Toward the end of this series, the aging Adams (Paul Giamatti) frets that history will overlook him. For a good 200 years, he was pretty much right. But this engrossing, detail-rich adaption of David McCullough's bio — and Giamatti's portrayal of Adams' dogged, blunt honesty — brings the second President, and his period's ideas, to feisty, fiery life.
Grade: A-