User reviews

Lincoln was not perfect, not a saint, but he evolved. A human who grew: what a concept. Had he lived, would he have succumbed to the pressures all around him after the war? Could he have continued to evolve, and would we be a better country today? Fantasies. But that's the point: poor Mary wasn't the only one cheated by the murderer of this beloved American.

I was drawn in from the beginning and enjoyed the entire 6 episode series. There were lots of facts and details I didn't know or had forgotten about Lincoln's life, both personal and political, before his Presidency. They also provided significant insight into his wife, Mary that many will appreciate.

Although, I didn't necessarily agree with the various historians and commentators, they provided different perspectives and food for thought. The documentary does a good job of humanizing Lincoln and showing the man. My main criticism would be about the last episode, which glossed over some of the details around his assassination, presumably because viewers have at least heard that before.

Definitely educational, entertaining and worth a watch.

Very good documentary but the background music is often so loud that it drowns out the narrative. Would really like to understand it without the distraction.

Good Series Worth Watching, Concur with Others About Overbearing Music

There are lots of technical problems with this documentary that make it annoying to watch. Other reviewers have mentioned the overbearing music that drowns out the narration. They will post someone's name and qualifications as they are speaking, but only for a split-second so that you aren't able to actually read it without pausing. It's like a bad joke. Didn't an editor notice this? Is it a Lincoln biography or a speed-reading class?

The editing also seems to have been done by a kid with attention deficit disorder as many times they can't even allow one person to finish a thought and will have yet another person finish it. It makes the narrative feel uneasy and hurried, like you are in the backseat of a getaway car.

The main emphasis in this series is to show that Lincoln was far from perfect, but he evolved into a better leader, into a better man.

I learned alot, i also love hearing historians talk about Lincoln. You should definitely watch. Disregard the bozos saying CNN is fake. The reenactment were very cool as well

Saw episode one and was very impressed. There was a lot I learned which was never taught in school. I can't even imagine the early life they had. Just awful. And yes pay no attention to the CNN haters.

I really like this shows goal of trying to encompass both Lincoln, the man and his personal history and his strengths and faults---and how he starts as a child in poverty and moves with halting progress towards the Presidency. I saw the first episode and now I would like to know if I can find somewhere to just stream all the episodes.....or do I have to wait? :(

Why did no one catch how invasive, and annoying the music was? Just ruined the show!

Excellent show. Rich in history. Only complaint : the background music is WAY too loud, drowning out the commentary. Perhaps you can remedy this for the future episodes.

Why did they allow the music to drown out the narrative? I had to use closed captioning the whole time. I would have given this a 9 or 10 rating except for this major production blunder.

This series opened my eyes..I enjoyed and learned a lot

Whoever engineered and edited the sound should be shot. I kept turning subtitles on to figure out what was being said. What, didn't anyone preview the show before broadcasting it?

I learned a lot from the series though.

Great idea for a series. Historically accurate and interesting. Can't hear most of the dialog because the background music was recorded to loud. Too bad.

The music on this is so out of balance that it dominates throughout, obscuring what the interviewees are saying and forcing itself to the forefront.

Documentary makers need to get that people who want to watch documentaries don't need to be spoon fed in short sentences with lots of reconstructions and a movie soundtrack.

We can NOT HEAR the narration because the background music to annoying and too loud. Since we can't hear, an otherwise visual program is wasted.

Too many overlapping commentators with overproduced music that drowns out the commentary. Overhyped and under-delivers on content and information. Also highly compressed video stream that I have noticed CNN is employing shows poor detail in imagery at places.

Underwhelming.