I'm usually a fan of any historical series, if not completely overlooking the mistakes, myth, and misconceptions, allowing for, well, allowances. But this series was just so wildly inaccurate and clearly had an agenda to heighten Washington as an icon rather than imparting any historical information.
Other commenters have already pointed out the glaring historical fabrications and the incredibly important things that were inexplicably just left out, so I won't belabour those points e.g. where was any mention of both the French army and navy, such as them basically winning the Battle of Yorkton on behalf of America, not to take away from the valiant Continental Army's role in that battle as well, but leaving out the French is like leaving America out of the story of D-Day completely and only mentioning the British and Canadians, as a rough historical equivalence.
And even leaving aside the really terrible history, ironic for a series on the History Channel, but not alone as an allegedly historically accurate series, but that's a whole other discussion, but, yes, leaving all that aside, the acting seems wooden, the dialogue unrealistic, the commentators throughout being or feeling artificially excited and hyperbolic, which felt incredibly annoying. It felt like something more common back in the 70s in similar formats, but all the arm waving and strained vocal chords didn't add any drama, it just felt weird.
If you are a hardcore fan of the American Revolution or George Washington I supposed it might be of interest if you can get past the historical omissions and inaccuracies (the costume design was well done) and bad acting and dialogue, I guess there could be some enjoyment to be found, but just temper your expectations heavily going in. With a nice budget to work with I can't help but feel disappointed with the very big missed opportunity this series is.
And I was pretty shocked at the really high ratings here on IMDb. I can't help but thing those ratings are setting up folks for a lot of disappointment, and I expect over time those ratings are going to plummet.
Other commenters have already pointed out the glaring historical fabrications and the incredibly important things that were inexplicably just left out, so I won't belabour those points e.g. where was any mention of both the French army and navy, such as them basically winning the Battle of Yorkton on behalf of America, not to take away from the valiant Continental Army's role in that battle as well, but leaving out the French is like leaving America out of the story of D-Day completely and only mentioning the British and Canadians, as a rough historical equivalence.
And even leaving aside the really terrible history, ironic for a series on the History Channel, but not alone as an allegedly historically accurate series, but that's a whole other discussion, but, yes, leaving all that aside, the acting seems wooden, the dialogue unrealistic, the commentators throughout being or feeling artificially excited and hyperbolic, which felt incredibly annoying. It felt like something more common back in the 70s in similar formats, but all the arm waving and strained vocal chords didn't add any drama, it just felt weird.
If you are a hardcore fan of the American Revolution or George Washington I supposed it might be of interest if you can get past the historical omissions and inaccuracies (the costume design was well done) and bad acting and dialogue, I guess there could be some enjoyment to be found, but just temper your expectations heavily going in. With a nice budget to work with I can't help but feel disappointed with the very big missed opportunity this series is.
And I was pretty shocked at the really high ratings here on IMDb. I can't help but thing those ratings are setting up folks for a lot of disappointment, and I expect over time those ratings are going to plummet.