# George Washington (1984)

> A three-part 1984 CBS miniseries follows George Washington from his youthful years as a surveyor and militia officer through his rise toward becoming the first American president.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/19685

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 3
- Episode runtime: 120 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, history
- Network: CBS
- Cast: Barry Bostwick, Jeremy Kemp, James Mason, Patty Duke, Clive Revill, Hal Holbrook, David Dukes, Jaclyn Smith
- TMDB rating: 7.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086720/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: earnest, stately, reverent, measured

## Synopsis

George Washington (1984) is a American historical biography miniseries created for CBS and based on the biography by James Thomas Flexner. Across three long episodes, the series follows its title character, played by Barry Bostwick, from his youth as a surveyor and militia officer to his middle years as a commander and public man. The engine of the story is a young Virginian's ambition pressed against the realities of colonial warfare, shifting alliances and the politics of distant governors and royal officers. Scenes move between frontier skirmishes and tense war councils, with Jeremy Kemp as General Horatio Gates and James Mason as General Edward Braddock adding weight to the military rivalries. Patty Duke appears as Martha Washington, anchoring the personal side of the story, while Hal Holbrook as John Adams and Lloyd Bridges as Caleb Quinn bring further figures from the period into focus. The tone is earnest, stately and reverent, with a slow, measured rhythm and a sense of duty weighing on every decision. Set in eighteenth century colonial Virginia and the wider British American frontier during the French and Indian War, the miniseries has the look of a prestige television epic. Viewers who enjoyed the careful historical staging of John Adams or the broad national sweep of Lincoln will find a similar pleasure here in a more compact, self-contained form.

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