History Channel's America: The Story of Us - anyone watching tonight?

[Joy at Home]

I'm looking forward to this 12 hour series starting tonight. I think it will be good for the kiddos to watch.

 

http://www.history.com/shows/america-the-story-of-us

[BridgeTea]

We're all watching at our house. It's on at 9:00 tonight, and reruns at 8:00 on Friday. I took a nap so I'll be wide awake for it. :)

[momzilla333]

We'll be watching. And there's a free DVD available on the website, as well as online teacher guides :001_smile:

[hsmamainva]

We're recording it on the DVR so we can watch it tomorrow during the school day w/o the commercials!

 

My 10yo wouldn't be able to stay awake until 11pm when tonight's episode ends!

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

No, we do not have cable-- We got rid of it 2 years ago and have been soooo much happier. Though shows like this do make me kind of miss it. (Although the better behaving kids make me happy we did get rid of it!:D)

 

 

Could you give us review of it atleast?? :bigear:

[purplemama]

The first episode will also re-air on Wednesday evening at 8. We will watch it then. Or I will have my mother in law dvr it. My older two kiddos can stay up that late, but I am not sure I want them to!

 

Jennifer

[KnitWit]

Yes, I think we are!

[freetobeme]

thanks so much for this! i was unaware. . .

[JulieJ]

Yes , we will be watching as well!

[Jen in PA]

:lurk5: I requested the free dvds for homeschoolers, but I don't think those are arriving until the fall. I am anxious to hear your review!

[Mommee & Baba]

:lurk5: I requested the free dvds for homeschoolers, but I don't think those are arriving until the fall. I am anxious to hear your review!

 

Same here.

[Frontier Mom]

Does anyone know if it will be available for viewing on the 'net?

[Jami]

I'm enjoying it, other than the Bank of America commercials. "We're so wonderful, we're part of America's history, yay us." ;)

[dirty ethel rackham]

We are enjoying it. The kids are staying up late to watch it. It is great to have not only a review of American history, but new perspectives as well. I didn't know that the rebels were picking off officers. See, I learned something new.

[Colleen in SEVA]

I learned something new as well -- 12,000 captured rebels died on British prison ships in New York Harbor, three times as many that died in battle. Anyone know if this is true?

 

I must admit I was skeptical when the expert commentators at the beginning were people like Michael Douglas and Aaron Sorkin. Then as it went on the commentators were more historians, politicians, and military personnel. Why all the Hollywood at the beginning?

 

I am also leary of the fact that they are giving it out to schools for free -- to anyone who requests it on their website. I am thankful, because I am on the list, but the fact that President Obama introduces the film and they are giving it away for free makes me wonder what sort of bias they are trying to pass onto our kids. This is not a political statement against Obama at all -- I would just as leary of Bush doing it. :) Nothing is ever "free," you know.

 

I love the perfect timing of it though! We are right at this point in SOTW3.

 

Edited to add: And why was the founder of Wikipedia included? I think many of the choices they made for commentators (aren't these supposed to be experts?!?) were rather odd.

 

AND -- You can download it at this site through itunes: http://www.history.com/shows/america-the-story-of-us/episodes/

Edited April 26, 2010 by Colleen in SEVA

[Colleen in SEVA]

I learned something new as well -- 12,000 captured rebels died on British prison ships in New York Harbor, three times as many that died in battle. Anyone know if this is true?

 

http://longislandgenealogy.com/prison.html

 

I guess so. :(

[Sue G in PA]

I must admit I was skeptical when the expert commentators at the beginning were people like Michael Douglas and Aaron Sorkin. Then as it went on the commentators were more historians, politicians, and military personnel. Why all the Hollywood at the beginning?

 

I am also leary of the fact that they are giving it out to schools for free -- to anyone who requests it on their website. I am thankful, because I am on the list, but the fact that President Obama introduces the film and they are giving it away for free makes me wonder what sort of bias they are trying to pass onto our kids. This is not a political statement against Obama at all -- I would just as leary of Bush doing it. :) Nothing is ever "free," you know.

 

 

I tend to agree with this. I am a bit leary myself and will probably preview it before letting the kids watch it.

[Dandelion]

I must admit I was skeptical when the expert commentators at the beginning were people like Michael Douglas and Aaron Sorkin. Then as it went on the commentators were more historians, politicians, and military personnel. Why all the Hollywood at the beginning?

 

I am also leary of the fact that they are giving it out to schools for free -- to anyone who requests it on their website. I am thankful, because I am on the list, but the fact that President Obama introduces the film and they are giving it away for free makes me wonder what sort of bias they are trying to pass onto our kids. This is not a political statement against Obama at all -- I would just as leary of Bush doing it. :) Nothing is ever "free," you know.

 

 

:iagree:

 

I wondered the exact same things (wondered ahead of time why they were giving it out for free and what propaganda might have snuck its way in there, and then wondered about the choice of commentators).

 

But...I watched it tonight and must say I thought it was very well done, and if there was any "bias" in the program, I didn't catch it (and I'm usually very sensitive to that). Looking forward to the rest of the series!

[Mrs Mungo]

We are watching it now, but it started at 6 pm here. There have been a wide variety of commentators. Miltary leaders, historians, actors, writers, lots of different people. I don't think it's shady to have the POTUS introduce a documentary on the history of the US. Rudy Gulliani and Newt Gingrich have been among the commentators.

 

So far, my biggest problem is not really *bias*, but things that have been left out. For example, the reason the British government decided to raise taxes on the colonists was not given (to pay for the Seven Year War). There were a few other things that I disagreed with in the way in which they were presented. But, it is making for good conversation with my kids.

[Colleen in SEVA]

Overall, I think it was well done. They did leave things out (out of necessity), but as you said this led to discussions with my oldest. The show said John Rolfe brought over Spanish tobacco, but my oldest informed my husband that actually John Rolfe combined the Spanish tobacco with the Native American tobacco to create a new type of tobacco to take back to Europe (thanks SOTW! :D ).

 

There were a couple of names in the show I wasn't familiar with -- the British general that was only able to move a mile per day, and also Plum Martin. I found a Joseph Plumb Martin, who was essentially a trench digger who wrote a memoir -- the Revolutionary Era's version of Hollywood? He was a story teller (as are Aaron Sorkin and Michael Douglas). But really, isn't all of history a story? And who better to tell it than a story teller?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Plumb_Martin

[TXMary2]

We didn't watch. I ordered the DVD's and will preview them.

[JeneralMom]

I really wanted to watch it but my eldest was having trouble winding down after a day spent at Sea World. I turned it on, forewarned him that it would be graphic (he is six) and reminded him that it was past his bed time. He was riveted. I had to pretend it was only an hour long otherwise he would never have gone to bed. I missed the 2nd hour, so I am glad to know it is replaying. As a Canadian, we learned US history (I knew about the rebels on the British ships) but it will be an experience to see it all in one fell swoop.

[T Baer]

did it meet your expectations?

[elise1mds]

I had no preconceived notions, but I was interested since I did put in an order for the free copy this summer, so I watched it. I felt like they skipped some big parts (the founding of New Amsterdam by the Dutch was barely touched upon, for example, and I think the Spanish colonies in the south were entirely left out as well), but I understand that time constraints meant things did have to be limited. I did like that they got in some references to people like Baron von Steuben, and I also liked that they portrayed Paul Revere and others as real people as opposed to Founding Fathers. I'm not entirely sure why they let profanity into it, especially if it's going to be shown in school settings (there was one commentator who let out the D word), but maybe that will be edited out. I'll be interested to see how the rest of the series goes. Overall, I did enjoy it.

[danybug]

Sad to say we missed it. Where can you get the dvd free? I just quickly looked at the website and was hoping I could cheat with a link from you guys ;).

 

Thanks!

[momzilla333]

Sad to say we missed it. Where can you get the dvd free? I just quickly looked at the website and was hoping I could cheat with a link from you guys ;).

 

Thanks!

 

Here ya go!

[TXMomof4]

We all enjoyed it. Dh and I were just going to watch the first few minutes and before long all three girls were downstairs watching last night at 11:00. We did stop it and watched the rest this afternoon. It wasn't fabulous in-depth history, but it was a great review of what we've learned and I thought pretty well done. It helps that we visited Jamestown and Yorktown this last fall so they had a *real* place to put to the events. KWIM?

[danybug]

Here ya go!

 

Many thanks!

[anewday]

I learned something new as well -- 12,000 captured rebels died on British prison ships in New York Harbor, three times as many that died in battle. Anyone know if this is true?

 

I must admit I was skeptical when the expert commentators at the beginning were people like Michael Douglas and Aaron Sorkin. Then as it went on the commentators were more historians, politicians, and military personnel. Why all the Hollywood at the beginning?

 

I am also leary of the fact that they are giving it out to schools for free -- to anyone who requests it on their website. I am thankful, because I am on the list, but the fact that President Obama introduces the film and they are giving it away for free makes me wonder what sort of bias they are trying to pass onto our kids. This is not a political statement against Obama at all -- I would just as leary of Bush doing it. :) Nothing is ever "free," you know.

 

I love the perfect timing of it though! We are right at this point in SOTW3.

 

Edited to add: And why was the founder of Wikipedia included? I think many of the choices they made for commentators (aren't these supposed to be experts?!?) were rather odd.

 

AND -- You can download it at this site through itunes: http://www.history.com/shows/america-the-story-of-us/episodes/

 

I agree.

 

Overall, I really liked last night's episode, but there were a few comments I wish they would have refrained from making, as I will either have to watch and fast forward through them when I let my kids see it, or wait until they are old enough to understand and process it.

 

I really did not like the man who portrayed Washington. His smirk seemed almost devious looking - not at all like the man I picture when I think of him.

 

I thought it humorous (in a sad way) that the British were "appalled" at how the patriots picked off the officers, yet didn't seem to think it barbaric at all to keep 12,000 rebels on their ships in such unthinkable hellish conditions.

[AlmiraGulch]

I ordered the DVDs and watched Desperate Housewives instead. There. I said it.

 

 

 

(slinking away in shame.....)

[Caraway]

Looks like you can also purchase it from itunes.

[5parkers]

My son, who loves History, couldn't get enough of it! We dvrd it- and he watched it twice! But the second time my 6 yr. old was in the room and some of it scared her alittle. (Revolutionary War). But it was very well done!