During the movie game, I used the mini-series Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street as an answer and it got me thinking about mini-series in general. I used to love watching them, but am struggling to remember many. The ones I can think of, and remember liking, are Roots, Shogun(my first decapitation scene), Rich Man, Poor Man & The Thorn Birds. Anyone else care to chime in? Do they still make them? It seems to me they were quite popular during Sweeps Weeks.

During the movie game, I used the mini-series Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street as an answer and it got me thinking about mini-series in general. I used to love watching them, but am struggling to remember many. The ones I can think of, and remember liking, are Roots, Shogun(my first decapitation scene), Rich Man, Poor Man & The Thorn Birds. Anyone else care to chime in? Do they still make them? It seems to me they were quite popular during Sweeps Weeks.

LONESOME DOVE! (Aren't you tired of hearing me talk about that? ) It really was one of the BEST EVER book-to-movie adaptations. Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, Anjelica Huston, Chris Cooper, et. al., gave magnificent performances and the cinematography was breathtaking.

I also remember watching Roots and Rich Man, Poor Man (which gave me a tween-age crush on Nick Nolte who was much younger and healthier-looking in those days).

The only other one that comes to mind without thinking about it is The Stand. It was ok, but was different enough from the book to be somewhat disappointing. I also couldn't stand Molly Ringwald as Frannie. Yuck!

No idea if they still make mini-series much, or at all, anymore. I would imagine so, especially with so many cable channels out there, but I so rarely see anything on tv anymore that I really don't know for sure.

They don't really make mini-series anymore. The closest would have been the first "season" of The 4400 from a few years ago, which was a limited number of episodes--I'm thinking 6? Anyway, most "mini-series" these days are like 2 episodes and they are just calling them that.

My favorite mini-series of all time are V and V: The Final Battle, Anne of Green Gables and its sequel, and North and South and its Sequel. The Thorn Birds is good too. I love mini-series!

Mini series have moved over to HBO, Showtime, FX and other cable channels.

Recently I saw "The Triangle". The theme is the Bermuda Triangle. It was good. Good casting, twisted plot, high quality special effects......

Well, check this.

The Triangle



Also, "Angels in America" was great! I realized Al Pacino is one of the greatest actors.

They don't really make mini-series anymore. The closest would have been the first "season" of The 4400 from a few years ago, which was a limited number of episodes--I'm thinking 6? Anyway, most "mini-series" these days are like 2 episodes and they are just calling them that.

4400 is awesome! Last month I saw season2, and I'm waiting for season3.

My favorite mini-series of all time are V and V: The Final Battle, Anne of Green Gables and its sequel, and North and South and its Sequel. The Thorn Birds is good too. I love mini-series!

LOL I watched that mini-series,too! Lizard type's alien is now corny. But if I have a time, I'll try to find out videotapes. I want to see that again!

There was a particulary good adaptation of 'A Town Like Alice' with Bryan Brown taking the part that Peter Finch played in the film version. The TV one took the story beyond the war-time part and completed the rest of the book. Gordon Jackson played the part of the lawyer.
A couple of other Nevil Shute stories that were adapted into mini-series were 'The Far Country' and 'On The Beach' but they weren't as well done; 'On The Beach' was especially dire.

During the movie game, I used the mini-series Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street as an answer and it got me thinking about mini-series in general. I used to love watching them, but am struggling to remember many. The ones I can think of, and remember liking, are Roots, Shogun(my first decapitation scene), Rich Man, Poor Man & The Thorn Birds. Anyone else care to chime in? Do they still make them? It seems to me they were quite popular during Sweeps Weeks.

Another one (1981) was A Town Like Alice starring Helen Morse and Bryan Brown.

Based on the novel The Legacy -- renamed A Town Like Alice -- by Neville Shute.

Plot summary:

"Set against the brutal chaos of World War II, a love story begins that will take two lovers through a living nightmare of captivity, across three continents and two decades. From the steamy jungles of Malaya to the dusty and desolate outback of Australia Based on Nevil Shute's international bestselling novel, A TOWN LIKE ALICE follows the lives of Jean Paget and Joe Harman. Meeting in Malaya--she an attractive young English captive and he a cheerful Australian POW tortured for a simple act of kindness. Separated first by their captors then by the distance of passing years, the two are finally reunited in the rugged outback of Australia-to face a challenge every bit as demanding as their wartime trials."

One of my favorites.

And another one starring Richard Chamberlain, (Shogun) The Bourne Identity.

Ken V.

There was a particulary good adaptation of 'A Town Like Alice' with Bryan Brown taking the part that Peter Finch played in the film version. The TV one took the story beyond the war-time part and completed the rest of the book. Gordon Jackson played the part of the lawyer.
A couple of other Nevil Shute stories that were adapted into mini-series were 'The Far Country' and 'On The Beach' but they weren't as well done; 'On The Beach' was especially dire.

Nuts. Beat me too it.

Ken V.

P.S. I just remembered; Centennial, 1978. Based on the James Michener novel.

For some reason, I couldn't just copy and paste the address for the wikipedia article about American TV miniseries without copying the entire list, so here it is. It doesn't seem nearly complete to me; I could have sworn I watched more than the ones I recognize from this list.

Michele got very excited when I mentioned The Winds of War, so I decided to search my libraries to see if it was available and sure enough one of them had it as well as V: The Complete Series. Both will soon be in my clutches.

1
10.5 (TV series)
10.5: Apocalypse
4
The 4400
A
Tsunami: The Aftermath
American Eats: History on a Bun
Amerika (TV miniseries)
Angels in America (miniseries)
Anne Frank: The Whole Story
Arabian Nights (TV miniseries)
The Arrow
Atomic Train
Attila (TV miniseries)
B
Backstairs at the White House (miniseries)
Band of Brothers
Barbarians (TV series)
Battlestar Galactica (TV miniseries)
Blind Faith (book)
Brave New World (TV series)
C
Centennial (miniseries)
Children of Dune (TV miniseries)
The Citadel (TV series)
D
The Dark Secret of Harvest Home
The Dream Merchants
Drug Wars: The Camarena Story
The Duke (TV miniseries)
Dune (TV miniseries)
Dynasty: The Reunion
E
Empire Falls (miniseries)
F
Family Reunion (TV series)
Fatal Vision
From the Earth to the Moon (Miniseries)
G
Gulliver's Travels (TV miniseries)
H
Helen of Troy (TV miniseries)
Hercules (TV miniseries)
Hollywood Wives
Holocaust (TV miniseries)
I
I'll Take Manhattan (TV miniseries)
Into the West (TV miniseries)
J
The Jacksons: An American Dream
Jacob (film)
Jason and the Argonauts (2000 film)
Judith Krantz's Till We Meet Again
K
Kane and Abel (novel)
L
Lace (TV series)
Legend of Earthsea
Liberty!
Little Gloria... Happy at Last
Little House on the Prairie (TV miniseries)
Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story
The Lost Room
Lost Souls (Miniseries)
M
Marco Polo (mini-series)
Masada (miniseries)
Merlin (film)
Merlin's Apprentice
Miracle's Boys
The Mists of Avalon (TV miniseries)
Moon Shot
N
Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King
Noble House (TV series)
North and South (TV miniseries)
O
The Odyssey (TV miniseries)
Oklahoma Passage (miniseries)
P
The Path to 9/11
Pearl (miniseries)
Pirates of Silicon Valley
The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom
Q
QB VII
R
Rich Man, Poor Man
Rich Man, Poor Man Book II
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
RoboCop: Prime Directives
Roots (TV miniseries)
Roots: The Next Generations
A Rumor of War (miniseries)
S
Salem's Lot (1979 TV mini-series)
Scarlett (TV miniseries)
The Shining (TV miniseries)
The Stand (TV miniseries)
Star Wars: Clone Wars
T
Taken
The Temptations (miniseries)
The Company (TV series)
The Ten Commandments (TV series)
The Thorn Birds
Tin Man (TV miniseries)
The Tommyknockers
Traffic (TV miniseries)
The Triangle (miniseries)
V
V (TV series)
V (The Final Battle)
W
War and Remembrance
The Winds of War
World War III (TV miniseries)