White House Plumbers: Full show, all episodes

June 22, 2023 6:26 PM - Season 1, Episode 1

A five-part series that tells the true story of how Nixon's own political saboteurs and Watergate masterminds, E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, accidentally toppled the presidency they were trying to protect.
posted by bunderful (11 comments total)

This is a wild ride and I want to hear what mefites have to say about it
posted by bunderful at 6:27 PM on June 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

Okay these guys are such … bumbling, self-important, entitled dicks.

And GGL’s toxic masculinity … geez
posted by bunderful at 6:29 PM on June 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

I stopped after a few episodes because when HBO switched to Max I lost my place. I'll have to pick it up again.

The scene when the Liddys put on the Hitler record nearly killed me from laughter.
posted by bondcliff at 7:16 PM on June 22, 2023

Liked the original Home Box Office logo at the start. I expect the original Liddy and Hunt were just as annoying as the actors, not sure how far I'll get.
posted by sammyo at 8:06 PM on June 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

I watched part of the first episode, and had to stop only because it's late, but I'd like to continue with it. They seem to be going more for the innate humor of it, which I actually liked; the way that Liddy is such an obvious Wehraboo is sublimely hilarious.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:20 PM on June 22, 2023

I forgot all about Dorothy Hunt , and the end of episode four and the coincidence of a journalist being on the same flight is interesting, but damn that scene was shocking. This series is probably better understood as farce or Commedia dell'arte. Intentionally over the top stock characters. But it's worth watching for the performances of Harrelson, Theroux, and Heady, and Kathleen Turner's stealthy portrayal of Dita Beard was awesome. It's not like history or anything, but I think they succeeded in what they were trying to do. To look at these guys and what they did, they were clearly idiots and defined patriotism in such a toxic way that eventually metastasized into the modern Republican party we find today. I enjoyed it as political satire, but don't go into it thinking your going to learn anything about history.
posted by Stanczyk at 3:48 PM on June 23, 2023

I watched every episode the morning after it dropped, my definition of appointment TV in the streaming age. One thing I thought the series did very well was the way it showed how weird it was to live through being anywhere near the conspiracy, like the Hunt children were.
posted by kingless at 6:17 PM on June 23, 2023

I thought this was pretty decent. Worth watching for sure.

It managed to show the absolute absurdity and incompetence of Hunt and Liddy but also made you a little sympathetic for them.
It's a fine line to walk.

Anyone know if Hunt's books are any good?
posted by madajb at 9:01 PM on June 23, 2023

This series is probably better understood as farce or Commedia dell'arte. Intentionally over the top stock characters.

It reminded me of The Death of Stalin.
posted by Pendragon at 5:44 AM on June 24, 2023

justin theroux was really a standout in this. the thing about g gordon liddy is you couldn't portray him in a straightfaced way, it has to be over the top farce, because he's just a completely insane person. like all that stuff about the nazis is straight from his mouth. this miniseries dragged at times but every time theroux got up to some hijinks, it was instantly better.
posted by dis_integration at 4:58 PM on June 25, 2023

I loved this. I do find it frustrating when I don't know what really happened and what was the writers having fun, but I was entertained the whole ride.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:28 AM on August 18, 2023