John Adams
Season 1 Premiere:
Mar 16, 2008
Metascore
Generally Favorable
78
User score
Universal Acclaim
8.1
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
85% Positive
23 Reviews
23 Reviews
15% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
It manages to be a rousing piece of filmmaking, a fascinating character study and a largely accurate presentation of the time when America was born.
90
John Adams is the kind of classily intelligent production that can be happily recommended to everybody. The filmmakers, including executive producer Tom Hanks, have attempted to re-create and enliven history--and they succeed grandly.
90
John Adams, based on David McCullough's acclaimed biography, is as sumptuous and satisfying as TV gets: gorgeously produced, marvelously acted and written with a sense of high drama amid generous displays of wit.
80
It is not an exaggeration to say that the effect is of opening a treasure chest and being showered with its riches.
70
The production, based on David McCullough's biography, unfolds as a lavish, sometimes stilted history lesson. The private story of the Adams family is more intriguing and fresh.
63
Sadly, in this elaborately produced, incredibly well-intentioned seven-part HBO miniseries adaptation of the book, Adams recedes once again, outshone not just by his more famous peers but also by just about every minor character.
50
Unfortunately, so smitten are the creators of John Adams with historical earnestness and pedigree they seem to have forgotten how to tell a good story.
User score
Universal Acclaim
82% Positive
31 Ratings
31 Ratings
16% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
3% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Jan 31, 2021
10
One of the best mini series ever, a remarkable historical drama about the Founding Fathers and their legacy.
Jun 5, 2025
8
John Adams is a 7 episode miniseries that begins with the trial of the Boston Massacre and ends with John Adams & Thomas Jefferson passing away on the fourth of July. In these 7 episodes you have a masterclass in what open political dialogue ought to be in what is the American political arena. Now what ought to be is not always pretty, politics and war seldom are. Yet in this miniseries we see the cultivation of ideas by men who disagreed with each other. Yes it did not cover all important aspects of Adams’s life especially involving the foundation of the United States of America, but it covered what it needed. Not only is it a celebration of the first time a colony successfully revolted against a colonial empire to establish itself as a sovereign state, but it is a celebration of the men and women who made it possible. It is not a perfect show, much of the middle chunk of the miniseries is not as invigorating as the beginning or ending. And the amount of dutch angle shots used through the entire 7 episodes would give anyone a headache, but despite all of the things that bog it down. The immersion this shows brings to the audience is an absolute rarity among miniseries; HBO has done similar ones like Chernobyl, Band of Brothers, and the Pacific. They are the best at what they do in this realm of media, and John Adams is of equal quality with those previously mentioned shows.
Production Company:
- HBO Films
- High Noon Productions
- Playtone
- Mid Atlantic Films
Initial Release Date:Mar 16, 2008
Number of seasons:1 Season
Rating:TV-14
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 4 Wins & 4 Nominations
Primetime Emmy Awards
• 13 Wins & 23 Nominations
Online Film & Television Association
• 9 Wins & 17 Nominations
