TURN: Washington's Spies

I love TV but I am so completely bored with the offerings of my hundreds of channels. Virtually no thematic variety.

So first and foremost, TURN is an interesting theme and time period for a series. Although it is fictionalized for the soap-y through storyline, I am so totally intrigued by the real historical accuracies that after every episode I am reading the on-line content, researching bits, and have even borrowed the copy of Washington Spies that I gave my Dad for Father's Day a few years ago to read. At last, a TV show that Dad and I can't wait to enjoy together!

I thought the first episode was just good enough for me to tune in the second week. By week 4 though, TURN had challenged Mr Selfridge for the "which do I watch and which do I dvr." By episode 8, I was craving TURN in between episodes.

Criticisms: The accents: I think the accents - which DO enrich the characters and would have been present in that era - makes the dialogue hard to understand at times, and I watch with closed captioning on at least once in order to catch all of it. The accents don't confuse the action but particularly when they use a period colloquialism, I find myself worried I missed something subtle.

Who is who: It took me five full episodes to sort out the British and in the first three episodes confused John Andre and Ben Tallmadge. None of them had enough screen time in the first four episodes for me to know who was who for whom.

CGI Backgrounds: OMG, this is the worst criticism I have. The CGI ocean ACTION scenes are so freaking bad and it cheapens an otherwise high production value. They remind me of the final ocean scenes in Truman.

The Pros: So well acted, and I don't say that lightly. In the first three episodes, I thought they leaned heavily on Kevin McNally to assure the audience this was serious performance drama. None of the characters except Anna and Abe get a great amount of screen time in any one episode, so every look and every word and every action has to project a great deal of information to the viewer. I think this show is as well acted as any of my regular viewing which is mostly Downton Abbey, Big Bang Theory and HBO.

The incorporation of the historical, the literary, and the vehicle. Very well done.

The likability of the characters: Each of these characters are not entirely likable and yet all are riveting.

Captain Simcoe's chilling, amazing, insane gestalt shriek! Abraham Woodhall's transformation. John Andre's perfection. Anna's broken heart over and over, and awesome latent feminism. I could go on.

Cultural and period accuracy. I love the artifacts and domestic aspects on screen.

I appreciate the costuming skill.

Advice to AMC: I do not like requiring that you require coordination with my TV provider in order to watch online. That empowers the TV provider and DISEMPOWERS your channel. And it makes me made as a subscriber to cable and internet services and takes away my goodwill with the channel.

Storysync is really, really cool but a total distraction to the first run. Unfortunately, I can not use the storysync mode the way you suggest because this show is too dense in action and dialogue to be distracted by reading associated content and such.

I love the extra content! Ambivalent on the letters thing though. I read them all, I like them all, but I wish there were actual letters from the real-life network.

The producers of this movie showed inner fortitude in bringing this series to life knowing the dismal history of RevWar movies in either general excellence, box office success or both.

For example, does anyone remember Al Pacino in the 1985 movie "Revolution?" He played an American frontiersman of Scottish ancestry-- "Yo...the British are comin'." Or "the Patriot" from more recent times, a Mel Gibson vehicle that was really "Lethal Musket: This Time It's Personal."

"The Crossing" was the best RevWar movie (a series, more accurately) up until now, AFAIC. And, for completeness sake, HBO's "John Adams" was a another excellent series, but this was not about the RevWar, specifically. But "Turn" is brilliantly conceived, written, cast and outfitted; as an amateur RevWar/George Washington guy, I have long anticipated this AMC series and expected a lot. I was not disappointed.

The first 90 minute episode concentrates on how the Culper Spy Ring was put together among a bunch of small town chums from Setauket, Long Island (NY). The producers stay as close as possible to the real story, and the mix of accents adds to the realism. The writers/director do not shy away from violence as is not a surprise for cable--so little kids may not be right for this.

But, in an age when the American Revolution is hardly taught in schools, this is a welcome addition to the meager film history of that period, and great documentation of the sufferings that our Patriot ancestors went through for our freedoms.

I've been craving something of quality along these lines set in this period ever since that magnificent HBO John Adams miniseries of five or six years ago. I feel like failing on my knees and thanking the TV gods that AMC made the shift into television, because BOY do they do it right.

What's so refreshing about this series is the glimpse it gives us into the daily lives of regular citizens on Long Island attempting to negotiate their lives during this turbulent period in our history. Stories of this era often focus exclusively on the political figures and the generals involved.

These are people who have grown up together and in many cases been driven apart due to the respective sides they've chosen in the conflict, Tory vs Patriot. There are no real villains in this equation, since it's possible to make a good faith argument both for the rightness of maintaining allegiance to the Crown and the rightness of seeking independence due to unjust treatment.

It's fascinating to watch these political allegiances play out within the context of relationships, impacting friendships, romantic couplings, even family relations.

The spy angle is intriguing, well integrated into the story, and hooks you from the start. The acting, directing, cinematography, as so often with AMC, all top notch. Hooked, thrilled, emotionally invested, can't wait to see more!

AMC does it again! Hooked from the 1st episode. Can't wait for April 13, 2015!

So I decided to take some time and let you guys know my thoughts on this one. I absolutely love period pieces, and this one doesn't fall short of the great ones. It's hard to fathom how much information that never becomes public knowledge during a war. Being a veteran, you get to see a lot of things that the public will never know about. So its refreshing to see, in theory, what could have possibly been going on behind the scenes. In my opinion, this plot line is perfect for a lengthy series. I know that several things are fabricated to entice audiences, but they seem to have done their homework on this one. If my history teachers didn't just cover the broad strokes on the Revolutionary War, I would have been more engaged in class. Shows like this expand your thought process, and get you thinking outside of the box. Well Done!

I found this series to be outstanding.. It's well written & well acted but for some reason it hasn't "caught on" is it because people are more interested in UNreality T.V. or would they rather watch something that doesn't take up to much space in their brain or (in my opinion) did AMC not do enough to promote this gem of T.V. shows? Well, in the end the reason doesn't really matter because as of right now season 2 isn't gonna happen & that's a crying shame.. The characters in this show are so likable even the villain Capt. Simcoe is one you love to hate but he would be missed if he were to be killed off.. In closing My-Two-Cent are merely My-Two-Cent & with those two cent you'r not gonna be able to pay the bills so AMC will most likely cancel a great show & we will be left wondering if Simcoe ever gets whats coming to him or if Abe Woodhall ends up with his first love Anna Strong & these are questions I want answers to so I hope & pray that AMC makes the right decision & renews this wonderful show..!