# Longest miniseries ever (or just come discuss the 10 hour movie event) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2003, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066 "2003-07-22T01:56:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/1 "2003-07-22T01:56:57Z")
Remember the good ole days when miniseries used to be a REAL TV event? Not just a 4 hour pilot or made-for-TV movie broken into two nights (I’m looking at you TNT and Sci Fi Channel). Of the top of my head, I thought I would just brainstorm the longest/most memorable miniseries I could think of: Taken (2002) - 20 episodes - 1200 minutes (sweet mother of god! It’s like a 20 hour episode of X-files meets Signs! Screw that!) Winds of War (1983) - 883 minutes (All I remembered was LONG) Band of Brothers (2001) - 10 episodes - 600 minutes (Spielberg returns to the 10 hour war epic) Shogun (1980) - 10 episodes - 600 minutes (Hai!) Roots (1977) - 573 minutes (Look kids! It LeVar Burton! And I bet that OJ guy becomes a big hit on TV) Frank Herbert’s Dune/Children of Dune - (2000,2001) 6 episodes -536 minutes (What’s Dune without Patrick Stewart, Sean Young, Alicia Witt and of course… Sting?) V / V: The Final Battle (1983,1984) - 5 episodes - 469 minutes (Ahh… they don’t make fascist metaphores like this anymore) The Thorn Birds (1983) - 460 minutes (Ok some of these are a little girly) Shaka Zulu (1984) - 300 minutes (SHAKA!! ZUUUU-LUUU!!) Shit that’s a lot of TV. Feel free to add your own and discuss ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/2 "2003-07-22T03:59:40Z")
“Centennial” (1978 or so)-- 26 one-hour episodes. Figure 44 minutes per, and that comes out to about 1144 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/3 "2003-07-22T04:08:48Z")
“The Stand” Without commercials it was 366 minutes, according to IMDB. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/4 "2003-07-22T05:28:17Z")
Does Ken Burns “The Civil War” count or is that a TV movie? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/5 "2003-07-22T06:07:22Z")
Taylor Caldwell’s CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS- I have no idea how long but still Loooong! ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/6 "2003-07-22T06:43:43Z")
The premise of this thread is dubious. There is a point at which a miniseries is no longer a _mini_series", but just a plain _series_. ---
**Author:** ![DrewG27](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DrewG27](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrewG27)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/7 "2003-07-22T07:55:13Z")
I, Claudius was over 600 minutes, I know for sure, though I couldn’t tell you exactly how much more. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/8 "2003-07-22T10:37:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HPL \* > Does Ken Burns “The Civil War” count or is that a TV movie? \*\* I don’t know but North & South/North & South II (561/570 minutes) and The Blue and The Grey (398) minutes certainly count. Walloon - Series are usually something like 30+ 30 to 60 minute episodes that run over the length of the broadcast season. Mini-series generally run over one or a couple of weeks and are a self contained series of 60-120 minute episodes. A notable exception was Taken which was as long as some shows entire season. But since it ran over the course of a week or two, it is a “mini” series. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/9 "2003-07-22T11:17:49Z")
Well if you’re going to allow Ken Burns then you’d skip right to “Baseball” which stands at 1140 minutes. 19 hours. Now that was some fine television. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/10 "2003-07-22T11:26:59Z")
_The 10th Kingdom_, a little shorter than some of the others listed, but IMDB lists it at 417 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/11 "2003-07-22T11:31:58Z")
I don’t know exactly how long it runs in terms of minutes, but _Brideshead Revisited_ runs for 12 episodes, about 50 minutes each. That’s–what?–about 600 minutes. I do know that I can read the book in less time than it takes to watch. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/12 "2003-07-22T11:34:35Z")
Does Shoah count, or is this an actual movie? It’s 9.5 hours long. 🙂 [http://us.imdb.com/Title?0090015](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0090015) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/13 "2003-07-22T11:35:58Z")
Wagner’s _Ring_ cycle- about 18 hours. Hey, I saw it on PBS. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/14 "2003-07-22T11:52:56Z")
**Berlin Alexanderplatz** clocks in at 930 minutes (15 1/2 hours): [http://us.imdb.com/Title?0080196](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0080196) ---
**Author:** ![Maci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Maci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maci)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/15 "2003-07-22T16:45:24Z")
If you take a mini-series to mean a series that runs over a fixed amount of time, encompassing a planned story arc, I nominate Babylon 5. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/16 "2003-07-22T17:13:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Taken (2002) - 20 episodes - 1200 minutes (sweet mother of god! It’s like a 20 hour episode of X-files meets Signs! Screw that!) The IMDB list it at 10 90-minute episodes. > [@](#): > > I don’t know exactly how long it runs in terms of minutes, but Brideshead Revisited runs for 12 episodes, about 50 minutes each. That’s–what?–about 600 minutes. IMDB lists it at 750 minutes. > [@](#): > > If you take a mini-series to mean a series that runs over a fixed amount of time, encompassing a planned story arc, I nominate Babylon 5. Yeah, unfortunately, that’s not what a mini-series is. Miniseries are specifically designed to be broadcast in a limited number of episodes, typically in a concentrated piece of time. A series that lasted for several years and subject to annual renewal does not meet this definition. > [@](#): > > Does Shoah count, or is this an actual movie? It’s 9.5 hours long. _Shoah_ is considered a theatrical film. > [@](#): > > “Centennial” (1978 or so)-- 26 one-hour episodes. Figure 44 minutes per, and that comes out to about 1144 minutes. Actually, the IMDB lists it with a running time of **1560 minutes**. Looks like our leader so far… ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-miniseries-ever-or-just-come-discuss-the-10-hour-movie-event/190066/17 "2003-07-23T15:00:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ArchiveGuy \* > The IMDB list it at 10 90-minute episodes. IMDB lists it at 750 minutes. \*\* The Taken web site claims 20 hours (1200 minutes) > **[Scifi.com](https://www.syfy.com/scifi/taken/index_main.html)** > > Visit Syfy.com I guess we can just chalk it up to another case of “lost time” common to alien abductions.😉