The Return of "Turn" and Colonial Times

I was pleased that AMC decided to give the American Revolution spy series Turn a second season.  Unlike NBC's post-electric thriller Revolution, the 10-episode first season of Turn was the real thing as American spies fed information to George Washington about British troop movements.  And the cast, including England's Jamie Bell, did a great job.  It always helps to have a real Brit playing a British colonist with questions about the whole enterprise.  And while the show contained few battle scenes, the ones that were portrayed were small yet bloody affairs of basically brother against brother.  That made it all the more real.  I think we lose context in the bigger battles.

We still have a lack of shows from that period, so Turn is an important step in the right direction.  I suppose you could add WGN America's Salem to the list of colonial shows, but that is less history than sensational expansion on a earlier myth.  Instead of showing the true foibles of a scared colonial town, it turns the table and shows the witches were real and the victims were the towns folks who knew the truth.  It may be good television, but it does nothing to shed light on the period.  

I suppose I could also add Fox's  Sleepy Hollow to the list of shows that discuss the colonial period.  Yet while I would agree the show is great fun, it returns to the colonial period long enough to show the Tea Party in Boston was cover for some diabolic demonic plot and George Washington was a monster slayer.  As I said, great fun, but don't look for these "facts" anywhere in your history books.  

I think one of my favorite quotes from Sleepy Hollow is when the main character, Ichabod Crane, after he comes across a modern day camp trying to recreate the colonial era of his time.  When his asked if he will get rid of his old, ratty coat, he says, "Please, and risk it being worn ironically by perveyors of artisanal marmalade who discovered it at the local thrift shop?  I thank you, no."  Even a modern day perversion of the past was too much for a character on a show continually perverting the past.  Pretty rich.