Damn You, HBO!

Deep down, everyone believes--without a reasonable doubt--exactly two things things about themselves: 1) "I'm a good driver"; and 2) "I don't watch a lot of TV." I'll maintain the veracity of #1 in my own case, but I've never been able to claim #2. (As an East Side Little League baseball player in South Bend, my teammates nicknamed me "Bugs" because watching Bugs Bunny made me late to practices.)

I try, but every time I attempt to kick the TV habit, something new comes along--usually from HBO. First, it was "Entourage," then "Curb Your Enthusiasm," then "Extras," then another series of "Entourage." Most recently, Anne and I succumbed to an addiction of "In Treatment" that should have put us on the couch, if not into Hazelden.

I thought we were free and clear once Gabriel Byrne shut the door on his psychiatric practice (at least for one season), because nothing else looked interesting... especially the site of a wigged and bug-eyed Paul Giamatti playing John Adams. The previews were comical. Still, "John Adams" had a good buzz, and listening to an audiobook on Lincoln and reading Twain's The Gilded Age had sparked a new interest in American history. We decided to DVR Mr. Adams and see what happened.

We're hooked.

Did you know that John Adams defended the British soldiers of The Boston Massacre... and won? I didn't, and neither did Tom Hanks. That and many other facts about John Adams are the reasons he optioned the Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name by David McCollough. You can't help but see the man's life and conclude that he was the Avis Rent-a-Car of history: He was our second president, not the first. And even though he "tried harder," he's gone largely ignored in popular culture.

What makes the series so good? For one, it's superbly acted (Giamatti makes it work, and Laura Linney is arguably even better as Abigail). And it also accomplishes something very difficult from an aesthetic standpoint, which is to "look good" (the cinematography is outstanding) while also showing you the hardships of life in 18th century America. The opening shot lingers on Adams riding a horse through a blinding New England snow storm. And scenes of a chaotic leg amputation and administering a small pox vaccination (I can still hear the saw and feel the needle) definitely do not sugar coat.

Most surprisingly, though, the series actually makes a corsets-and-wigs era of American history truly interesting without being hackneyed and cloying (I've always wanted to use those two words). In fact, believe it or not, to see Adams, Washington, Franklin and Jefferson interacting in one small Philadelphia room as the Continental Congress--and having real personalities (Tom Wilkinson's Benjamin Franklin steals every scene)--feels like a rock concert.

Yes, I'm a geek.