Classic Primetime Miniseries - Trashy or Classy?

[Khan]

"Mama's Family" even referenced "Deceptions" in one of their episodes.  Of course, they changed the name (from "Deceptions" to "My Sister, Myself") and the sisters' occupations ("one's an axe murderer, the other's a nun!"), but they still mention Stefanie Powers' name, so you know what they were really talking about, lol.

[kalbir]

On the male side of the equation there was Sidney Sheldon.

[Paul Raven]

Rage of Angels /The story continues

Master of the Game 

If Tomorrow Comes 

Windmills of the Gods

All CBS  and again the 80's.Not sure about Memories of Midnight-was that network or syndicated?

[kalbir]

Rage of Angels (1983) and its sequel (1986) were NBC.

CBS had Master of the Game (1984), If Tomorrow Comes (1986), Windmills of the Gods (1988), Nothing Lasts Forever (1995).

Memories of Midnight (1991) and The Sands of Time (1992) were syndicated.

ABC had A Stranger in the Mirror (1993) but it was a movie not a miniseries.

[j swift]

I would propose that An Inconvenient Woman was everything Hollywood Wives wished it could be.  A roman à clef about Los Angeles, set against the backdrop of a mystery.  It fictionalized the aftermath of the death of Alfred Bloomingdale in a wild and entertaining story.

[Khan]

Yeah, but I don't think AIW was nearly as fun, lol.

[Paul Raven]

CBS 1981 Valley of the Dolls should have been a bullseye but it didn't seem  to hit the mark. Not campy enough for some maybe? I've never seen it.

 

[kalbir]

One 1990s miniseries that hasn't been mentioned yet is Alex Haley's Queen. I thought Halle Berry did a really good job in it, and she was quite early in her acting career at that time.

[Khan]

I've seen parts of it on YouTube.  Lisa Hartman certainly brought enough camp for everyone, lol!

I dunno.  There was nothing wrong with what I saw of the miniseries, per se, but it didn't stand out a whole lot for me either.  I think part of the problem was that, no matter what, it was going to pale in comparisons to both the book and the film.

[Soaplovers]

The Thorn Birds is a memorable mini-series and book.

We have generational trauma, forbidden love, haves vs have nots, and an examination of religion and the complexity of it.  I do wonder how different Meggie would have come across if Jane Seymour (under consideration for the role) had played the part (same as the part in Hollywood Wives that was played by Stefanie Powers).

[Paul Raven]

Thorn Birds was a biggie!

ABC -TV wrote another chapter in the history of television mini-series last week when it aired its 10-hour adaptation of Colleen McCullough's best-selling novel, "The Thorn Birds." Expected to capture around a 40 share of the national viewing audience, Thorn Birds powered past this season's other major mini-series, Winds of War, and finished its run with an average 41 national rating and 59 share. It was the first major mini -series since ABC's first, Roots, to have substantially built its audience from first night to last. Competition from the other two networks was virtually flattened on all four nights of the ABC broadcast, but although ABC picked up four -tenths of a rating point in its season -to -date average and came within one -half of a rating point of first- ranked CBS -TV, network researchers predict the season, scheduled to end in about two weeks, has been all but won by CBS.

Thorn Birds, which ran Sunday through Wednesday (March 27 -30), not only outperformed Winds of War in its national rating, but it did so episode for comparable episode. It takes its place behind Roots, which averaged a national rating and share of 45/66, as the second-highest rated mini-series of all time. Winds, now displaced from second, averaged a 38.6/53.

On its opening night, Thorn Birds averaged a 39.5 rating/55 share, surpassing the first night of Winds (39/53) to become the highest-rated first episode of any mini-series. It also broke Winds' opening night record for capturing the highest number of households for a first episode by attracting 32.9 million homes per average minute. The number of homes using television soared that night to 69.8 million, up from 63.7 million the Sunday before and 62.1 million a year ago.

Episode two's national average (42.4/59), surpassed Winds' second-episode average (40.2/54) by five share points and broke another record by capturing an average 35.3 million homes per minute. HUT levels averaged 70.8 million, 4% higher than the previous Monday's 67.8 million.

Tuesday's episode three captured a 43.2 ating/62 share, compared with a 38.7/54 for Winds, part three, and attracted an average 35,990,000 homes per average minute. It ranks as the fourth highest-rated network entertainment program of all time, behind CBS's final episode of M *A *S *H, CBS's "Who Shot J.R." episode of Dallas, and episode eight of Roots.

Thorn Birds' Wednesday finale averaged a 43.1 rating/62 share nationally, one-tenth of a rating point below Wednesday's performance. Doubling ABC's typical Sunday -night ratings to an average 32.8/47, Thorn Birds knocked nearly seven rating points from CBS's average Sunday night ratings performance and more than four from NBC's.

On Monday, ABC averaged a 36.1 rating/51 share nationally, while on NBC, a rerun of the movie, Prom Night (11.8/16), finished more than six rating points behind the usual performance of the NBC Monday Night Movie (17.4/26). CBS's regular lineup finished nearly five points below its norm, averaging a 13.1/19 for the night.

On Tuesday, national ratings fell short of doubling for the third consecutive night for ABC (34.8/50), but left CBS (10.8/16) with seven rating points fewer than it normally captures on Tuesdays (17/26). NBC, which pitted the second half of the two-hour pilot of its new hit series, A Team against the first hour of Thorn Birds, finished the night about a rating point ahead of its usual Tuesday- night performance, averaging a 15.2/ 22. The A Team repeat, which averaged a 26.4/39 in its premiere as a lead -out from the Super Bowl, averaged an 18/26 its second time around.

Thorn Birds' Wednesday night performance left CBS's lineup, which included a rerun of the movie, Scavenger Hunt (10.2/ 14), with an average national rating and share (10.4/14.6) five rating points behind its norm. NBC's series lineup (11.6/16.3) came in six points under par.

Overall, Thorn Birds captured an average 34.9 million homes per average minute and replaced Winds of War, which averaged 32.1 million homes per minute over seven days, as the top ranked mini -series for household delivery. All four episodes finished among the top 11 network entertainment programs of all time. ABC researchers estimate it reached 110 million people.

[j swift]

I'm always surprised by the popularity of The Thorn Birds.  Not just because of the bonkers nature of the romance, which would be odd to criticize because that it is the central point of the story.  I mean, if you don't want to watch a priest being lusted after by an old woman but falls in love with her teenaged niece, then this is not the miniseries for you.  It wasn't like they tried to hide the conceit in the marketing.   But, by the finale there's no pay off, so it builds to nothing.

Spoiler alert everyone dies, nobody gets a happy ending, there's no mystery or revelation.  It just randomly ends on the grandchildren's generation.  I guess Ralph finding out that he fathered Meggie's son is something.  But, by then he's taken all the money, and he's lost any sympathy.  So, the appeal alluded me.  And controversially, while I like Rachel Ward, I think Barbara Stanwyck is overrated and her performance was given a lot of assistance from the score. 

Edited December 7, 2023 by j swift

[Paul Raven]

Another Lisa Hartman mini series that seems to have slipped under the radar was the 2 parter 'Roses Are For The Rich' which aired May 87 on CBS. Based on a 1986 novel by Jonell Lawson. also starring Bruce Dern, Joe Penny, Morgan Stevens, Howard Duff, Sharon Wyatt and Betty Buckley.

With so many of those novels being churned out throughout the 80's, wonder how this one ended up being adapted?

Part 1 Sun #11 18.6/30 Part 2 Tues #7 17.8/29. 

[j swift]

I was just reminded by an Instagram post how truly awful Candice Bergin was in Hollywood Wives.  But, remembering her moving and comedic performances as Murphy Brown it brought up the old debate of bad script vs. bad acting.  I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to organically deliver a line like, “I walked out of a slum, I can walk out of Beverly Hills”.  Followed inexplicably by re-using the same metaphor, “this place makes the slums seem cozy”. Yet, somehow, Steve Forrest demonstrates a broader range of emotions in the scene.  So, is Candice Bergin a bad actress who got lucky with a part that played to her rather limited strengths, or was she just not meant for soap operas?  It is funny to think how quickly she could've gotten lost in parts like this if she hadn't been cast in her sitcom (see Joanna Cassidy)

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[te.]

I just don't buy Candice Bergen as the vunerable type who's just been hurt by husband. I think she was also just miscast in the part and needed another actress to pull it off.