Old and new TV Miniseries

Recently I read The Stand by Stephen King and then immediately discovered and watched ABC's 1994 miniseries. I massively enjoyed the book for the most part but the TV version wasn't so great. Maybe had I seen it when I was younger or not having read the novel I'd like it better.

If it's not clear, a miniseries is usually 6-10 hours long and split up into one or two-hour segments originally broadcast on subsequent nights. It allows a writer much more room to breath than a single 120-minute screenplay and so in theory a more faithful and complete adaptation of a novel should be possible. Especially if the author of the novel has the job of adapting it for TV (as King does with his books) . In the case of The Stand the book's violence had to be toned WAY down for network TV; the budget - though probably respectable enough - can't quite stretch to hundreds of different sets looking credible and big enough, and the acting is generally - well - of the standard you expect from TV as opposed to the big screen.

Anyway it got me wondering: what are some really great TV miniseries? What are some you can remember enjoying and have they stood the test of time? Have you seen any recently? This should be confined to the miniseries - Mad Men, Touch, Lost, Breaking Bad and so on are shows that either continue season after season or are cancelled. The miniseries is a one-off story with a beginning and a middle and an end. (Though sequels can sometimes happen).

I looked at a list of past Emmy award nominees and winners for inspiration, but I haven't seen any of these yet. I wonder if anyone who has seen one or more could second them for me?

Roots (1977) about slaves getting taken from Africa to America
Holocaust (1978) with James Woods and Meryl Street
Shogun (1981), a historical epic set in Japan with Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune
Brideshead Revisited (1982) a British one with Jeremy Irons
Reilly: Ace of Spies (1984) with Sam Neill
The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988) a true life crime story set in 1913
Prime Suspect (1991-2006) a British detective series with Helen Mirren
Several Hornblower stories (1998-2003) about the Royal Navy during Napoleonic times
The Corner (2000) about drugs in Baltimore, a precursor to The Wire
Taken (2003) about alien abductions spanning generations of a family
The 4400 (2005) possibly also about alien abductions
Bleak House (2005) from the Dickens novel
Into the West (2006), the story of the West, from Steven Spielberg
Generation Kill (2009) about soldiers in Iraq
The Pacific (2010) about the Pacific theatre in WWII
The Pillars of the Earth (2011) about the construction of a cathedral in the 12th Century

Of course if you know about any others that are good - spill the beans on them too.

 

I thought The 4400 was a regular series...

Anyway, I remember watching Roots as a kid with my mom and dad, and found it okay to watch, as much as a child of 6 could understand it.

The next big mini-series I remember watching was North and South. I definitely liked that one.

I didn't enjoy Taken so much as the idea of it. Sci-fi I love, but it wasn't that good, to me.

I liked the Tin Man mini-series with Zooey Deschanel, Alan Cumming, and Neal McDonough.

My favorite mini-series of all is Lonesome Dove and its sequels/prequels. I re-watch the original about every year.

 

I highly recommend Rich Man, Poor Man
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Man,_Poor_Man_(TV_miniseries)
It stars:

• Peter Strauss . . . Rudy Jordache
• Nick Nolte . . . Tom Jordache

From the list you posted, I highly recommend the Hornblower seried. I stick that on a par with the Sharpe series with Sean Bean

edit: Oh ... and the original V mini series was awesome. I don't know it it might come accross as dated these days, but at the time, I was knocked out.

 

I love the Thorn Birds. I saw it when I was 13ish, and hadn't read the book at that point. All the angsty drama was pretty much perfect for my age. Some of the shine has worn off since I've read the book, but it still gets high Nostalgia Ratings.

I vaguely remember a western miniseries that I got really into, but I've never been able to figure out what it was. I know what it WASN'T--Brisco, Lonesome Dove, or the Magnificent Seven (although I did like all of those, to a lesser extent.) Hmmm.