DVD: The Presidents-The Lives & Legacies
of the 43 Leaders of the United States
3-DVD set (History Channel)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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Unless you're a much bigger history geek than I am, there are probably many dead presidents who are nothing more than a name to you. This 3-DVD set makes it easy to remedy that. This was an eight part mini-series on The History Channel, with histories of each former president. The length of the segments varies, with some of the men, like Washington, Jackson and Lincoln, getting much more attention than guys like Tyler, Harding and Johnson (Andrew, that is), but in all cases it's justified, either by abbreviated time of service or complete lack of anything worthwhile to say about the man's administration. By the time you've worked your way through this set, you have a fair idea of who was who and what was up, and you definitely wonder how this country kept from collapsing into total chaos under a few of these men. I recommend it for both entertainment and educational purposes, but I have to say that the production values may leave some people cold. At times it feels like the visuals were designed to combat the effects of ADD, with so many things zipping in and out, over, under and behind fading this-n-thats nesting over other thingies that it could set off a bout of motion sickness. Just like that sentence did. Otherwise, it's fine and dandy, and the 90-minute documentary/bonus feature, All The Presidents' Wives, is quite an educational and entertaining film on its own. The Presidents may be the mass market, production-crazy way to go, as compared to the dignified class of PBS's The American President, but for the approximately 50% of all potential viewers who may find that fine series stuffy, this is certainly the antidote.

© 2005 - DJ Johnson