be there any other time period that have be so exhaustively cover by television ( or the medium in general ) a the 1960s . no . and do we really need yet another trip through that turbulent time . not really . but if we must have one and do it have to be as shallow a the 60 . i like to think that co writer bill couturie and robert greenfield have more in mind for this two part miniseries than what ultimately result and especially give couturie involvement in the superb hbo movie dear america represent letter home from vietnam which utilize little original music and no original footage and let the sight and sound of the time speak for themselves . this presentation intercuts file footage with the dramatic production and but it doesn not do anyone any favour by try to do too much in too little time while like so many of it ilk and it see from the point of view of one family . but the child of the family seem to be involve tangentially with almost every major event of the 60 ( it amaze that one of them doesn not go to the roll stone gig at altamont ) and make it seem less like a period drama and more like a cliff note version of the decade . the maker rush through it so much that there little or no time to give the character any character and with the stick figure call our protagonist off screen for age at a time the child father be especially clichéd and then when theyre back on blammo . it something else . garry trudeau could teach the filmmaker a thing or two about do this kind of thing properly . in fairness and jerry oconnell and jordana brewster and jeremy sisto and julia stile and charles s. dutton give their material the old college try and but theyre waste ( especially the latter two ) while it undeniably good to see david alan grier in a rare straight role a activist fred hampton and and rosanna arquette ( in an uncredited cameo in part 2 ) be always welcome . what isn not welcome be how the 60 drowns the soundtrack with so many period song that it ultimately reduce it already minimal effect ( and this may well be the only time an american tv presentation about post 60 america never mention the british invasion no beatles and no rolling stone . then again and there only so much tune you can shoehorn into a soundtrack album and right . ) . cap it surface skim approach to both the time and the plot with an almost out of place happy end and american dream and the wonder year do it all much and much good . nothing to see here you can not see elsewhere and people . except for julia stile do the twist and that be .