Once in a generation, a television series comes along that can serve a common good. All in family raised social consciousness through comedy. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition gave unlucky Americans a big, beautiful new house (and yes, higher property taxes and huge utility bills). And that of Netflix Death by lightning might just help you spend Thanksgiving with your family.
The limited series about the sudden rise and death of James P. Garfield (not James A. Garfield, Jim Davis’s grandfather for whom he named his animated orange cat) to President of the United States is highly consumable for two reasons: 1. It’s very good, and 2. It lasts four episodes.
Give Death by lightning a chance – it will be much healthier to discuss late 19th century politics next Thursday than to debate the current atmosphere.
Death by lightning is as short as Garfield’s presidency, which lasted only 200 days before he was capped. (Our shortest-lived POTUS was actually William Henry Harrison, who survived 32 days before succumbing to pneumonia.) Garfield (played in the miniseries by Michael Shannon), our second shortest-serving president, was assassinated by Charles J. Guiteau (Matthew Macfadyen), an opportunistic partisan-turned-fanatic whose illusory dreams of office – and personal friendship with the president – failed to materialize.
The political drama’s bite-sized series order makes it both easily bingeable and/or comfortably watched one episode at a time. And there’s still time! The summary of durations: 1. “The Man from Ohio” (52 minutes), 2. “Party Faithful” (47 minutes), 3. “Casus Belli” (47 minutes) and 4. “Destiny of the Republic” (66 minutes).
For some viewers, the limited series may be a bit Also limit.
“My ideal version of the show – probably six to eight episodes, lest you think I’m just complaining about TV shows being too long – delves a little more into Garfield’s experience during the Civil War and the more complicated aspects of his ideology that might have tainted the progressive identity with a lowercase ‘p’ that the show wants to project.” The Hollywood Reporter” wrote leading TV critic Daniel Fienberg in his review.
Well Dan, Death by lightning was originally written in six episodes, says series creator Mike Makowsky THR – but he thinks it’s just the green light because there were four submitted. (Those who can’t get enough of old-fashioned American political television can turn to PBS to watch Ken Burns’ 12-hour film. The American Revolutionwhich premiered this week.)
Even for Fienberg, Death by lightning was long enough for its talented cast to shine.
“Delivering the story in truncated form does not take away from the strong and sometimes delirious performances by Macfadyen, Shannon, and others like Nick Offerman, Betty Gilpin, Bradley Whitford, and Shea Whigham,” Fienberg wrote.
Finally, something we can all agree on: Death by lightning is at 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes among critics and general audiences.
Michael Shannon as James Garfield in episode 102 of Death by Lightning.
Larry Horricks/Netflix
The audience has been stable – as stable as possible. As, James Garfield-stable.
Death by lightning premiered as Netflix’s fifth most-watched show for the week beginning November 3, 2025, accumulating 3.2 million views over just four days of availability. The following week, in its first full week of availability, it… ranked fifth again and… was again viewed 3.2 million times.
It’s a good (if not great) start, especially for a biographical series about the 20th President of the United States. The natural demo for a non-contemporary American political drama isn’t exactly the type to suffer from FOMO – they get to a show when they get to it. Word of mouth is Death by lightningthe friend of.
If your extended family hasn’t gotten there yet, use my words from your mouth. Or don’t, and put up with your uncle’s opinions on ICE rather than apple pie fashion.
The moment of Death by lightning‘s release was “a happy accident,” Makowsky says. There’s the Thanksgiving thing, whatever, I guess, Makowsky said (basically) about my theory. But presenting a series ostensibly about political violence in an atmosphere of political violence – and two days after Election Day – was as fortuitous as it was a sad reality. The climate was not quite the same when, in 2018, Makowsky discovered Death by lightningThe source material for, a book by Candice Millard titled Destiny of the Republic. (Before that, he “had barely heard of James Garfield.” Same, bro.)
Look, Makowsky and Netflix will take all the promotion they can get for what is sort of a mediocre success right now. So of course I recommend it Death by lightning to Grandpa, Makowsky says, although he thinks the reason the show works is because it’s specifically not for grandfather.
“When I was writing the script, it was important to me that it didn’t feel like your grandfather’s period piece,” he said. THR. “Once you get past the beard, I truly believe there is nothing dusty or outdated about the tragedy of James Garfield.”
