Best miniseries ever

[KJIM]

Tail end of a long holiday here and since I've run out of things to do, I pulled out my DVDs.

Came to the conclusion that "Lonesome Dove," circa 1989, is the best TV miniseries ever.

What comes close?

 

[DanOregon]

Roots (the original) is better. Lonesome Dove is the best since. Unless we're talking the People vs. O.J..

 

[John]

If Band of Brothers is a miniseries, it wins by a mile for me.

 

[heyabbott]

Rich Man, Poor Man

 

[Songbird]

Horace and Pete.

 

[Riptide]

Orioles sweeping the Dodgers in 1966. A stunning and often-overlooked miniSeries.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

Rich Man, Poor Man

I was so hooked on that.

 

[DanOregon]

Band of Brothers made me wish World War II lasted longer. You bring HBO into it, you gotta mention John Adams, From the Earth to the Moon...

 

[SpeedTchr]

Rich Man, Poor Man

 

[mpcincal]

I remember back when the occasional much-hyped miniseries was a staple of network TV; however, I was just a kid who was content with watching stuff like "Happy Days" and "Diff'rent Strokes," so I was never that interested in them (plus they usually extended past my bedtime). However, some of the ones I remember that were a real big deal at the time: Shogun, The Thorn Birds and The Winds of War, to name three.

 

[Guy_Incognito]

At the time I loved north and south, though there's a really good chance that at that age I had bad taste.

 

[WriteThinking]

An Easter/holiday-related pick: Franco Zeffirelli's "Jesus of Nazareth." It's my all-time favorite -- powerful, full of heart, but searing, and redemptive, just like the title character. It's something I first watched it as a teenager, and I have never forgotten any of it.

I can't quite say that about "Roots," although I know it could be described much the same way, and it'd be a close second for me.

 

[Riptide]

Rich Man, Poor Man was young Nick Nolte's ticket to stardom, and he stole the show for most of the series – and who can forget Ed Asner's brief but dramatic role as Axel Jordache, the plodding, tortured father?

Roots was probably better because of the historical relevance, but Rich Man, Poor Man did Irwin Shaw's book proud.

 

[Vombatus]

I guess Ken Burns' The Civil War is more of a documentary than a mini-series. Still worth mentioning though because it was very well done and set a new standard for detail, storytelling and visuals in my opinion.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Speaking of Civil War miniseries, I've always been partial to "The Blue and the Gray" from the early 80s.

Not one of the greatest miniseries by no means, but it's one that I enjoyed as a kid and I enjoyed watching it again a few years ago. Especially the scene where the main protagonist has a duel with a Prussian officer over the officer lying about being one of the spectators running away at Bull Run.

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

You're going to laugh, but, as a teenager, I loved "V"

 

[Bronco77]

Rich Man, Poor Man was young Nick Nolte's ticket to stardom, and he stole the show for most of the series – and who can forget Ed Asner's brief but dramatic role as Axel Jordache, the plodding, tortured father?

Rich Man, Poor Man aired when I was a junior in high school, and I still remember girls having "Nick Nolte vs. Peter Strauss" arguments.

Roots and Rich Man, Poor Man both were terrific from that era, though in the case of the latter I slightly preferred the book.

The Rich Man, Poor Man Book II sequel was a pale imitation of the original, but William Smith was downright scary as Falconetti, who was one of the central characters in the sequel.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

Agreed.

Oh, and raise your hand if, like me, you thought his name was Falcon Eddie.

 

[HC]

I don't know if it was the best but it's hard to beat "Roots" as a phenomenon. The story was important and was probably the largest number of actors of colour in a single show to that point. It felt like everyone was watching it and as nobody owned a VCR you HAD to watch when it was broadcast. I was 17 and at a party on a Saturday night. The music was shut off and the entire house full of young people sat down in the living room to watch that night's episode.

 

[X-Hack]

To me, the only ones that count are the big network ones from the '70s and '80s. An HBO series that premieres episodes weekly instead of over multiple nights in succession doesn't count. I'm old enough to remember Roots as a cultural phenomenon but not old enough to watch it (I was in kindergarten at the time). I do remember Shogun pretty well - the beheading scene on the beach and another guy getting boiled alive. Winds of War is probably the first I remember watching in its entirety. Blue and Gray is probably my favorite. Centennial (watched parts of it - Richard Chamberlain really was all over the miniseries scene - a poor man's Peter O'Toole) and Marco Polo were pretty solid too.