John and Abigail Adams

This article is about the 2006 PBS television documentary film. For the presidential couple, see John Adams and Abigail Adams.

John and Abigail Adams
Genre	Documentary
Developed by	Paul Taylor
Written by	Elizabeth Deane
Directed by	Peter Jones
Starring	Simon Russell Beale Linda Emond
Narrated by	David Ogden Stiers
Music by	Steve Porcaro
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producer	Elizabeth Deane
Cinematography	Brian McDairmant (dramatic sequences) John Baynard (interviews)
Editor	David Espar
Running time	120 minutes
Production companies	WGBH Boston Green Umbrella
Original release
Network	PBS
Release	January 23, 2006 (2006-01-23)

John and Abigail Adams (stylized onscreen as John & Abigail Adams) is a 2006 television documentary film about John Adams, the 2nd President of the United States, and his wife Abigail Adams. Produced by PBS for the American Experience documentary program, it recounts the Adams couple's lives and partnership through both dramatizations and interviews. The film was directed by Peter Jones and written and produced by Elizabeth Deane, and it first aired on PBS in the United States on January 23, 2006.

Cast

• Simon Russell Beale as John Adams
• Linda Emond as Abigail Adams
• James Barbour as Thomas Jefferson
• Anne Harsch as 19-year-old Nabby Adams
• David Mokriski as 12-year-old John Quincy Adams
  • Noah Pimentel as 7-year-old John Quincy

Interviewees

• Joseph Ellis, historian
• John Ferling, historian
• Joanne Freeman, historian
• Edith B. Gelles, historian
• David McCullough, biographer and historian

Critical response

Louis Howard of DVD Talk gave John and Abigail Adams four out of five stars, writing that it is "[a]nother strong entry" of the American Experience program. Howard added that while the film is 120 minutes in length, shorter than most other films from the series, it "has the advantage of brisk storytelling, keeping the viewer's interest throughout." Leigh H. Edwards of PopMatters expressed that the documentary is better at "refram[ing] its subjects for a 21st-century audience" than Benjamin Franklin, another film from American Experience about a founding father. Edwards stated that it "avoids [...] hagiography by focusing on many of Adams' own weaknesses and self-doubts, even while emphasizing how his genius and foresight led him to become [...] the 'premiere political thinker in Revolutionary America.'"

Home media

John and Abigail Adams was released on DVD by PBS on January 24, 2006, the day after it aired on television. Though the film is part of The Presidents collection of American Experience, it is not included in the collection's DVD box set released on August 26, 2008.

External links

• PBS official site