Classic Primetime Miniseries - Trashy or Classy?

[DRW50]

Oh right. That makes sense. Thanks.

[Khan]

"Deceptions" was so deliciously trashy, lol.

[kalbir]

@Khan How can anyone not love a trashy miniseries based on a best-selling novel? Sadly those are all relegated to Lifetime now, and it's just not the same as the ones on the broadcast networks in the 1980s.

[Khan]

ICAM.  Like much of what is broadcast today, those miniseries are so dreary to watch.  They take themselves much too seriously.

[j swift]

If Big Little Lies was produced in 1989, Jane Seymore would've been cast in Nicole Kidman's part, and the earnest nature of the production would have made it seem trashy.

I would argue that the script for Big Little Lies would not have been out of place amongst the genre of female melodrama miniseries of the 1980s.  I would also argue when accounting for inflation, the budget would have been close to what HBO spent on BLL (considering they often filmed in multiple foreign locations in the 1980s). 

It is simply that Max has the marketing cache to make a series like Big Little Lies seem like premium television drama.  Those miniseries told engaging stories, but that was the only way they knew how to make them at the time.

Edited March 23 by j swift

[DRW50]

It seems like Nicole Kidman gets all those projects. Not to be mean, but I don't like looking at her plastic surgery and I don't really like watching her act. 

Edited March 23 by DRW50

[Contessa Donatella]

Not to be mean, LOL, and then you proceed to do just that. 

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I'm going to respectfully suggest an edit: Despite it sounding mean-spirited there's just something about her that doesn't work for me. 

How's that? You are free to reject my suggestion, of course. LOL!

[DRW50]

You're right. I am a hypocrite. I'm sure Nicole is better looking than many (including me) ...just hard for me to watch her.

[Contessa Donatella]

You just crack me up! Your sense of humor is so wicked, dry, omni-present. Right on, my friend

[DRW50]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/30/arts/television/richard-chamberlain-shogun-thorn-birds.html

Nothing that amazing here, but I appreciated them writing about Chamberlain's arguably biggest roles and that era of miniseries in a way that didn't feel sneering.

[janea4old]

March 27, 2025:  Genie Francis, interviewed by Stephanie Sloane.
Genie says a little bit about each of some of the primetime, daytime, and miniseries that she's appeared in.
https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/27693/general-hospital-genie-francis-luke-laura-days-of-our-lives/ 

Regarding her role as Brett Main, on the North and South miniseries, Books 1 and 2, (1985 and 1986) ...

“I have nothing but joy when I think of it, and I just did the other day. It’s the biggest production value that I’ve ever had a part in, and I remember all of the prep that we had to go through — I had, like, 26 changes in those dresses. I worked with Johnny Cash, who could only work for two days, so I worked 24 hours consecutively with him. We were in Reader, Arkansas, because that’s where the trains were and he was playing the abolitionist, John Brown.

“We were up all night, and I remember at one point, I was sitting on those silly little chairs they give you, and I woke up because I was passed out and my neck was hurting and I’ve got this bonnet on my head that’s tied around my chin. That was the hardest day of work I’ve ever put in in my life, because it was literally 24 hours long and I was in a corset and wigs and all that regalia, and with Johnny Cash. So, when I woke up suddenly in my chair, I looked over at him, and he had this sort of stone face when he looked at me, like, ‘Poor kid.’ I think he probably felt bad, but he didn’t really want to say anything, but he stayed up all night with me.

“Jean Simmons was my mom and Patrick Swayze, who played my big brother [Orry Main], was extremely big brotherly with me in real life. He taught me some stuff about dancing, and he was so encouraging and so wonderful. I think one of the best scenes I’ve ever played in my life, I played in that show with Patrick, when she goes to her brother and he smacks her in the face, and she says, ‘That’s it, I’m out of here.’ That was one of the best things I’ve ever done. I have that on my reel, actually, from years ago. It was just great. We learned how to dance in that period of time; we all took lessons together as a cast. I learned how to ride a horse and ride side saddle. And then in Part 2, I had to jump on the back of the horse, bareback. Looking back on it, I’m glad I did. It’s all very exciting.”  

 

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[Paul Raven]

Harem 4hr  2 part ABC mini series aired Feb 86. Anyone see or remember it?

A two-part minseries about a beautiful woman who, at the turn of the century, is kidnapped and sold into a Turkish harem.

Starring Nancy Travis, Sarah Miles, Art Malik, Omar Sharif and Ava Gardner.

Pt 1 ranked 28th for the week-Sun 9-11 Competition was final 2hrs of NBC 3hr movie Under Siege which was 27th overall and on CBS TV Movie Child's Cry which was 7th.

Part 2 on Monday did worse ranking 32nd. NBC premiered An Officer and a Gentleman which was 16 th but CBS was the winner with Kate & Allie 11th Newhart 12th and Cagney and Lacey 18th.

[Khan]

I guess ABC was going after the "Jewel in the Crown" demographic, lol.

[Soaplovers]

I saw it one time back in the day when the WE (Women's Entertainment) network used to air 80s mini series.  I didn't like nor dislike it.. but it was presented more as a historical romance though I'm sure in modern 2020s lenses would be considered a sexist movie.

[Paul Raven]

Aaron Spelling discusses the failure of FAA. Kudos to him for fronting the press and not trying to make excuses.

Aaron Spelling: made mortal by a miniseries

The veteran producer with hits in almost every format ran into trouble with his first miniseries try, but remains in demand for series material.

"It's a shocking blow to me. This is the worst shellacking we've ever taken. Now I know what producers go through when their series don't work." As one of Aaron Spelling's characters once used to say: "That's no brag, just fact."

The producer of such current hit television series as Charlie's Angels, Love Boat Fantasy Island, Vega$ and Family (all on ABC -TV) is hardly used to failure. But by any objective criteria, that is just what happened four weeks ago with Spelling's first attempt at producing a miniseries. The three night, six hour run of The French Atlantic Affair on ABC (Nov. 15, 16 and 18) fell far short of delivering the numbers networks like to see during rating sweeps- 13.4/22, 9.7/17 and 16.2/25, respectively. Or, as Spelling puts it, The French Atlantic Affair "could be one of the biggest disappointments in miniseries history."

Production problems plagued the program -the least of which was a delivery to the network of the finished print less than a week before airing. Shooting was completed by Spelling's crew last Sept. 21, which left only seven weeks for post -production work. (One of his series hours customarily gets six.) Also, the show did not develop as an original concept with Spelling, and he suggests that he was never totally committed to the idea of doing it. As Spelling tells the story of the ill -fated Atlantic, the story was first offered to him as a feature film. He was not convinced it could float in that format but did see possibilities as a miniseries. Then Anthony D. Thomopoulos, president of ABC Entertainment, entered the picture with a plea for an action- adventiïre miniseries for November. Thus the miniseries was christened. "But I don't want that to sound like a cop -out to the ratings. The one thing you never know about in television is what can work and can't work. By all indications this should have gone through the roof. It just didn't."

But Spelling, who has made something approaching 2,000 hours of network television programs over a 25 -year career, remains undeterred. He admits that he is not enthusiastic about another miniseries, but he feels as confident as ever in his independent companies' abilities to turn out series television. In addition to the four programs he currently has on ABC and Family, which will make its season debut at the conclusion of the football season, Spelling has also placed B.A.D. Cats, a police action adventure series, on ABC - TV.

And his list of credits is one of the most impressive in Hollywood. Beginning in the 1950's with Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, Playhouse 90 and Desilu Playhouse, Spelling went through the next decade making such series as Burke's Law, Kaiser Presents the Lloyd Bridges Show, Honey West The Smothers Brothers Show, The Guns of Will Sonnett (whose title character, played by Walter Brennan, was renowned for the "no brag, just fact" line) and The June Allyson Show. Late in that decade, Spelling introduced yet another ABC series, Mod Squad, which was noteworthy for introducing the 60's counterculture to prime -time television.

But it has been in this decade, the 70's, the era of fantasy television and narcissism, that Aaron Spelling Productions and Spelling /Goldberg Productions (a partnership with Leonard Goldberg, the former head of programing for ABC -TV) have found their true place in the medium - violence, sex and glamour. Their programs include Angels, Starsky & Hutch, The Rookies and S. W.A.T. When talk in television circles gets around to quality programing on the commercial networks, an Aaron Spelling program is often cited as art example of what is wrong with prime time.

"They never mention Family," replies Spelling, "because that ruins their story. They like to say Charlie's Angels and Starsky & Hutch. They mention those two the most because in their minds one is violence and one is T &A. They never mention Fanìily. It's been on for four years. It's won more awards than any show in the last few years. I don't think I do T &A. "No, I don't think Family was our apology to the American public for doing these other shows. Family was something we wanted to do." (The show, however, is not something ABC wants to do any more; Family is not being renewed for next season.) Spelling is lavish with his praise, and he speaks fondly, admiringly even, of such old programs as The Twilight Zone (a genre he is currently attempting to revive with a development project called Nightmare), Naked City and The Defenders. He readily admits, too, that few, if any, of his programs have ever attained such levels of esteem. And, revealing a little -known side of himself, Spelling admits that "my idol is Walt Disney. That was a contribution. Those Disney movies will go on forever and ever and teach so many children."

In fact, children's programing is just about the only area of television that Spelling has a real desire to explore. "I would sign exclusively with any network that would let me do a series of children's movies," he says. (Last season, he had a brief and unsuccessful attempt at a child - oriented program- Friends.) At 53, Spelling does not look to be producing regular series for many more years. Although like most Hollywood producers, he is always ready to take on that one last project. "I'm tired of being put into a niche," he says. "After I wrote anthologies, I wrote my first western. Then all I could ever do was westerns -'He's a terrific western writer, a western producer.' I had to fight my ass off to get out of that. Because I was at least smart enough to see the new trend was going toward cop shows, then: 'All he does are cop shows.' "In comparison to comedies like Three's Company or Detective School or The Ropers, is Love Boat as good as them? If it is I guess I'm a comedy producer. Is Family as good as Dallas? Then I guess I'm a dramatic producer. Is Charlie's Angels as good as Flying High ? Then I .guess I'm a good T &A producer. Is Starsky & Hutch as good as David Cassidy Undercover? Then I think I'm a cop producer." It remains to be seen, however, whether Aaron Spelling will get a chance to consider himself a producer of successful miniseries.