TV Movies and miniseries that you liked
- Thread starter EmoBorg
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My favorite is probably Lonesome Dove. I didn't really like Westerns all that much until this miniseries. On top of the great story, the casting was excellent.
The first things that come to mind when I think of a great mini-series are John Adams, on HBO, and I, Claudius on PBS. Both of these are absolutely brilliant--perfect casting, incredibly well-written, intelligent and truly gripping to watch.
"Duel," of course. Steven Spielberg's first movie, written by Richard Matheson, based on his short story. (You know, the one where Dennis Weaver is stalked by a truck.)
Also: "The Night Stalker"--the very first Kolchak TV-movie, which at, at one time, was the highest-rated TV-movie in history (And also scripted by Matheson, based on the novel by Jeff Rice._
Also: "The Night Stalker"--the very first Kolchak TV-movie, which at, at one time, was the highest-rated TV-movie in history (And also scripted by Matheson, based on the novel by Jeff Rice._
No contest: From the Earth to the Moon. One of the greatest shows I have ever seen in my life.
Heck yes! I loved that miniseries (Merlin). Been trying to get another copy of it for years since my old VHS copy doesn't work anymore
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Heck yes! I loved that miniseries (Merlin). Been trying to get another copy of it for years since my old VHS copy doesn't work anymore
As I recall, there was also a novelization by Rosemary Edghill, published some time after the mini-series first aired.
Yes indeed. Probably still the single best made-for-TV production I've ever seen. My wife and I watch it every year or so. It's also highly quotable, at least in my family.
Terrific. Shot very cinematically, contrary to the conventional wisdom of the day. I first remember seeing it as a rerun at my grandparents'. It was a nice weekend afternoon and there was a family get-together, but instead of going outside everybody, young and old, just ended up crammed in the living room and riveted to the TV.
I was too young to remember it but I remember being scared to watch the series.
I Claudius, From Earth to the Moon, Band of Brothers, The Pacific, all great. A couple more:
Danger UXB. I don't know if it was considered a mini-series in the UK, but in the US, where it was shown on PBS Masterpiece Theater, I think it qualifies. A fact-based story that follows an Army squad of colorful characters as they defuse unexploded Luftwaffe bombs around England in WW2. They basically have to make up the job as they go along, hoping not to be blown up as they try new tricks, while the Germans invent ever-more dangerous and booby-trapped fuzes. Great characters, great suspense, great sense of time and place and even a nice romance. Not every character is likable, and no character is safe. I saw some episodes when I was about 11 and it left quite an impression on my mind till I was able to see it again about 25 years later. Another one I watch regularly.
The Lathe of Heaven. This was on PBS when I was about 10, based on the book by Ursula K. Le Guin. It was apparently PBS's first self-produced movie, and though it looks a little low-budget now, it didn't seem that way at the time. It seemed quite ambitious and really grabbed my imagination as a kid.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People. I saw those in my teens, and had a hard time following what was going on. But it intrigued me that there were shows that really demanded that you pay close attention to every word and scene. Great performances in them too, although a character from the first one has a completely different foreign accent in the second which was odd.
Threads. Unrelentingly grim British movie about the nuclear holocaust. When this came on I was 15, and I'd seen The Day After and figured I could handle it. I was wrong. It was interspersed with segments from civil defense films and informational graphics, which made it seem more documentary-like. One of the graphics said the Soviets targeted steel production. I could see a steel plant right out our front room window. Before the attack there was an eerie image of all the fire trucks leaving the fire station in the middle of the night, with their blue lights on but no sirens, and just driving off into the dark. To a safer location, I assumed. I didn't like that. After the attack, when some survivors were living for days in a shelter made of doors and mattresses in their flat and throwing up from radiation and half the woman's head was all burns from the flash... Well, I had to turn it off. I tried not to even think of that movie for a few years.
North and South
The Stand
The Stand
Miniseries:
The Winds of War
War and Remembrance
Roots
John Adams
Angels In America
TV Movies:
The Gathering Storm
RKO 281
The Day After
The Pirates of Silicon Valley
The Winds of War
War and Remembrance
Roots
John Adams
Angels In America
TV Movies:
The Gathering Storm
RKO 281
The Day After
The Pirates of Silicon Valley
Hell, yeah! I remember this from when I was a kid; it left quite an impression on me. Handsome young Anthony Andrews defusing bombs......what's not to love? I also remember it as having a great sense of time and place--a whole new side of that era that I knew nothing about. I loved it.
Stephen King's It
I'm also fond of the Man from Atlantis telefilms. Victor Buono in corduroys makes for an ultra-creepy villain.
I'm also fond of the Man from Atlantis telefilms. Victor Buono in corduroys makes for an ultra-creepy villain.
Yeah, Andrews and Judy Geeson were an impossibly cute couple. I liked the show so much I later spend a fair bit on the out-of-print book on which it was based, Unexploded Bomb by A. B. Hartley.
When I was a kid I was also very impressed that one episode had Nick Tate, who I thought was about the coolest actor in the world on Space 1999.
The Olive Kitteridge miniseries was quite good.
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