Name your favorite TV Mini-Series.

Hi Folks, I was just wondering if any of you had a favorite TV Mini-Series? I have several myself. These can be of any subject-war-western, romance or whatever shoots your pistol. :teeth_smile: If nobody has any favorites, then i'd like to know if you have seen any of the ones I listed?

The Winds of War. War and Remembrance. Both by: Herman Wouk.

North and South, North and South Book II. Both by: John Jakes.

The Blue and the Grey.

Brotherhood of the Rose.

Anzacs: The War Down Under.

WWIII.

Texas.

V and the 2nd V Mini-series as well as it's short-lived TV series.

Some older ones include:

Damnation Alley.

Salvage.

The Martian Chronicles.

There's probably others I have seen but just can't think of their names off hand.

All of these i'd give from 4 to 5 thumbs ups.

Quote from may2

Lonesome Dove

I, Claudius

Rich Man Poor Man

Ah yesss, I forgot about L.D. and Rich Man Poor Man. Thanks for mentioning them and one I had not heard of before.

Quote from gt12pak

There was one I can't seem to remember, but it had something to do with the nuclear holocaust and it wasn't Threads. I think the name of it was The Day After or something like that.

I think your right on this one. If im not mistaken, this one either had in it: Jason Robards and or George Peppard. Also possibly, Jan-Michael Vincent.

Quote from Hondo Duke Lane

My favorite is Centennial. That was a great miniseries with a cast that was great. Wish it was on DVD.

Lonesome Dove is good and so is The Blue and the Grey.

I am surprise that Roots and Roots; The Next Generation wasn't mentioned yet. I haven't seen them but they are the rave.

Cheers

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I had completely forgotten about Centennial, and Roots. Also, I forgot about Shogun. Thanks for reviving my memories Mike. ;-))

Quote from chester7777

I haven't seen most of the ones mentioned, although I've heard of them.

Rich Man, Poor Man was the first mini-series I ever saw, and Roots the second.

Here's one that wasn't mentioned yet, and that I haven't seen - Shogun.

Mrs. C

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Hope you guys bear with me, I don't know how to do multi-quotes - so I have to do multi-posts..

Anyway, Shogun was excellent. This one I think had Richard Chamberlain in it as well as I think Toshiro Mifune - who is my favorite Japanese actor btw.

Quote from Dexter Woodruff

"Centennial" most definitely. Super story & cast. Also, "Once An Eagle" with Sam Elliott & Glenn Ford. Sure wish it would make it to DVD.

Hi Smokey, Dexter,

Smokey, The Winds of War is most excellent. Im currently watching that mini-series as we speak. Tonight is part 7 of the Winds of War. Im waiting for an order to come in thanks to a friend who wanted some German stuff, in trade for purchasing these two mini-series for me. One thing about getting both mini-series. To get the whole story is pretty expensive. The Winds of Was is about $40.00 and War and Remembrance (which is the 2nd half of the story, comes in two volunes each priced at $65.00. Anyway, these series are well-worth the prices. If your a fan of people like: Robert Mitchum, Wolfgang Priess, David Dukes, Ali McGraw (formerly Steve McQueens main squeeze) Jan-Michael Vincent, John Housman, Johannes Meissner, Karl-Otto Alberty, Polly Bergen, Victoria Tennant ( hubba hubba) Ralph Bellamy, Topol, and so many other talented actors--you just cnnot go wrong with this mini-series.

Dexter, thanks for reminding me about Once an Eagle, I completely forgot about that one too. I saw it when first aired but don't remember anything about it.

Also, I think there was a mini-series called: Chiefs -or soemthing like that? This has something to do with several decades of Police Chiefs in some town somewhere.

Man, all this stuff we mentioned was/is so good, one wonder why those in hollywood just can't seem to come up with more series like these?

Quote from Dexter Woodruff

Hey Ringo...

"Once An Eagle" was about two soldiers (Sam Elliott & Cliff Potts) as they went through their careers. Elliott's character, Sam Damon, was enlisted infantry who worked his way up through the ranks, took care of his men, & married the daughter of a General (Glenn Ford). Pott's character, Courtney Massengale, was a self-involved officer who would do anything to get ahead & make rank. The mini-series followed them through three wars. It was very, very good, but I've never seen it shown again nor has it been released to tape or dvd. It had Darleen Carr, Andrew Stevens, Juliet Mills, & a host of other mostly television actors in it.

I very much enjoyed "The Winds Of War" & both parts of "War & Remembrance". Actually, I enjoyed "War & Remembrance" the most. Jane Seymour took over the part Ali McGraw played in "The Winds Of War" & Seymour was extremely good in the role. There is a scene late in the mini-series where the Allies liberate Auschwitz (where Seymour's character had been held) & an American soldier finds her sitting beneath a rail car in the snow. The shot begins long & very slowly ends in a closeup on her. It was one of the more powerful shots I've ever seen in film. (Perhaps due to the fact that it was actually filmed at Auschwitz....)

I remember "Chiefs" as well. I didn't watch it, but read about it. You're right. It dealt with several different generations of police chiefs in a southern town. All that I can remember off the top of my head is that Wayne Rogers played one of the Chiefs.

Why the mini-series format is not as prevalent as it was a few years ago is a mystery to me as well. I guess networks are more interested in those ridiculous reality shows & the advertising dollar than quality entertainment anymore. Then again, audiences have changed as well. Sustaining an audience's attention over several nights is probably harder than it was a few years back. This generation is more "right now, right here, this minute" oriented than we are....which is, unfortunately, their loss. 'Cause, we all know that...patience is a virtue! Heeheehee....

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ARGH, I had a great reply for you and the stupid computer or site logged me off-when I tried to post.

Anyhoo, thanks for the run-down about Once An Eagle. Im sure I watched it-especially if it had to do with the Military.

Thanks for the bit on Chiefs as well. I seem to remember seeing it because the one person I remember being in it was Wayne Rogers. Other than that, I don't remember a thing about it.

On Winds of War: The ending to part 7 showing Robert Mitchum standing on some high landmass overlooking I guess: Pearl Harbor? and it showed him watching an Aircraft Carrier heading out to sea. Also, the thematic music for WoW was some great orchastrated music.

Im looking forward to watching War and Remembrance again. I remember being briefly displease when Ali McGraw and Jan-Michael Vincent both, did not act in WoW as Natilie and Byron Henry. However, i've always liked Jane Seymour and too thought she did one heck of an acting job.

Another mini-series I thought was great was: Napoleon which was shown on A&A.

Speaking of Andrew Stevens, he was in another mini-series sometime in the 70's which was set during Colonial times and was most excellent. This series I think was in 8 parts. I remember a few of the individual volume titles from this series: The B@$t@rd, The Rebel, The Seekers etc. I was at Barnes and Nobles today and looked up books written by John Jakes. I was pleasantly surprised to se that the entire series has been reprinted. They originally came out as book sets.

Two other movie series that I don't know can be called a TV mini-series or not are: The SHarpes Rifles series and the Horatio Hornblower series.

BTW, John Jakes also did the North & South series. The first two series were most excellent but, I recall not caring too much for the last of the series.

I agree with you, audiences probably don't have the capability of watching the mini-series format. I can't stand 99% of all those reality shows. Your absolutely right-it's their loss.