gq_gq_gq

I first noticed this series available on my HBO Max channel a few months back. I avoided watching it because I assumed it was just going to be another biased Bush bashing show by a news organization with a typical liberal leaning stance. Well, I finally watched it last night - all six 43-minute episodes in one night. It hooked me. After sitting through this entire series, CNN has emerged in my mind as the one truly "fair and balanced" reputable and respectable television news organization on air today. There was zero "whitewashing" of the Bush years as other IMDB users have claimed. I suspect those users might have been disappointed that this program is not the one-sided bashing I had assumed it to be before I watched it. To my very grateful surprise, this six part series is an excellent mixture of critical retrospective and family member reflections of a political family who has done the difficult work of nurturing familial intimacy while inviting the entire country to share in their lives as we have experienced with them the unfolding of historical and deeply impactful events both in the US and on the world stage. The participants who contribute the commentary are seasoned journalists from the time, professional political operators from the opposing party (I found these very interesting) and insiders and family members who are intimately familiar with what they're talking about because they were actually there. I didn't expect this to be so well-rounded. There was no shying away from analyzing the mistakes and missteps, yet it gave me new perspective of how decisions came about. I came away with greater respect for the Bush Family as a whole and a new respect for CNN as a holistic journalism entity who though is naturally informed by their political beliefs, they are not controlled by them, which is as it should be in order to command respect and admiration. Ed Harris, the Hollywood actor who serves as both narrator and one of the executive producers (!) competently embodies this. This is personified excellence by all involved. Well done CNN. Well done.