John Adams Mini-Series

One of my birthday presents last month was the new John Adams mini-series DVD set. My husband and I were both disappointed that we did not have HBO back in March of this year when it was first aired, so I was thrilled to receive it the day after it was released on DVD.

We are both history enthusiasts and we have ancestral links to the Adams family through my husband. His "branch" of the Adams family left Braintree, Massachussets, and settled in the town of Riga, New York. There is a tombstone in the family cemetery there that references the same nobleman (a knight, if I remember correctly) from Somersetshire, England, who is mentioned in David McCullough's book about John Adams, on which this mini-series was based. We're not sure of the exact link we might have to John Adams or Samuel Adams. Some family members are trying to better establish the family tree so hopefully we'll find out someday! Three of our four children share the names of characters from this miniseries. We also share John and Samuel Adams' strong beliefs in personal liberty.

My children enjoyed watching this series as well, though my oldest son was the only one to watch it in its entirety. There are a few spots that I would not recommend allowing children to see. Among them are the tarring and feathering scene (distant nudity and somewhat violent), the scene where a man's leg is amputated, a scene showing Benjamin Franklin sitting in a bathtub with a woman he's not married to, and we skipped over the scene showing Nabby Adam's mascectomy because it looked like it was going to be on the graphic side.

I would say that Samuel's favorite part was the theme music, which he was singing within a few days after watching it! I may get the soundtrack as everyone else in the family seems to like the music as well. Samuel also got a kick out of watching Samuel Adams. What child wouldn't find it interesting to see someone with their name on-screen?

A particularly interesting feature of this series is the ability to select, in the special features menu, a way to watch it with historical facts shown on the screen. It's similar to "pop-up video." We did not use it the first time we watched it, but have been going through the series a second time with it. I found it to be very helpful in answering some of the questions that I had after watching it the first time.

I really like the actors who play John and Abigail. I had seen Laura Linney in "You Can Count on Me," which I didn't particularly like, but I didn't realize all the other things she has been in and the critical acclaim she has received. I really like how she portrayed Abigail in this series. I had never heard of Paul Giamatti, who played John Adams. I think both actors did a superb job and I look forward to checking out both of them in other films they have been in.

I also look forward to reading David McCullough's book about John Adams. My husband got it a few years ago but I have not read it yet. Some neighbors of ours read it out loud together as a family. I think that's a great idea and I think we'll give that a try after I finish reading the kids some of the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.