Character actor Paul Giamatti (“Sideways”) stars in the title role in the ambitious seven-part miniseries “John Adams” (7 p.m., Sunday, HBO), based on the best-selling biography by David McCullough.

Produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, the team behind “Band of Brothers,” this epic shares some the strengths and weaknesses of that miniseries. Like “Band” and the 1998 Hanks effort “From the Earth to the Moon,” this biography involves a large cast of characters caught up in the grand sweep of events and helping to shape history with stirring words and courageous stands.

The narrative proceeds from one grand historical set piece to the next. We see Adams the defense attorney deliver a stirring appeal to a jury deciding the fate of despised British soldiers involved in the Boston massacre. As the years progress and he sees more interference from the Crown, Adams mounts an increasingly impassioned and convincing case for independence.

Giamatti’s Adams approaches almost all of his endeavors with a grim modesty punctuated by brief spasms of powerful oratory. We see – or rather hear – his policies and positions evolve, but it’s an exaggeration to call such transformations character development.

It’s almost unfair to criticize a lack of chemistry between Giamatti’s John and Laura Linney’s Abigail Adams, since the two characters spend most of their time apart. The letters between the two make for one of the great epistolary love stories of all time, which were captured in the 1976 PBS miniseries “The Adams Chronicles.” One has the sense that much of Abigail’s observations are lifted from these famous missives, making Linney’s dialogue more wise and exalted than entirely natural.

Over its seven installments, “Adams” captures one of history’s great sagas: the revolt from England; the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, a long and bloody war; the birth of a republic and the hammering out of the Constitution; and the intense and often bitter rivalries between the men we’ve come to call the Founding Fathers. But one can’t help sense that nearly every conversation is peppered with famous phrases that have rung down through the ages. In short doses, this is inspiring. But the cumulative effect can be exhausting, leaving one with the impression that the miniseries, like its subject, is to be more admired than loved.

HBO has done a great job of branding itself and touting its unique status. But like “Rome” and “Extras,” this biography could very well have appeared on the BBC or PBS. One has the sense that traditional HBO viewers would much rather be watching the treachery, intrigue and sex on “The Tudors.” But that’s on Showtime, starting March 30.

Today’s highlights

¢ Owen seeks redemption on “Torchwood” (8 p.m., BBC America).

¢ Jonah Hill hosts “Saturday Night Live” (10:30 p.m., NBC), featuring musical guest Janet Jackson.

Sunday’s highlights

¢ Former college basketball players recall the civil rights struggles of the 1960s in the two-part documentary “Black Magic” (8 p.m., ESPN, concludes Monday).

¢ According the host of “I Can Make You Thin” (8 p.m., TLC), the battle of the bulge is waged in the mind.

¢ An ice-truck victim survives on “Dexter” (9 p.m., CBS).