David Simon and Tom Fontana, two of the creators behind one of the greatest television crime dramas of all time, "Homicide: Life on the Street" are now teaming up again to adapt James L. Swanson's excellent book, "Manhunt" which follows the 12-day hunt for John Wilkes Booth following Lincoln's assassination.  It's the kind of material that would work well as a film, but knowing that it will get a full mini-series makes me all kinds of excited.  Oh, and did I mention the mini-series would be at HBO?  You know, the channel that recently did another brilliant American History miniseries, "John Adams"?  Yeah, this is kind of good news if you like exciting and fascinating tales of U.S. History.

"Manhunt" is a great book and if Simon and Fontana can bring the same kind of immediacy and character to it that they brought to "Homicide", then HBO can start building a new shelf for all the Emmys this mini-series will collect.