Michael Douglas’ ‘Franklin’ Is an Exhausting Account of a Secret Mission During the American Revolution: TV Review
variety.comAramide Tinubu When pondering the Revolutionary War, specific inflection points come to mind. The Boston Massacre of 1770, Paul Revere’s midnight warning in 1775 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 are often the main topics of conversation.
However, much more went on during the nearly two-decade-long battle that led to the 13 colonies’ independence from England. Adapted from Pulitzer Prize-winner Stacy Schiff’s novel, “A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America,” Apple TV+‘s “Franklin” recounts inventor Benjamin Franklin’s eight-year mission in France where he schemed and plotted to foster a Franco-American alliance.
What should be a sparkling recounting of a pivotal moment in U.S. history is flattened, becoming a mind-numbing and belabored affair of wig-wearing men shouting at each other in dark rooms.
Created by Kirk Ellis and Howard Korder, the series opens in December 1776. Though the Declaration of Independence had been signed three months prior, the fledgling republic was on the brink of collapse.
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