'John Adams,' Second To None

Americans have a tendency to shy away from television they're told is "good for them." The miniseries is by no means a preachment or a history lesson. Adams was an adventurer in his way, and on a crossing to Europe must join the crew in battling a ferocious storm at sea. They also spot a British ship and decide it is all right to "engage" it for a brief naval battle, with Adams himself firing a ridiculous shot from a rickety rifle.

Perhaps the most shockingly brutal scene (at least in the first four episodes, as made available to critics) is that of a British prisoner being pounced upon by a mob, then tarred and feathered, a practice depicted in the film in a way that makes it appear far more painful and mortifying than is commonly thought. Similarly hard to watch are scenes of the beautiful Adams children being attacked by some form of pox, breaking out in open sores and being treated by a "bleeder," while Adams is off on his mission to Europe.

In addition to Giamatti and Linney, the cast is so stellar as to be almost intimidating. Tom Wilkinson has a romp playing Ben Franklin, who feels as lustily at home in the French court as Adams does uncomfortable. "You are not a man for Paris," Franklin tells Adams. "Paris requires a certain amount of indecency." Poor Adams, try though he might -- and he doesn't try very hard -- remains a fuddy-duddy even in France.

Stephen Dillane's Thomas Jefferson is a quiet, introspective scholar who at first thinks a "Declaration of Independency" is a bad idea -- later changing his tune, of course. David Morse, adept at playing contemporary neurotics, at first seems incongruous in the role of George Washington, heavy makeup caked on his face, but the performance proves canny and haunting, unlike any portrayal of Washington ever.

Production details are impeccable. Scenes set in Holland, where Adams goes in search of funding for the Revolution, are shot and lit like great Dutch paintings of the era. For Adams, however, this is a bleak period in his career, with the Dutch at first refusing his request for a $10 million loan. A fierce cough gets worse and worse, and soon Adams is, like his children back home, being visited by a bleeder (bleeding was apparently the approved treatment for virtually everything).

"Have I failed here as well?" he asks himself, in the depths of despair. When the news come that the British have been decisively defeated at last and the Colonies are no longer under its domain, he weeps in uncontrollable elation.

Although divided into seven parts, the miniseries will clock in at something like 10 hours, since most installments go beyond the one-hour point. Whatever, you won't be watching the clock. "John Adams" can safely be labeled a victory for all the talents who put it together -- an entertainment unmistakably relevant in its evocation of a tumultuous era not entirely unlike our own, and a great moment for a medium that is itself in the throes of revolution.

The first two parts of John Adams premiere tomorrow night at 8 on HBO; the remaining five parts will be telecast on subsequent Sundays at 9 p.m. through April 20.