TURN: Washington's Spies

I wasn't expecting too much from this despite the excellent trailers because, generally speaking, the Brits don't come across too good in ANY respect when it comes to the American portrayal of the War of Independence (Patriot for example)or in any other TV show for that matter.

As other posters have said, some productions would have you believe that the British were a force of occupation fighting against every American on the continent rather than the Maturing of a country no longer needing its parent to push it around.

Im delighted to say that, so far, this production bucks the trend and is actually seemingly fair handed to all belligerents and doesn't compel the viewer to focus on the 'Evil Brits' or 'Saintly Patriots' from a moralistic or even worse, a jingoistic, standpoint.

I feel as though I will actually enjoy this without the worry of having every British character being used as a disreputable, thieving, tyrannical Murderer that Hollywood and some US TV shows seem to delight in portraying....

Looking forward to more of the same...

Excellent first episode!!!! Great acting, direction, cinematography, production and plot!!! I'm a fan of shows set in that period of our history, but it can get very dark and tiresome sometimes. "Turn" has that quality that will make you wanting more, at least this is what I am taking from the first one hour and a half of the season premiere. I have a feeling that will drive and attract people to visit "Williamsburg" in Virginia, to be part of the story of that time. I have to say that I am very impressed by Jamie Bell's performance as "Abe Woodhull" as well Heather Lind as "Anna Strong". I think they will be a big hit, as I have a feeling that they might get "closer" again. Also Jamie Bell was "Billy Eliott" in the movie. How cool is that? Can't wait for next week's episode!!!!

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!

It's a crazy world out there in 2020 currently, and discovering this series comes at the perfect time. With all the craziness during this election; the fires in the west, the polarization of our government; the lies, the pandemic; all of it; this series couldn't have come at a better time. I only just learned of it. And it does my heart good to see how our country was formed! Each night as I watch this series, I find the hope and passion that I once had for this country, that, at least, for awhile, I lost. It's an incredible lesson for today in that we watch our country be earned. I've heard our country be called, "The Great American Experiment" as if to insinuate that, as all experiments, ours could fail. And nowadays it seems to be failing. But watching this series I am reminded of the tremendous passion and true grit it took to form our nation. And yes, it could still fail. But this series is reminding me that Americans have true grit and are made of stuff that is resilient. Watching what our ancestors endured back in the 1700s has made me, once again, believe in who we are. This country was forged by people who wanted true freedom and the right to choose their own destiny. We still want that! We are Americans, and we will get through this time as well.

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.