men [of the times: rich, white, protestant] who happened to do great things, warts and all. And seeing a 7 part mini-series on these men fighting amongst each other with no less than the fate of their country at stake should be riveting.

But Adams fumbles. Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney are miscast as John and Abigail. 

Not that I'm whining simply because they aren't the greatest facsimiles of the real people.

Laura Linney plays Abigail as wounded, hurt by Adams long absences, and seemingly incapable of existing without him. She snaps at her children when he's gone, and eagerly anticipates his letters. While this isn't necessarily far from the truth, the element that distinguishes the Adams so much from the regular people of the day was their incredible pride. Abigail was hyper intelligent, and even in John's absence she would have been headstrong and active -- in fact, Abigail Adams reminds me a lot of this woman.

And, then there's Paul Giamatti. Poor Paul Giamatti. I don't know whether by his choice or the director's, but the most interesting aspect of his personality -- his ginormous ego and incredible inferiority complex -- are only hinted at. We have yet to see Adams go on a long, shouted rant. We don't see him yell and scream at his opponents, and have only glimpsed snippets of his cruel wit at cutting down those who disagree with him. When he bitches to Abigail about how his accomplishments are snubbed and diminished, he's whining. John Adams, the real person, would shout and stomp. And Abigail would shout. There's none of the interesting dynamic that makes John Adams so compelling. In real life he was incredibly flawed. In the mini-series, he's super sympathetic. 

And then there's the plotting. I know it may seem like John Adams haggling for loans in Europe might not be the most lively event to cover, but the drama in it, the stakes in it, are so high that the miniseries often forgets them -- if John Adams couldn't secure a loan for his country, the very existence would be threatened. If John Adams couldn't secure the loans, there very well may not have been a United States of America. 

As a positive, I think the portrayal of the non-Adams characters, specifically Jefferson and Franklin, are spot on and fun to watch. Jefferson is the emo-radical with the holier-than-thou attitude to cover his amazing lack of ethics. Franklin is a horny old coot who knows he's smarter than anyone in the room. And the brief glimpses of Hamilton (A-Ham, as I refer to him in my constant ramblings) -- a great political wheeler-dealer at a time when politics as we know them were just revving up -- are entertaining.

To end this, my biggest gripe is that the really interesting aspects of history are glossed over. The show avoids showing us how truly new this whole notion was, how the stakes were so high, and the characters so interesting.

There are two episodes left. Let's hope they're better than the previous five.