Your Favorite Miniseries

[ceecee]

truly wonderful

This was one of those things I ended up watching for two reasons. One it was on HBO. Two it was one of those in between times when one series ends and another beings. One episode in, I was riveted. It was SO fucked up and crazy. And we all know where it ended up. So good, I hope they run it again soon.

 

[C.J.Woolf]

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Smiley's People
I, Claudius
Reilly: Ace of Spies
The Sandbaggers
The Prisoner

The Brits do miniseries the best. And yeah, I like spy stories.

 

[Qlip]

See, this is where I was confused, I thought the Brits only do Series, and a long running show is just something that happens to have several, series 1, series 2... I get it though, a short run show, and not necessarily that grand American institution in the golden age of broadcast TV, Roots, Shogun, V, etc. I'm probably not making sense. I blame the new media.

 

[ceecee]

See, this is where I was confused, I thought the Brits only do Series, and a long running show is just something that happens to have several, series 1, series 2... I get it though, a short run show, and not necessarily that grand American institution in the golden age of broadcast TV, Roots, Shogun, V, etc. I'm probably not making sense. I blame the new media.

I don't think a miniseries can have more than one season. That would make it a series. Downton Abby is a series. The Pacific is a miniseries. Vikings is a series. Olive Kitteridge is a miniseries (I should have put that on my list - excellent)

 

[wolfy]

If it gets cancelled after one season is it a series or miniseries?

 

[Codex]

Anything pride and prejudice
The 10th kingdom

 

[MyCupOfTea]

And, while I'm at it, how about Sherlock. They've only made nine episodes of that. And it's just so frigging good.

Oh yes, Sherlock definitely counts! One of the best series that's been made lately. Not to mention Benedict Cumberbatch...

 

[C.J.Woolf]

If it gets cancelled after one season is it a series or miniseries?

I'd say it depends. As the OP defines it, a miniseries has an ending. The UK series tend to be episodic miniseries, a series of miniseries if you will. Each season tells a complete story. If it gets cancelled it hasn't left you on a cliffhanger.

 

[ceecee]

If it gets cancelled after one season is it a series or miniseries?

I say no. If it's planned to go longer than one season, then gets cancelled, it's a series.

 

[Tellenbach]

Kane and Abel (1985) starring Peter Strauss, Sam Neill, Ron Silver, Fred Gwynne, Jill Eikenberry (she was in everything back in the 80s), and Veronica Hamel.

From IMDB:

Kane and Abel are born on the same day the same year on each side of the Atlantic. William Kane is born in one of the richest families of Boston and grows up to be a banker on Wall Street. Abel Rosnovski is born in the Polish countryside and has to spend many years in Siberian prison camps before he travels to New York and eventually creates one of the world's largest chains of hotels. The confrontation between these two men, both striving for power and success, will make the finance capital of the world tremble.

7.9 rating on imdb. Great acting and story.

 

[Frosty]

This might not be of importance now, but I believe they are coming out with a mini-continuation of the X-files series. Don't know when or anything, but it looks sort of promising. Same cast I believe.

 

[Tellenbach]

Return to Eden (1983, Australia):

From IMDB:

Wealthy but plain heiress Stephanie Harper marries handsome tennis player Greg Marsden, and thinks she has found true love. That is, until her husband makes a play for her best friend and plots to get rid of Stephanie so he can take her money by pushing her off a boat and into the waiting jaws of a crocodile. However, she survives the attack and, although horribly disfigured, spends months undergoing surgery to have her face repaired by a brilliant plastic surgeon.

 

[Showbread]

I don't have extensive mini-series experience. But, I watched Broadchurch recently and really enjoyed it!

 

[Jet Stream]

Drug Wars: The Camarena Story is my favorite. I disliked Stephen king's It.

 

[BadOctopus]

I don't have extensive mini-series experience. But, I watched Broadchurch recently and really enjoyed it!

Broadchurch was good, if depressing. It was remade for American television, and it also had David Tennant in it, although his character had an American accent and a different name for no discernable reason. I can't remember what it was called, but I watched a couple episodes, and it wasn't as good. I don't even know why it needed to be remade. Do American TV networks think that their audiences can't relate to British characters? Or can't understand British accents? The enormous popularity of Sherlock and Downton Abbey in the U.S. would seem to indicate otherwise.

 

[Showbread]

Broadchurch was good, if depressing. It was remade for American television, and it also had David Tennant in it, although his character had an American accent and a different name for no discernable reason. I can't remember what it was called, but I watched a couple episodes, and it wasn't as good. I don't even know why it needed to be remade. Do American TV networks think that their audiences can't relate to British characters? Or can't understand British accents? The enormous popularity of Sherlock and Downton Abbey in the U.S. would seem to indicate otherwise.

Nooo. Why would they do such a thing?? Who wants to watch an non-Scottish David Tennant? Was it still produced by BBC America? Honestly, IMO, British tv just tends to be written and produced better than American. I think part of it is quality over quantity. I would much rather have 10-14 really excellent episodes in a series than 22 mediocre ones.

 

[BadOctopus]

Nooo. Why would they do such a thing?? Who wants to watch an non-Scottish David Tennant?

Ugh, right? I hate when my favorite British actors are forced to act with American accents. It's a travesty. Why not just hire an American actor?

Was it still produced by BBC America? Honestly, IMO, British tv just tends to be written and produced better than American. I think part of it is quality over quantity. I would much rather have 10-14 really excellent episodes in a series than 22 mediocre ones.

I don't know who produced it. But I know it aired on Fox. (That should have been the first red flag.)

And yeah, I'd rather have a handful of episodes of Sherlock than two dozen episodes of Elementary.

 

[Dr Mobius]

I feel as though I'm missing a few:

Band of Brothers
Battlestar Galactica
Hornblower
Riverworld
Rome
Sharpe
Sherlock

 

[Nyltiak]

North and South
Endeavor

 

[windoverlake]

I love BBC. Such delicious morsels. I like when they keep it short, leaving you wanting more, it's so dignified. US television is improving: Olive Kitteridge was a great 4-5 hours (actually made me want to read the book), but it's HBO and they've always managed to make good stuff.

Really liked and recommend OLIVE KITTERIDGE. I think the others I came to recommend have been mentioned upthread.

Though these aren't miniseries, they're both excellent BBC series:

PEOPLE LIKE US (a dozen episodes of slow-cooked lunacy -- btw, David Tennant is feat. in one episode!)
THE THICK OF IT (Chris Langham* from PLU is also in this cast)

*Look up his bio before proceeding. A couple of people I've recommended these titles to have recoiled upon finding out about his arrest.

Also, Netflix's HAPPY VALLEY.