30 Days of Television: Day 17

Favorite Miniseries

This really should come as no surprise as all last year (well from June through January of this year) I talked a lot about the Sons of Liberty miniseries that the History Channel created based on the events in Boston that led to the Continental Congress to declare their independence from Great Britain. (Wow that was a long run on sentence. Whoops!) It starred two of my favorite TV actors (Michael Raymond-James and Ryan Eggold), and it's about American history. I was stoked and counted down to the premiere (and was so sad when they moved it from December to January).

I was not disappointed. The miniseries - for what it was - was fantastic. It was NOT to be taken as an accurate portrayal of what happened, it was more to get people interested in finding out who these men were. It was a three night action packed adventure. It left little room to breathe through much of it. It made these stuffy looking portraits come to life. Sure, they made some of them younger and more agile than they were. Sure, they used rumor and innuendo to make the slow parts more interesting. Sure, Paul Revere wasn't in every major battle and political scene (he'd have to be in two or three places at once!). Doesn't matter, it was fun exciting and did exactly what History set out to do! People were talking, researching, and some even complained that they didn't stick closer to the actual history.

I came away with new appreciation for Ryan and Michael, and better still found several new favorite actors (serious Rafe Spall is amazing). For the most part I think all of the actors were type cast (a lot of character actors made up the cast) but at the same time each roll fit so well. Michael was basically a smart@$$ every night who got to kick major butt. Ryan Eggold was the tragic hero, while Rafe Spall was the um... eccentric one. Ben Barnes was the eye candy leading man...

You can read my reviews if you want to get a better idea of the series. But it's really good, and I am the proud owner of the series on BluRay. With the 4th of July coming up this weekend I plan on adding Sons of Liberty to the "must watch" list to gear up for the big day. Oh, and Canada got it right, their history channel will premiere the series on July 4th. VERY APPROPRIATE, neighbors, eh!

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Sons of Liberty Promo is out! - My Thoughts

Okay there isn't too much to go on.. and the promos/styling of "Men Who Built America" and even "Houdini" were better made... but O!M!G! I am excited. Mainly because, yes, I'm a nerdy fangirl of two of the actors in the series (Michael Raymond-James who plays Paul Revere, and Ryan Eggold who plays Dr. James Warren), and I LOVE history. American Revolution is one of the time periods I'm always curious in as it's mainly - at this point - told as legend and the facts are romanticized. So when MRJ announced his new project last... May?... I was nerding out.

This take that History Channel seems to be taking is an interesting one. We know that the Sons of Liberty were sometimes looked at as more terrorists than revolutionaries (especially by the Brits... which I guess they have every right to call it that way ha ha), but it will be interesting to see the slant the history channel gives us. It definitely sounds like they're going to be more vigilante than most history books make them out to be (including one of the books that MRJ tweeted as being his reading material - yes I went and borrowed it from the library. Remember, I'm a stalker). I think this is the first time I've ever read "The Thug" next to Paul Revere's name (um, can we say typecasting?! just once I think MRJ should play a total straight man prince charming type... something "out of the norm" for him! ha ha!) so I'm even MORE interested to see Michael Raymond-James in this role.

What's also of interest - and possible concern - is that you can hear MRJ/Revere yelling "The British are coming!" in the promo. It's been widely discredited as being his actual words - more likely "The Regulars are coming" was what Revere said that night. If he even shouted out a warning at all. (American Spring, the book I'm reading, suggests that he rode up to homes). He also was not solo in his ride, and the promoshot of apparently Revere's ride has him as a lone rider. But it's a split second shot, so we'll see.

I love teasers but I'd also love to see more! I'm sure I'll get my wish as time goes on (they just wrapped filming a few days ago). December 14 cannot come soon enough!


[[ many thanks to the Michael Raymond-James Fan Page for uploading the promo! ]]

My Bucket List

The prompt today asked what was on the top of my bucket list. I've got the travel planning bug now because the top travel bucket list item is a road trip through New England focusing on the historic sites of the American Revolution. One of the things stopping me from going and doing it is that I don't drive in big cities or big bridges... and no one I know wants to take this trip with me. *sad face*

I am a huge US History nerd. I fell in love with the subject in 8th grade in Mr. Summer's "Origins of US Democracy" class. He really made history come alive and I'm forever grateful to him. I'd always loved learning about the Civil War and Lincoln, but it wasn't until his class that I really paid attention to the Founding Men and Women of our Nation. Sons of Liberty, George Washington, the First Continental Congress, stamp acts, tea acts, tyranny, terrorism. It was a wild time to be alive!

Anyway I'm now looking up different places and trying to come up with a time frame on how and when to do this. Yup. Trip Planning is an obsession of mine.

I know I definitely want to do DC (yes I know it's not Revolutionary, but while I'm over that way...), Boston, Philadelphia, "Old New York", etc...

With what little reasearch I've done so far I really like this suggested touring plan - http://www.discovernewengland.org/driving-tours/colonial-history-i/colonial-history-ii-tour/ at least for part of the time.

Gah, now I have no desire to do anything but research this trip that isn't even going to happen for a few years yet! Dang!