Episode 1: John Adams, Lawyer
Episode 2: John Adams, Revolutionary
Episode 3: John Adams, Diplomat
Episode 4: John Adams, Minister to Great Britain
They actually managed to wring thirteen hour-long episodes out of this, and I own them.
The Adams Chronicles is a miniseries which could only have been conceived and produced, in the particular way it was, in a particular time and place. Shown on PBS in 1976, in honor of the Bicentennial, The Adams Chronicles takes a detailed look at the Adams family (the other one) over a period of more than a century. No attempt is made to create a dramatic arc of any kind, even within episodes; this is a dramatized biography, not historical fiction.
This makes it difficult to slog through at times. The first four episodes deal almost entirely with John Adams, the most notable Adams, and there’s a kind of weird narrative inertia in effect where each scene happens as we know it must have without any real goal or sense of a story. John Adams was a farmer. Then he talked his way into practice as a lawyer. Then he met Abigail Smith. Then John and Abigail fell in love. Then they got married. Then they had a few kids. Then John Adams defended the British soldiers in the Boston Massacre. Then John Adams went to the Continental Congress. Then Abigail Adams was lonely but resilient. Then John Adams went to Europe. Etc.
For the history buff this can be kind of fun. I don’t demand perfect historical accuracy from my biopics; generally I realize that drama has different goals and changes are usually necessary just to make things comprehensible to an audience. There are exceptions, obviously – but half the fun for me is noticing the changes and thinking about the purpose they served. That fun is not to be found here.
I didn’t watch the thing with a biography or the Adams collected letters open in front of me, but for the most part, they got everything right. Events happen in the order they actually happened, the only changes are omissions which you can easily assume happened off-screen. And for the most part, it’s boring as hell.
There are some things I like. Kathryn Walker makes a really wonderful Abigail, and Abigails are tough – I’ll talk about this more whenever I get to the Js in my collection, but Laura Linney in the HBO John Adams didn’t really do it for me. Walker makes Abigail as charming as she is intelligent; she perfectly conveys Abigail’s exhaustion and loneliness as the war keeps dragging on and she barely sees her husband return before he leaves again.
This is one of the ways the slow-but-steady pace ends up working: when this Abigail brings herself to tell John of her years of uncertainty and isolation without him, you know what she means. There’s an almost wordless scene, partway through episode two, when Abigail futilely investigates a noise in their farmhouse which she fears might be an intruder. John is gone, the children are asleep, the closest neighbors are miles away, and it’s pitch dark. Abigail eventually discovers a half-closed window banging with the wind, and she (entirely alone) allows herself a brief moment of fear and self-pity. A series more concerned with narrative economy would never have included this, but it is incredibly effective.
Walker and George Grizzard as John have a nice chemistry too; a great deal of the first several episodes are spent on John and Abigail’s relationship. If their great love and longing for each other weren’t convincing this would be unbearable; fortunately Grizzard and Walker sell it. They’re both too old to be playing the eager young lovers of episode one, but every other aspect of their relationship is convincing. Again, the long length and slow pace can be effective: we spend so much time on them as a happy young couple that the long separations and eventual reunions of Mr. and Mrs. Adams achieve a poignancy they might not have otherwise.
Grizzard is otherwise miscast. He makes a wonderfully convincing Adams-as-family-man, but doesn’t quite bring the same passion or brilliance to the political side of the man. You can see why Abigail could love him; you don’t see why his fellow founders would admire him. This is where the storytelling style doesn’t work. Adams appears to become a member of the Continental Congress, then leader of the independence movement, because the characters realize it comes next in the script, rather than through any effort or character traits Adams possessed.
Grizzard was also, this must be said, too tall and handsome. It’s not like they cast Robert Redford or anything, but there’s a moment in episode three when the tableau of actors changes into a historical painting, and poor Adams gains about twenty pounds and a double chin right before your eyes. It's the funniest part of the whole series.
Recommend?
Eh. If you’re a nerd like I am (by which I mean, the specific kind of nerd that I am) you’ll get a kick out of it, but unlike the HBO John Adams or even 1776 it’s not something I would expect a person to enjoy unless they were already interested in these historical figures. Colonial history buffs might get more out of it; the series includes the fun stories that most adaptations would have no reason to cover, like Adams’ charming Catalogue of Your Faults letter to Abigail, or that time Adams and Franklin had to share the last bed in a roadside inn and bickered all night.
I do have nine more episodes, though, which will be covered in the next several entries in this series. I’m not too proud to admit that I bought this thing on purpose, but it is not for the faint of heart. I swear that after that we get to The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn, which will be a little more fun.
Clips
The only mildly industrious person might be able to find this whole series on Youtube, which I would never tell you to do. Here, at least, is the trailer which will give you some idea of what you’re in for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE140qkewXM