Bryan Cranston brings his Tony Award-winning interpretation of President Lyndon B. Johnson to television on Saturday night in an adaptation of the Robert Schenkkan play “All the Way,” and it’s still quite a sight to behold, just as it was on Broadway in 2014.

Nothing beats witnessing this kind of larger-than-life portrayal onstage, of course. But the television version, presented by HBO, offers plenty of rewards, allowing Mr. Cranston to work the close-ups and liberating him from the confines of a theater set. In his hands, this accidental president comes across as an amazing bundle of contradictions, someone who seems at once too vulgar for the job and just right for it.

Mr. Schenkkan adapted his own play (which also won a Tony) for HBO, and he and the director, Jay Roach, have quickened the pace a bit. The slice of history, though, remains the same: Johnson’s pivotal first year in office, from his swearing in after John F. Kennedy’s assassination through his 1964 campaign for election to a full term.