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I had to record the first weeks episodes so don't tell me if he dies in the end or if he gets the hot babe, but what are your opinions thus far of the mini series?
Good news! I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected I would. I may be a minority of one, but I didn't really like McCullough's book. I felt I knew no more about Adams when I finished than when I started. I'm also not a big fan of Paul Giamatti (although I do like Laura Linney -- she was great in Breach). Therefore, for various reasons, I came to the show with low expectations -- and I was very pleasantly surprised.
Yes, Giamatti is a curious choice. Frankly I don't think he's going to pull it off, but so far in the first episode he seemed to be convincing enough.
The trial scene was interesting. Did you note how the witnesses were interrogated during the trial? While standing in the crowd? Kind've interesting....personally I still can't get over the white wigs they wore, whoever thought that one up.....(I have an idea, let's make ourselves look old and grey!)
Being American I naturally understand the whole 'taxation without representation' plea, I still am not getting a feel for exactly how bad these taxes were....is there anybody out there that can put it into some sort of context?
Surely you jest samgrant, but just in case you don't, HBO = Home Box Office, a paid cable movie channel.
__________________ "Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our inclinations, or the dictums of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."
Yes, Giamatti is a curious choice. Frankly I don't think he's going to pull it off, but so far in the first episode he seemed to be convincing enough.
The trial scene was interesting. Did you note how the witnesses were interrogated during the trial? While standing in the crowd? Kind've interesting....personally I still can't get over the white wigs they wore, whoever thought that one up.....(I have an idea, let's make ourselves look old and grey!)
Being American I naturally understand the whole 'taxation without representation' plea, I still am not getting a feel for exactly how bad these taxes were....is there anybody out there that can put it into some sort of context?
The taxes were not that bad, actually. If I recall, the taxes the colonists paid were actually less than those paid by the residents of England. However, they were new taxes and in the past, all taxes were levied by the Colonial Legislatures. They objected to a direct tax as taxation with out representation.
I think its kind of like the Internet. Since it generally hasn't been taxed so far, any attempt to tax it now will draw howls of protest.
__________________ "There must be more historians of the Civil War than there were generals figthing in it... Of the two groups, the historians are the more belligerent." David Donald, Lincoln Reconsidered (1961)
Don't know if the offer extends to y'all or if it's even applicable; but in flyover country, DirectTV is offering HBO and Cinemax free from the 20th through the 23rd. During this period, HBO will be rebroadcasting the first three episodes of John Adams.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
I think I like Giamatti for the role. Here's why; he's not a "big" star that will take over the series. That's one of the reasons I believe that Band of Brothers did so well. The "no name" guys did an outstanding job. Just my opinion.
I thought he was convincing in his depiction of his 'public' functions but I felt his performance was 'forced' with respect to his family relations....wasn't buying him as a husband and father....
The taxes were not that bad, actually. If I recall, the taxes the colonists paid were actually less than those paid by the residents of England. However, they were new taxes and in the past, all taxes were levied by the Colonial Legislatures. They objected to a direct tax as taxation with out representation.
I think its kind of like the Internet. Since it generally hasn't been taxed so far, any attempt to tax it now will draw howls of protest.
Yes. In all honesty, when I read about the Revolutionary War era, it's not all that hard for me to feel a twinge of sympathy for the British, who quite reasonably felt that they were a victim of the old adage, "no good deed goes unpunished." They had spent tremendous sums protecting the colonists, and when they set out to have the colonists pay at least a portion of the outlay -- wham, they're tyrannical brutes.
As Timewalker says, the British were basically victims of their own neglect. They had let the colonies govern themselves for a century, and by the time they sought to reassert authority, it was too late. Having exercised self-rule, the colonists were not about to cede power back to Britain.
I'd disagree with TW only to the extent that he suggests that the colonists objected only to "direct" taxes, such as the stamp tax. As they wrestled with the tax issue, some colonists tried to distinguish between internal and external or indirect taxes (which might be acceptable), but in the end the distinction proved unworkable
Theodore Draper emphasizes this aspect of the events leading to the American Revolution in his A Struggle for Power, which is highly recommended.
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