The mini-series is clearly not a strictly American phenomenon (as evidenced by our last episode), but there was a while when that could easily be the argument.
It seemed as though mini-series were ubiquitous during the 1970s and 80s. The first by-definition mini-series in the US was probably The Blue Knight, which aired on NBC in 1973 and later became a regular series starring George Kennedy in the role originally played by William Holden.
But the one that broke it all open for television was 1976’s Rich Man, Poor Man, based on the Irwin Shaw novel. The blockbuster version of the mini-series came the following year, when Roots aired on ABC and became a cultural phenomenon literally overnight.
Mini-series carried on into the early 1990s but were largely done in by budget considerations, especially since people were beginning to turn to cable and video as options for their viewing.
And in my (Claude) opinion, part of the problem with many of these series is that their scope was quite narrow, or they were TOO broad. Roots‘ viewership, while still strong, dropped off over time because we were no longer following Kunta Kinte, but other characters a few generations removed. In the case of Rich Man, Poor Man, if you weren’t interested in the basic story, you tuned out quickly.
However: in 1989 a mini-series came out that was cinematic in scope, that followed the exploits of the same group of people over about two years’ time, and had practically everything in it: love, hate, friendship, battles, heroes and villains, deaths (both expected and not), sacrifices and vengeance…it’s like the Princess Bride of its time (Sean’s probably gonna beat me for that one). That series was Lonesome Dove, based on the 1985 novel by Larry McMurtry.
Lonesome Dove stars Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall as Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrae, retired Texas Rangers who embark on one last cattle drive from the Rio Grande to the un-settled wilderness lands in Montana. The series also stars Diane Lane, Robert Urich, Chris Cooper and Anjelica Huston in strong supporting roles.
If you haven’t seen Lonesome Dove, do yourself a huge favor and check this version out. There are also sequels, prequels, a relatively short-lived (21 episodes) TV series, and I recently learned that it’s coming back to Netflix as a drama series. What’s not clear from the materials I’ve seen is whether they’re sticking to the novel and being done with it, or if it’s going to be another continuing series in that universe. But start with the 1989 original and thank me later.
Because Part 2 is also about Lonesome Dove, the show notes there will be nearly identical to the ones you see here, so you needn’t bother reading them. I won’t take it personally.
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