John Adams, Erstwhile Citizen of the Old Dominion

This is just sad: According to the Associated Press, the new HBO miniseries based on the life of John Adams (to be titled, cleverly enough, "John Adams," and taken from the David McCullough book) is going to be filmed in ... Virginia.

Which is kind of funny, because apparently Adams never set foot in Virginia.

Now, as you all know, I'm a native Virginian, and I'm quite happy that my former home state stood in for New Jersey in the new War of the Worlds. (I admit it--I actually got a chuckle out of that.) And I'm downright relieved to hear that the new Terrence Malick film (yes, he's back!), called The New World, was filmed there, because ... it's about Virginia.

There are plenty of places in Massachusetts that are the equal of Virginia for beauty and historical authenticity. So when Massachusetts "aggressively vies" for the job of playing itself--AND LOSES--I think you can probably thank the Massachusetts Film Bureau . No doubt there are tax breaks and other business reasons for the shoot heading south, but let's face it, somebody dropped the ball.

(If I discover that we lost out because we weren't generous enough with the muffin baskets and Legal Seafood chowder for the producers, I'm going to be really, really upset.)

Come Home, John Adams, We Miss You!

I'm really looking forward to HBO's John Adams, which starts Sunday night. It's getting rave reviews, stars wonderful actors (Laura Linney as Abigail!), and shines a light on a man whose PR was never as good as Jefferson's.

Too bad it was shot in Virginia (my home state, yes, but not my adopted home and certainly not Adams'). I've whined about this before, but what with the premiere coming up, it seemed like a good idea to do it again. Fortunately, things are looking up for our commonwealth, what with all the movies now being shot in Massachusetts because of incentives like this (and those plans for a film and television complex in Weymouth). Maybe all this means we'll be the location for Tall Tom Jefferson: Well, I Declare! That would be fair, as in "turnabout's fair play."

(Oh--and don't bother looking for that show on IMDB.com--I made it up. Just daydreamin'.)