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John Adams
MINISERIES: HBO, begins Sunday 3/16 at 8:00p


8.7

based on 27 reviews
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how did we calculate this?

based on 86 votes
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Starring Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, Stephen Dillane, Rufus Sewell, David Morse, Danny Huston, Tom Wilkinson, and Justin Theroux

The seven-part miniseries on the life of the second US president is based on the book by David McCullough.

GENRE(S):	Drama, History
CREATED BY:	David McCullough (book)
FIRST AIR DATE:	March 16, 2008

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

New York Daily News

Writers Kirk Ellis and Michelle Ashford do justice to McCullough's narration, and director Tom Hooper has a straightforward style that gives flesh-and-blood dimension to names from history books. Best of all are two extraordinary performances at the center: Paul Giamatti as Adams and Laura Linney as his wife, Abigail.

100

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen

Credit for building drama goes to screenwriter Kirk Ellis ("Into the West") and actor Paul Giamatti ("Sideways"). His intellectual, vain Adams is a reluctant rebel, tentative in his support of an American revolution, wary of insurgency and mob rule and defender of the tenets of American democracy.

100

San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum

It manages to be a rousing piece of filmmaking, a fascinating character study and a largely accurate presentation of the time when America was born.

Entertainment Weekly Ken Tucker

Who says TV doesn't make history thought-provokingly exciting?

TV Guide Matt Roush

John Adams, based on David McCullough's acclaimed biography, is as sumptuous and satisfying as TV gets: gorgeously produced, marvelously acted and written with a sense of high drama amid generous displays of wit.

Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron

This handsome miniseries is praiseworthy on many levels--as history, as entertainment and as a way to bring to life for new generations a sense of the sacrifice and heroism needed to establish the U.S.

LA Weekly Robert Abele

A rich, intelligent and often moving miniseries.

Baltimore Sun David Zurawik

John Adams, a $100 million-plus production about the life and times of America's second president, is one of the most compelling miniseries of the decade.

Washington Post Tom Shales

John Adams is the kind of classily intelligent production that can be happily recommended to everybody. The filmmakers, including executive producer Tom Hanks, have attempted to re-create and enliven history--and they succeed grandly.

Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm

The monumental production is worth bragging about.

Miami Herald Glenn Garvin

Ellis has used Adams' works to create a wondrously full and nuanced portrait of the man, which is brought fully to life by Paul Giamatti.

Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan

Both the book and the miniseries sketch admirably human portraits of historical figures such as Adams, Jefferson and Franklin.

New York Magazine John Leonard

We’re in excellent company, from the Boston Massacre to the Declaration of Independence to Adams’s plenipotentiary missions to Versailles and the Court of St. James to his unsought but extremely gratifying vice-presidency in the first Washington administration.

Wall Street Journal Nancy DeWolf Smith

It is not an exaggeration to say that the effect is of opening a treasure chest and being showered with its riches.

Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert

It is reverent enough, and profoundly heroic; and yet it is a living, breathing piece of work that brings American history down to earth.

New York Post Adam Buckman

Though the miniseries represents a compressed and not entirely accurate history, it is moving enough to remind us of the sacrifices made by Adams and a great many other people to form a republic against almost impossible odds.

Chicago Sun-Times Misha Davenport

While John Adams succeeds as entertainment, it utterly fails as a history lesson.

Slate Troy Patterson

Ben Franklin (Tom Wilkinson ) enlivens the painterly prettiness and dutiful solemnity of John Adams with a healthy sense of the vulgar, as in the vernacular, as in the native voice of America.

Salon Heather Havrilesky

Far from epic, John Adams is a biopic as intense and moody as the man himself.

Variety Brian Lowry

The adaptation is meticulous almost to a fault, including a fidelity to language and accents (a hybrid between British and American) that initially appears to handcuff some of the cast --beginning, most glaringly, with Giamatti, fresh off his turn as a jollier icon in "Fred Claus."

The New Yorker Jill Lepore

At its best, the storytelling itself manages to accommodate a sense of historical contingency.

Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker

The production, based on David McCullough's biography, unfolds as a lavish, sometimes stilted history lesson. The private story of the Adams family is more intriguing and fresh.

USA Today Robert Bianco

Sadly, in this elaborately produced, incredibly well-intentioned seven-part HBO miniseries adaptation of the book, Adams recedes once again, outshone not just by his more famous peers but also by just about every minor character.

The New York Times Alessandra Stanley

John Adams is the weakest part of John Adams.

Los Angeles Times Mary McNamara

Unfortunately, so smitten are the creators of John Adams with historical earnestness and pedigree they seem to have forgotten how to tell a good story.

San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman

But this is an epic drama on HBO, correct? So is it Giamatti or Adams himself who will make viewers wish for a swifter and less pedantic version on the History Channel?

Newark Star-Ledger Alan Sepinwall

There are moments when John Adams stirs up the passion its author clearly had for the subject -- Adams firing off a rifle in the middle of a battle at sea with a British warship, the first public reading of the Declaration, George Washington (David Morse, in the second-best piece of casting other than Giamatti) whispering his oath of office at his inauguration -- but too often it's just as muddy and dull as its subject was accused of being.

The average user rating for this tv show is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 86 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

peter s. gave it a10:
Step aside BBC, HBO has equaled if not bested the best of Masterpiece Theater with "John Adams." The only other time I've been able to say that is with "Lonesome Dove." It is the authenticity, the gritty essence of the American experience in these two films that sets them apart and evokes our deepest sense of truth. I am inspired by this moving production, and, at the same time offended by effete critics whose response to art is too often artifice and barely disguised conceit. Give me Tom Shales, Maureen Ryan and Jill LePore to help me not to have to suffer long Allessandra Stanley, Mary McNamara and Tim Goodman. Viva HBO and commendations for Paul Giamatti's subtle portrayal of John and Laura Linney's deeply personal rendering of Abigail. I am a retired professor of American History. Would I could have been on the job when "John Adams" debuted. I would at long last have been able to move my students in the way the launching of this remarkable experiment in democracy has always moved me.

Nancy B. gave it a10:
David McCullough: the one true 'genius' behind delivering all this!

ToddinHB gave it a5:
I used to believe that HBO and Playtone could do no wrong, and I was really enjoying this at first, but with each successive episode, the dialogue became increasingly unintelligible and I was forced to keep the volume blasting while I went back over scenes three or four times just to get a piece of the dialogue. It is a fascinating peek into our historical roots, but not the most engaging and the soundtrack was infuriating!

Ricardo T. gave it a10:
This series is incredible accurate, well filmed, greatly acted. It is the best I've seen in my life. It made feel I was there. And OMG how many J Adams have I met in my life. Paul is great, the script is incredible, and Benjamin Franklyn came to life as I always saw him in my imagination. No words can describe this film.

J S gave it a3:
Acting is excellent but what is the purpose of a historical film if there are numerous inaccuracies. Even a low budget film could have easily been historically accurate. I am disappointed in that this could have been a wonderful movie to enjoy as a family but full frontal nudity especially within the first hour of the first episode. Seems there is more than early American history politics being sold in this film.

Philip H. gave it a10:
Great series and historical representation of when America was born. A must see for those who love early American history.

Mike O gave it a10:
I was impressed by how true to the book the mini series stayed. I wish they would do more bio-pics that stay as close to the truth, as John Adams. I would especially love to see one on Benjamin Franklin, arguably and in my opinion, the MOST fascinating American who ever lived. He's the real life Forrest Gump. he was funny, intelligent and he was EVERYWHERE. I think he was present at every famous and significant event in his time.

John Adams MINISERIES: HBO, begins Sunday 3/16 at 8:00p

John Adams
MINISERIES: HBO, begins Sunday 3/16 at 8:00p