Ranking Every HBO Miniseries From Worst To Best
19. The Plot Against America
Many have tried to adapt Philip Roth’s novels, but none have really succeeded up to this point. It took a writer with the skill and confidence of David Simon (creating here with Ed Burns) to give the late great author the adaptation he deserved in this eerily prescient story of populist fascism sweeping America.
Simon and Burns are mostly faithful to Roth’s 2004 book, written during the Bush administration but far more suited to the Trump era. The alternative history sees the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh run for the US presidency on an anti-interventionist ticket, eager to keep the United States well clear of the second world war.
From there, his sympathies become altogether too clear, and anti semitism runs rife in the nation. We follow the Levin family, led by Morgan Spector and Zoe Kazan, both quietly brilliant, along with some excellent young actors as the kids. Meanwhile John Turturro’s rabbi becomes involved with Lindbergh in an attempt to persuade the neighbourhood’s Jewish population that all is well.
The most straightforward thriller Simon has made yet, this is pacy, well acted TV with a scorching, frighteningly believable story behind it.