Geo. Washington takes the oath of office.

From the acclaimed mini-series, "John Adams" . I've posted this before, and I realize it doesn't have a 4th of July significance per se (it does represent the birth of our country's formal leadership), but it's so poignant that I tear up every time I watch it.

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Giamatti, Linney Take Home the Naked Actor.

The Screen Actors Guild Award - they both won. Boy, ya just can't keep that "John Adams" mini-series down, can ya? Let's see...that's an Emmy, Golden Globe and now a SAG Award for both actors. Hard to believe some television critics thought that mini-series dull and boring.

By the way, someone tell me why the television show "24" is included in the category of "motion picture/mini-series"? Had Kiefer Sutherland won over anyone else in that category I would have had a shit fit. I understand the premise behind the show "24" but it is neither a motion picture nor is it a mini-series in the way you typically think of a TV mini-series. How long has this been going on? Did they remove "made-for-television" so a show like "24" could be included in this category? And, if shows episodic television shows in the vain of "24" are considered "mini-series", doesn't that detract from the real mini-series programs?

Nothing against Sutherland or the show. It's just that it should be listed under TV drama, that's all.

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HBO's "John Adams" continues winning ways.

I've blogged about this exceptional mini-series several times - when I first began watching it, regarding the portrayals of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington (there's a must-see video clip in this link)- and I will continue to blog about it until every American citizen has seen it. :)

The series cleaned up again at the Golden Globes Sunday - winning four awards including Tom Wilkinson (Best Supporting Performance by an Actor In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television- Ben Franklin), Paul Giamatti (Actor) and Laura Linney (Actress). Earlier in the year, "John Adams" won 13 Emmys (same actors won the same awards.

In my opinion, one of the best television mini-series of all-time - right up there with "The Holocaust", "Band of Brothers", "Roots" and a personal favorite, "The Last Convertible". I purchased the DVD as a Christmas gift for my family (no word on whether they've watched it or not).

The players, left to right, top to bottom: Stephen Dillane as Thomas Jefferson, David Morse as George Washington, Paul Giamatti as John Adams, Laura Linney as Abigail Adams and Tom Wilkinson as Benjamin Franklin.

It's worth the investment. Get it. Everyone else is.

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I stood 10 yards from Paul Giamatti.

Star of the HBO mini series, "John Adams" and such films as "Sideways", "Private Parts" and "Planet of the Apes". Saw Paul in the courtyard at Skirball Center after the radio play, "The Rivalry", last night in LA (see 3rd post down) - he performed the role of Stephen Douglas opposite David Strathairn's Abe Lincoln.

Anyway, I wanted to tell him what an inspiring performance he gave as the lead in "John Adams". I wanted to tell him I thought that that mini series was one of the best I'd ever seen on TV and that watching the show made me proud of my country's heritage. I wanted to tell him that there were moments in that show that made me wept.

But he looked as if he was trying to make a beeline to his car in the parking structure when he was suddenly "attacked" by 3 or 4 autograph and picture seekers. I thought to myself, "no - I'll let him be". Was that the high road I just took? Perhaps my good deed will produce dividends some other time.

"The Rivalry", by the way, was excellent.

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Thomas Jefferson intrigues me.

The HBO mini series "John Adams" ended yesterday - and I am sad. One of the best things I've seen on television EVER. You know, you spend time with these historical figures and you follow them through their ups and downs and then everyone dies at the end and you're left sitting there - wanting more.

The screen capture above is of Thomas Jefferson (brilliantly portrayed by Stephen Dillane) at Monticello around 1818, nine years since he had been president. He is reading a letter from John Adams concerning the death of John's wife, Abigail, who Jefferson was very fond of. This moment in the film depicts the rekindled friendship between Jefferson and Adams that had been stalled since Adams lost his re-election bid to Jefferson in 1800 (actually, they first rekindled their friendship through a letter in 1812, not in 1818, as the movie suggested.)

My point about the picture above is that upon seeing it I instantly felt a deep connection to Jefferson - one that had been brewing throughout the movie. There could be several reasons for this. The first thing the picture reminds me of is my friend Justyna's home in Irving Park, Illinois (Chicago). She has a Victorian that she completely renovated and I feel very much at home there - it's very open and inviting, clean lines, simple in its elegance. We've gardened together there, and Jefferson's hat and clothes suggest that he just came in from gardening to read Adam's letter. He is wearing a light shoe (which you can't see here) and it made me think that Thomas might have worn the Crocs people wear today to garden in. The open door leading outside to the left shows that it's pleasant weather and I too will be heading to Chicago in pleasant May weather in a couple weeks - perhaps to do some gardening???

As this scene unfolded, I wanted to be in that room (Jefferson's study or "cabinet") with Jefferson (or in Chicago) - looking through his telescope or playing with his polygraph (he didn't invent it but improved upon it) - an early copying device (on the desk to the right), or reading the books he had on view on his movable book stand - seen to the left. You can purchase a line-by-line reproduction of the original at the Monticello site online for $618. I'll endeavor to make my own, thank you.

The other reason I'm attracted to Jefferson is that he had so many interests and was a true Renaissance Man. In 1962, 49 Nobel Prize laureates gathered for a White House dinner, which led President Kennedy to comment, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

Aside from being one of only two presidents who served as Secretary of State and Vice President, Jefferson was a horticulturist, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist, author, inventor (I've mentioned a few of his inventions above) and founder of the University of Virginia.

I'm going to study Jefferson. I'm going to read the hundreds of letters he's written. I will examine his presidency. I will study Monticello. I will become an expert among my friends on this man - this Renaissance man, Thomas Jefferson.

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David Morse IS Geo. Washington, Sir!

I wrote about the HBO mini-series "John Adams" in mid-March and I continue to wait with anticipation for each upcoming episode. Two or three left to go. David Morse has been hailed as THE best "George Washington" by many critics and I have to say that I agree.

I've provided a clip from the series - George Washington's inauguration - that I would like you to watch. Please watch this clip. Paul Giamatti (who is superb in his own right) portrays John Adams and - in this clip - helps to administer the Oath of Office to our first President of the United States. It's brief; I have watched it a dozen plus times and each time I find myself getting emotional. This moment is captured brilliantly on film - the anticipation, the hesitation, the awkwardness of our new found independence, the exhilaration of victory. I believe it to be the best scene I've witnessed thus far. It is one of the most poignant moments I've ever seen on film.

THIS MOMENT is the beginnings of our country as we know it. It's the next best thing to being there.

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HBO's "John Adams"

This is a GREAT series indeed, sir...though I'm only through the 2nd episode. Watch it if you've the chance.

I'm a history buff and this show is bringing back the critical moments in our country's history - the First and Second Continental Congress, Bunker Hill, Lexington and Concord and the "Shot Heard 'Round the World", the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution - and, of course, the series will take us deeper into the life of John Adams, who went on to become the 2nd President of the United States. And it is a refresher course, a history lesson for me as well, re-introducing all of us to such charactres as John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, Washington and many more. I encourage everyone to watch it.

But what this show does for me, more than anything else, is portray the era with a sense of realism that puts me in the shoes of every man, woman and child who lived in the time - as if I am living in that moment. I am enthralled by it.

For a more comprehensive look into the making of John Adams, including interviews with the actors, Tom Hanks - producer, author David McCullough, etc. go to HBO "John Adams".

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