# The best mini series in TV history? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2005, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453 "2005-04-08T03:55:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/21 "2005-04-08T15:15:53Z")
I’m showing my age, but I’ll add **Rich Man, Poor Man** and **Poldark**. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/22 "2005-04-08T15:16:37Z")
_Band of Brothers_ is IMO not only the finest mini-series I’ve ever seen but up there as one of the best programmes I’ve ever seen across all genres. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/23 "2005-04-08T15:17:39Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > I’m going to second **Lonesome Dove** and throw in **The Thornbirds**. Now, I’m not saying it was as great as the examples already listed, but in my rather informal polling, I found that the **The Thornbirds** has done more to shape and form kinks in girls of my generation than any other film. > > Or maybe me and my friends are just special. I’d prefer to think it wasn’t just us… Nope, I think if you ask almost any 30-ies American female, **The Thornbirds** was _huge_. Mmmmm, younger, hot, before-we-knew-he-was-gay Richard Chamberlain… ---
**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:** [April 8, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/24 "2005-04-08T15:20:52Z")
No love for CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS or QBVII? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/25 "2005-04-08T15:33:30Z")
What, no _Stephen King’s The Stand_? I think mini-series fall into two categories. You’ve got the Sweeping Mini-series, back when networks were not afraid to stretch the story out over four or more nights, then you’ve got the Mini Mini-series, where they squeeze everything into two nights. In the Sweeping category, I’ve got to nominate _Shogun_, although _The Thorn Birds_ and _North and South_ are tied for second. I have a special place in my heart for _The Stand_, as I’m such a huge SK fan. If I may nominate the worst, for me, hands down, it’s that TNT abomination _Mists of Avalon_. They should have made that at least six hours, and the butchery they did to that book made me want to cry. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2005, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/26 "2005-04-08T16:08:01Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > What, no _Stephen King’s The Stand_? > If I may nominate the worst, for me, hands down, it’s that TNT abomination _Mists of Avalon_. They should have made that at least six hours, and the butchery they did to that book made me want to cry. The Stand was a good one & actually one of the last that could be rightfully called a mini-series. I thought Mists was OK for what they did show BUT it should have been six hours for sure. I am glad after that TNT lost ATLAS SHRUGGED. It planned for a six-hour shot whereas I think eight would be the minimum needed. ---
**Author:** ![Kaspar\_Hauser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@Kaspar\_Hauser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaspar_Hauser)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/27 "2005-04-08T16:09:48Z")
_I, Claudius_ ---
**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:** [April 8, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/28 "2005-04-08T16:16:14Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > **Upstairs, Downstairs** , by a landslide. This is one of my absolutely favorite British TV shows, but it ran for 5 years. I don’t think it can rightly be called a “mini.” ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/29 "2005-04-08T16:21:15Z")
V. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/30 "2005-04-08T16:30:53Z")
I would also nominate **Brother Cadfael** as a series of note. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/31 "2005-04-08T16:34:27Z")
I majorly agree with _Band of Brothers_ (which should almost be required viewing), _Jesus of Nazareth_ (imo the best film biography of Christ we’re ever likely to see), _I, Claudius_ (yes, I know the historical value is limited at best, but it’s still just very fun) and _Upstairs/Downstairs_ (though I don’t think it’s really a miniseries, is it?). If documentaries count I’ll add _Cosmos_ (recently re-released to include pop-up notes that correct or update info given in the original), _The Day the Universe Changed_, and Ken Burns’s _The Civil War_. A nitpicking correction to the OP: _The Winds of War_ was actually a huge hit, so much so that the network w-a-y overspent on its sequel, _War & Remembrance_ (budget of more than $100 million as memory serves, though you could see every penny of it). While _Remembrance_ was popular (and had some phenomenal moments, including imo John Gielgud’s greatest performance ever [and he was in his mid 80s!] as the refugee American Jewish scholar Aaron Jastrow) it was too long to get as much of an audience and way too expensive to earn back its cost. **THE ABSOLUTE BEST MINISERIES EVER ON AMERICAN TELEVISION** ™, however, was one I’ve praised many times on these boards: [The Awakening Land](http://imdb.com/title/tt0076981/). Elizabeth Montgomery starred as Sayward (pron. “Saird”) Luckett, the oldest daughter of a wanderlust stricken father who moves his wife and daughters through the frontiers of what is now Ohio. She falls in love with Portius Wheeler, a “Bay State” lawyer unequipped for wilderness life but incredibly well educated, and they raise a large family as the wilderness turns to farms and to towns over the next 30 years. The casting is perfect, the set design is absolutely world class (the way the Wheeler’s home grows from a one room cabin to a rambling increasingly prosperous farmhouse is fantastic), the dialect (coached by Marge Champion) is unique for historical accuracy, the people _ARE NOT_ 20th century folk zapped back into period settings like in so many miniseries, sex is an important part but not explicit (I don’t remember ever seeing anybody so much as bare shouldered other than Indians), and no character is all saint or all sinner. Unfortunately it has never been released onto video but it has a cult following. It is based on a trilogy of novels by Conrad Richter (1890-1968): [The Trees](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0821409786/qid=1112978007/sr=8-2/ref=pd_csp_2/103-4154039-6538246?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) , [The Fields](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0821409794/qid=1112978041/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-4154039-6538246) and [The Town](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0821409808/qid=1112978073/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-4154039-6538246) and stays fairly close to the source (changing a few things- the miniseries goes to about 1825 while the book continues to 1860 for example, and the Wheelers have 7 children in the miniseries as opposed to 11 in the book, but no major infidelities). ---
**Author:** ![laserkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@laserkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laserkitty)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/32 "2005-04-08T16:36:38Z")
> [@Michael Ellis](#): > > Honestly, I wouldn’t call _Band of Brothers_ or _From the Earth to the Moon_ mini-series. I’m curious as to why you wouldn’t call Band of Brothers a mini-series? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/33 "2005-04-08T16:51:43Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > **THE ABSOLUTE BEST MINISERIES EVER ON AMERICAN TELEVISION** ™, however, was one I’ve praised many times on these boards: [The Awakening Land](http://imdb.com/title/tt0076981/). Elizabeth Montgomery starred as Sayward (pron. “Saird”) Luckett, the oldest daughter of a wanderlust stricken father who moves his wife and daughters through the frontiers of what is now Ohio. She falls in love with Portius Wheeler, a “Bay State” lawyer unequipped for wilderness life but incredibly well educated, and they raise a large family as the wilderness turns to farms and to towns over the next 30 years. The casting is perfect, the set design is absolutely world class (the way the Wheeler’s home grows from a one room cabin to a rambling increasingly prosperous farmhouse is fantastic), the dialect (coached by Marge Champion) is unique for historical accuracy, the people _ARE NOT_ 20th century folk zapped back into period settings like in so many miniseries, sex is an important part but not explicit (I don’t remember ever seeing anybody so much as bare shouldered other than Indians), and no character is all saint or all sinner. Unfortunately it has never been released onto video but it has a cult following. It is based on a trilogy of novels by Conrad Richter (1890-1968): [The Trees](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0821409786/qid=1112978007/sr=8-2/ref=pd_csp_2/103-4154039-6538246?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) , [The Fields](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0821409794/qid=1112978041/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-4154039-6538246) and [The Town](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0821409808/qid=1112978073/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-4154039-6538246) and stays fairly close to the source (changing a few things- the miniseries goes to about 1825 while the book continues to 1860 for example, and the Wheelers have 7 children in the miniseries as opposed to 11 in the book, but no major infidelities). I have a vague memory of this mini-series. Was there a character named Sulie who died, and a baby was named after Sulie, and the baby eventually died? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/34 "2005-04-08T17:04:02Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I have a vague memory of this mini-series. Was there a character named Sulie who died, and a baby was named after Sulie, and the baby eventually died? Yep. The first is abducted by Indians and the second burns to death. (In the book, the first Sulie is eventually found as a middle aged woman but has very little recollection of white life, has a large family [who fears her] with her Indian husband and absolutely no desire whatever to return to “her people”.) ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/35 "2005-04-08T17:15:52Z")
All I remember is that I thought they had meant to name her Suzy and named her Sulie by mistake. I was just a wee lass at the time, maybe elementary school. It’s funny what things stick in your memory box. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/36 "2005-04-08T19:56:17Z")
Her other children included Resolve, Achsa, Kinzie, Gerda and Hulda- another touch of realism (godawful 19th century names). This thread, btw, would probably get more viewing in _Cafe Society_. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/37 "2005-04-08T20:02:13Z")
I thought _Brothers in Arms_ and _From the Earth to the Moon_ were both excellent, but wanted to put in a vote for the BBC version of _Pride and Prejudice_. Probably the best adaptation of Jane Austen ever. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/38 "2005-04-08T20:07:48Z")
D’oh! I meant, of course Band of Brothers. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/39 "2005-04-08T20:35:40Z")
I, Claudius. Liked it so much, I bought it twice. I lost the first copy to a girlfriend “divorce”. Current GF doesn’t like it. I’m questioning the relationship. ---
**Author:** ![kiffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d78d45/32.png) [@kiffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiffa)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453/40 "2005-04-08T20:39:44Z")
I, Claudius - I love Livia As Time Goes By - seems odd after my Livia note, but then again I love power plays followed by romance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-mini-series-in-tv-history/298453.md?page=3)