# White House Plumbers \[HBO\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, hbomax-wb-dc\ **Created:** [May 3, 2023, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509 "2023-05-03T16:15:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/1 "2023-05-03T16:15:25Z")
This is a 5-part miniseries that just started airing on HBO. Woody Harrelson, Justin Theroux as the leads. I watched the first episode last night, and while I found it entertaining and at times quite funny, Liddy and Hunt MUST be caricatures - they seem so over-the-top. I know they were deeply flawed people, but sheesh. But I only say that out of doubt about the historical accuracy; I DO find it entertaining. > **[White House Plumbers | Official Website for the HBO Series | HBO.com](https://www.hbo.com/white-house-plumbers)** > > The official website for White House Plumbers on HBO, featuring interviews, schedule information, behind the scenes exclusives, and more. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/2 "2023-05-03T16:17:26Z")
> [@Raza](#): > > Liddy and Hunt MUST be caricatures - they seem so over-the-top. I know they were deeply flawed people, but sheesh. I’m not sure about Hunt, but G. Gordon Liddy was pretty astonishingly over-the-top and scenery-chewing IRL, from what I remember. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/3 "2023-05-03T16:20:15Z")
Here’s my comment from the Series thread: We watched the first ep of _The White House Plumbers_ on HBO. Very uneven. Justin Theroux is doing a very good Liddy, but Woody Harrelson looked liked he watched endless footage of Howard Hunt and was trying to do an impersonation rather than act a role. Very unnatural. Judy Greer and Lena Headey play their respective wives and were both very good. Domnall Gleeson (of all people) is playing John Dean. Not good casting. Physically he’s all wrong, and the way he’s playing it seems off somehow. We’ll stick with it, hoping it gels. It’s one of those stories behind the story that deserves a good telling. … As you can see I think Theroux is playing it pretty on target. Liddy was a loon. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/4 "2023-05-03T17:14:42Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > but Woody Harrelson looked liked he watched endless footage of Howard Hunt and was trying to do an impersonation rather than act a role I’m usually a fan of Harrelson, but I had similar thoughts. Seemed very forced and unnatural. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/5 "2023-05-03T17:31:01Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I’m not sure about Hunt, but G. Gordon Liddy was pretty astonishingly over-the-top and scenery-chewing IRL, from what I remember. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/t7Ir3bvUuOI/hqdefault.jpg "G. Gordon Liddy with Don Rickles on Conan (1997-01-27)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Ir3bvUuOI) He’s a complete fucking clown. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/6 "2023-05-03T19:49:23Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I’m usually a fan of Harrelson, but I had similar thoughts. Seemed very forced and unnatural. I _loved_ him in _Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri._ That was a very nuanced, moving performance. This one is just off-putting. Forced is the right word. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/7 "2023-05-04T00:28:38Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > [G. Gordon Liddy with Don Rickles on Conan (1997-01-27)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Ir3bvUuOI) > > He’s a complete fucking clown. He _was_ a complete fucking clown. Now he’s a rotting fucking clown. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/8 "2023-05-04T00:33:32Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Now he’s a rotting fucking clown. The worms won’t touch him and even _Clostridium perfringens_ would find Liddy to be beneath them. Pond scum has sued the estate for defamation. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/9 "2023-05-04T07:10:31Z")
Looking forward to it. As a bit young to really remember it, but subject to endless references to Watergate in _Mad magazine_, my appetite for the period was whetted recently by _Gaslit_, with Julia Roberts, which I thoroughly recommend. And yes some of them were screaming nutbags. Without trying to hijack the thread, what else covering the same Watergate / Nixon era US domestic politicl setting should I be checking out (I’ve done _Frost-Nixon_, _For All Mankind_, _All the President’s Men_ and _That 70’s Show_, nd Nixon’s head in a jar in _Futurama_)? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/10 "2023-05-04T07:25:58Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > what else covering the same Watergate / Nixon era US domestic politicl setting should I be checking out The comedy _Dick_ is great. It’s very silly, and while it isn’t at all concerned with trying to come up with deep and sophisticated political insights, it’s smarter than it seems on the surface. Plus Dan Hedaya makes a terrific Nixon. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/11 "2023-05-04T11:05:16Z")
Will the fact that I’m not all that familiar with the real-life events or people involved make me enjoy this less, or more? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/12 "2023-05-04T11:20:16Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > He’s a complete fucking clown. I met him many years ago. This is what he’s like in person too. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2023, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/13 "2023-05-13T17:38:05Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > The comedy _Dick_ is great. It’s very silly, and while it isn’t at all concerned with trying to come up with deep and sophisticated political insights, it’s smarter than it seems on the surface. Plus Dan Hedaya makes a terrific Nixon. Agree with everything here. Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams were perfect. The clothes and hair were also spot on. As someone who lived through the period, it captured the zeitgeist well enough while still being very funny with some serious topics gliding under the surface. Dan Hedaya did a nice comic turn while making you forget you weren’t actually watching Nixon. As for _The White House Plumbers_ we weren’t sure if we were going to stick with it (Woody Harrelson remembering to jut his chin just so got annoying in the first episode), but we watched the second episode, and it’s relaxing into its stride. Domnall Gleeson is still very wrong for John Dean (who I’ve seen a lot of over the years since Watergate so his manner of speech and body language are fresh in my mind), but I like how it’s going overall. Kathleen Turner was an absolute hoot as Dita Beard. I remembered the name, but couldn’t remember _why_ I remembered it, so that was a nice refresher. Loved the little comment re: Beard in the closing credits, too. We’re going to stick with it. ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/14 "2023-05-15T20:36:36Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Kathleen Turner was an absolute hoot as Dita Beard. Holy cow! I had no freaking idea that was her! Thanks; I’m eager to tell the Mrs. who is usually quite good at actor-spotting. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2023, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/15 "2023-05-15T21:46:43Z")
The voice was the real giveaway. She has some medical condition (MS?) where the medication makes her add a lot of weight – so much that’s she’s unrecognizable. Glad she’s still able to act. She’s great. An aside…all the smoking is so over-the-top from today’s perspective. But that is also historically accurate. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2023, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/16 "2023-05-15T21:52:02Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > She has some medical condition (MS?) Severe rheumatoid arthritis, according to her Wikipedia entry. > [@](#): > > Turner’s appearance changed after the rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis. “The press were merciless,” she states in her memoir. “They snipped that I had become fat and unrecognizable because I was an angry, washed-up diva, an out-of-control has-been, when in truth the changes in my physical appearance were caused by drugs and chemotherapy and were not within my control. Still, I did not reveal what was happening to me.” > **[Kathleen Turner | 1990s – slowed by rheumatoid arthritis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Turner#1990s_%E2%80%93_slowed_by_rheumatoid_arthritis)** > > Turner remained an A-list film star leading lady in the early 1990s, starring in V.I. Warshawski and Undercover Blues, until rheumatoid arthritis seriously restricted her activities. She also blamed her age, stating, "when I was 40, the roles started slowing down, I started getting offers to play mothers and grandmothers." > In 1992, during the filming of Serial Mom, she began experiencing "inexplicable pains and fevers." The rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis was made about a year later. By the time... ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2023, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/17 "2023-05-15T22:01:44Z")
Thanks, @kenobi_65 . ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2023, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/18 "2023-05-15T22:13:30Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Loved the little comment re: Beard in the closing credits, too. I missed it somehow. Can you quote it? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2023, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/19 "2023-05-15T22:32:45Z")
I can’t remember the exact wording, but it was a couple of sentences that ended with something like “Dita Beard definitely wrote that letter.” ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509/20 "2023-05-16T04:00:32Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > > > [G. Gordon Liddy with Don Rickles on Conan (1997-01-27)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Ir3bvUuOI) > > > > He’s a complete fucking clown. > > He _was_ a complete fucking clown. Now he’s a rotting fucking clown. Hunt was a nut job as well. Not so much a clown but ex-CIA agent and spy novelist who recruited a bunch of incompetents for Nixon to do all this clandestine stuff. And deeply involved in the planning of the failed Bay of Pigs operation during the Kennedy administration to overthrow Castro. His wife Dorothy died in the crash of [UA Flight 553](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Air_Lines_Flight_553) on 12/8/1972 with $10,000 cash on her person. She had apparently been involved in getting cash payments to the families of the Watergate burglars to prevent the burglars from cooperating with Watergate investigators. This fed rumors that Nixon or the CIA were responsible for the plane crash. There has never been any credible evidence that was in fact the case. Still, a weird coincidence. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-plumbers-hbo/983509.md?page=2)