Mini-series - 5 episodes
Buy the book (paid link)
Created by: Alex Gregory, Peter Huyck
Based on: Integrity: Good People, Bad Choices, and Life Lessons from the White House by Egil "Bud" Krogh, Matthew Krogh
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Justin Theroux, Lena Headey, Kim Coates, Toby Huss, Kathleen Turner
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer
Plot
This tells the true story of how Nixon's own political saboteurs and Watergate masterminds, E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, accidentally toppled the presidency they were trying to protect.
Verdict
It's ridiculous that this event happened. Through sheer incompetence Hunt and Liddy undermined their one mission. If it wasn't history, I wouldn't believe this actually happened and that they acted like they do. Liddy seems like a cartoon. It's fun to see this dramatized, but it's a lot less funny once they're caught. This starts strong, but you can't top the introduction of the characters. This could have been shorter, which would help the impact. This series seems like a spoof, and that's one of the craziest things about it.
It depends.
Review
From the very first episode I wondered if these people are real. I know it's based on a true story, but this starts with Watergate break-in attempt two of four. Did G. Godron Liddy (Justin Theroux) and Howard Hunt (Woody Harrelson) act list this? This series is comical, and it's meant to be. This is a ridiculous event, and I don't know why anyone would ever put these two in charge of anything. Their recon job on Ellsburg is botched at every opportunity. Despite that President Nixon hires them for his re-election push. I started this show curious about the guys that inadvertently brought Nixon down. By the end of the first episode, I'm amazed they were ever hired and wondered how their incompetence took so long for them to topple the President.
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| Justin Theroux, Woody Harrelson play G. Gordon Liddy, E. Howard Hunt |
This is a situation where you think the writers couldn't make this stuff up, and the honestly didn't. They try to break-in to Watergate four times. They botch every attempt.
Liddy, Hunt, and crew are caught and everything falls apart. This becomes less funny once their caught. They hope Nixon will pardon them, but Nixon's re-election went awry just as quickly as people quickly came forward to confess and avoid jail. Liddy remained a resolute soldier, refusing to co-operate. Hunt finally admitted his guilt, though by the time he did his story was no longer a bombshell.
This series is ridiculous simply because it's true. This captures the facts in a way that you just don't get from reading Wikipedia, but the series is longer than it needs to be. The first couple of episodes are really good, but there's no way to top these characters and antics after that.
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