# Favorite Miniseries **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 25, 2026, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915 "2026-07-25T08:55:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/1 "2026-07-25T08:55:30Z")
Instead of rating movies or rating TV series, what about miniseries? Googling “best miniseries” produces several lists, with _Band of Brothers_ and _Chernobyl_ at the top, and those are my two top favorites. (_Roots_ completes the popular Top 3, but I’ve not seen it.) I liked _Unbelievable_ (true crime) and _Sharp Objects_ (crime fiction) but there are several popular choices I wouldn’t rate highly. _The Pacific_ shows up as “If you liked _Band of Brothers_” but I stopped after a few episodes. _B of B_ was a pure and compelling story of real-life combat soldiers but _The Pacific_, to my eye, combined random violence with pointless flirtation. _Big Little Lies Season 1_ was a great miniseries, with a great story and interesting conflicts. Season 2 was good in its own way, I suppose, but I like **good stories**. One of my favorite miniseries doesn’t appear with the Google query: _Smiley’s People_, with Alec Guiness playing John le Carré’s famous hero. Curiously I liked _Smiley’s People_ MUCH more than _Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy_ with almost the same cast. Can anyone explain to me Why? 😉_Smiley’s People_ has lots of “time-wasting” scenes: Smiley spends much of one episode interviewing Connie Sachs just to jog his memory of the name of a particular Soviet agent, and “wastes” much of the next episode confiming with Toby Esterhase that said agent is the man in a photograph. And so on, over and over throughout the miniseries. Somehow the irrelevancies and the delicious script and acting appeal to me. (There’s a similarly-titled thread that’s not been bumped in 21 years. A new thread seems best.) ---
**Author:** ![f.coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@f.coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/f.coli)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/2 "2026-07-25T10:08:11Z")
If _I, Claudius_ counts as a mini-series, it’s one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/3 "2026-07-25T10:52:38Z")
_Our Friends in the North_ follows the fates of 4 Geordies over about 20 years _The Shadow Line_ starts with a murder the cops and the criminals both want solved, delves right into government conspiracies. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/4 "2026-07-25T12:04:08Z")
Roots, the one that started it all. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/5 "2026-07-25T12:13:57Z")
**The Stand** (1994) despite Molly Ringwald. And not enough snot. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/6 "2026-07-25T12:26:59Z")
_Behind Your Touch_: a 16 episode Korean comedy thriller about a woman who can read the memories of an animal when she touches it on the bum. I’m not a big fan of based-on-a-true-story shows like Chernobyl or Band of Brothers; I’d rather watch a legitimate documentary or a purely fictional story. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/7 "2026-07-25T13:29:36Z")
I liked _The Queen’s Gambit_ quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/8 "2026-07-25T13:51:40Z")
So many great ones already listed! I’ll add a few: _ **Reilly, Ace of Spies** _ _ **The Ascent of Man** _ _ **Civilisation** _ _ **Connections** _ _ **Leonardo da Vinci** _ _ **Search for the Nile** _ _ **The Americans** _ _ **Boardwalk Empire** _ _ **Aces of the Air** _ _ **The Civil War** _ _ **The American Revolution** _ _ **Victory at Sea** _ _ **The World at War** _ _ **Foyle’s War** _ _ **The Tudors** _ _ **Pillars of the Earth** _ _ **Wolf Hall** _ As you can see, I lean heavily toward documentaries and historical dramas. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/9 "2026-07-25T13:58:42Z")
I don’t recognise all of those, but I see a lot that are not miniseries ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/10 "2026-07-25T14:02:25Z")
For example? ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/11 "2026-07-25T14:03:18Z")
The Americans, Boardwalk Empire, Foyle’s War, The Tudors ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/12 "2026-07-25T14:04:36Z")
Tell me why, please? ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/13 "2026-07-25T14:05:04Z")
4 long running regular shows. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/14 "2026-07-25T14:07:50Z")
Focused on a particular topic, with a definite beginning and end, and a finite number of episodes. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/15 "2026-07-25T14:08:24Z")
But not a miniseres Is MASH a miniseries in your eyes? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/16 "2026-07-25T14:09:35Z")
I respectfully disagree. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/17 "2026-07-25T14:15:10Z")
No. It has a definite setting (the Korean War) but a very flexible format. It could have gone on much longer than it did. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/18 "2026-07-25T14:16:11Z")
I’m going to say, in no particular order, **Chernobyl** , **Wolf Hall** (series one), and **The Pacific**. Leaving **Band if Brothers** on the table because, like so many older (yep) mini-series, it really slumps in the middle. **Roots** is guilty of the same: first episode is really good, but then it quickly turns to bloated filler, and… I never made it to the last episode for that reason. See also **North and South** (which to be clear is too sympathetic to slavers to warrant mention of this list apart from its flaws) and 1981’s **Masada**. They clearly put all their focus on the first/last installments and just used the middle as an excuse to sell more ad time. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/19 "2026-07-25T14:17:11Z")
And Foyle’s War extended past the war itself. The “mini” is the important part of the word miniseries ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915/20 "2026-07-25T14:19:01Z")
My top three: **Roots** **The Winds of War** **Lonesome Dove** [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-miniseries/1031915.md?page=2)