TV MiniSeries Movies

The now-legendary miniseries Holocaust first aired as a presentation in NBC's Big Event series. Written by Gerald Green, the story begins in the Germany of 1935. We are introduced to the family of Jewish doctor Joseph Weiss (Fritz Weaver) his wife Berta (Rosemary Harris), his brother Moses (Sam Wanamaker), his sons Rudi (Joseph Bottoms) and Karl (James Woods), and his daughter Anna (Blanche Baker). We also meet struggling lawyer Erik Dorf (Michael Moriarity), who is urged by his ambitious wife to join the SS. As the Nazis' persecution of the Jews is stepped up, most of the Weiss family is deported to the Polish ghetto--then to Auschwitz, which is overseen by Erik Dorf. Rudi and his Jewish girlfriend Helena (Tovah Feldsuh) witness the 1941 Baba Yar massacre, then join the Russian partisans in their battle against the Nazis. Also appearing in Holocaust is Meryl Streep as Karl Weiss' Christian wife Inga. The winner of eight Emmy awards, Holocaust was originally telecast in four parts on April 16, 17, 18, and 19, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The phenomenal success of the 1977 ABC miniseries Roots all but demanded a sequel to writer Alex Haley's epic story of his African and African-American forebears. Debuting February 18, 1979, Roots: The Next Generations picked up where its predecessor left off, with Haley's slave ancestors winning their freedom in the aftermath of the Civil War. Even so, life for black Americans was wrought with hardship and oppression thanks to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, the staunch refusal of the white power structure to pass anti-lynching laws, and the formation of the dreaded Jim Crow laws which legalized racial segregation in the South (and much of the North). Covering the period from 1882 to the mid-1970s, the miniseries first focuses on blacksmith Tom Harvey (Georg Stanford Brown), great-grandson of Kunta Kinte (the protagonist of the original Roots), and his family. Meanwhile, reacting to the marriage of his son to a black woman, anal-retentive Southern colonel Warner (Henry Fonda) begins setting the legal wheels in motion to deny blacks like Tom the right to vote and to hold "white" jobs. A few decades later, Tom's son-in-law encourages his fellow blacks to stand firm against the KKK's reign of terror. His labors on behalf of his race are rewarded when his daughter Bertha (Irene Cara) becomes the first descendant of Kunta Kinte to receive a college education. It is Bertha Palmer who weds the equally ambitious Simon Haley (Dorian Harewood), who goes on to serve in WWI and to organize farmers and sharecroppers during the Depression. Simon's son Alex (played at various ages by Kristoff St. John, Damon Evans, and finally James Earl Jones) is just as determined to succeed in a white man's world as his father, and to that end becomes a professional writer after his own service stint in the Coast Guard during WWII. At the height of his professional success (largely due to his having ghost-written the autobiography of Muslim activist Malcolm X), Alex Haley pays a visit to his boyhood hometown -- where, almost by accident, he receives the first clue to his heritage, a clue that will lead him on an odyssey of self-discovery, arriving full circle at Kunta Kinte's birthplace in Africa. Although the miniseries' "money scene" was Haley's nervous interview with American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell (Marlon Brando in a superb cameo turn), the climactic episode, in which Haley tearfully embraces the living African descendants of Kunta Kinte, is one of the most unforgettable moments in the history of network television. Running 12 episodes and 14 hours, Roots: The Next Generations concluded on February 25, 1979, playing to huge ratings all along the way and ultimately garnering several Emmy nominations (and one win). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sam Waterston starred as controversial atomic scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer in this seven-part British miniseries. Among the many American scientists committed to the top-secret "Manhattan Project" of the WWII years, Oppenheimer was like most of his colleagues eager to prove the efficiency of atomic energy as a "weapon for peace" -- and to beat the Nazis in the development of the A-Bomb. But upon witnessing the first test explosion in Los Alamos, Oppenheimer realized "I had become death," and he dedicated the rest of his life to the pursuit of peace without having to resort to nuclear armament. As a result, he became a security risk to the U.S. government, and ultimately one of the most famous and conspicuous victims of the postwar anti-communist hysteria. Originally telecast by the BBC from October 29 to December 10, 1980, Oppenheimer later aired in the United States as a component of the PBS miniseries Masterpiece Theatre. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The 1955 film version of John Steinbeck's East of Eden will always be popular because of the presence in the cast of James Dean. Even so, the film covered only a small portion of the original novel. For those Steinbeck completists who prefer a more thorough treatment, we submit for your approval the TV miniseries adaptation of East of Eden, which first aired February 8, 9 and 11, 1981. This eight-hour dramatization begins in the years following the Civil War. Braggadocio union officer Cyrus Trask (Warren Oates) is the father of gentle, loyal Adam (Timothy Bottoms) and hellraiser Charles (Bruce Boxleitner). Enter the bewitching, mean-spirited Cathy Ames (Jane Seymour), who leads both brothers on and causes an irreparable rift between them. Eventually, Adam marries Cathy, taking her and their twin sons to a 900-acre farm in California's Salinas Valley. Cathy rebels against this cloistered existence and runs off to work in a house of ill repute. In Part Three, we finally meet the "James Dean" character: Cal Trask (played by Timothy Bottoms' brother Sam), who can never hope to come up to the standards of his "good" twin brother Aron (Hart Bochner) in the eyes of his father. Cal's "bad" reputation obscures his good intentions, but by film's end he is compelled to reveal to brother Aron that their mother had not died as father Adam has claimed, but in fact has become a hard-bitten bordello "madam". Adapted for television by Richard Shapiro, East of Eden was part of ABC's informal "Novels for Television" series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An amiable Cockney rogue seeking out investors in a bid to break big in the silent-film industry finds that building a business out of make believe isn't as easy as he might have thought in this comic yarn about life in the British film industry starring Bob Hoskins and Frances de la Tour. Arnie (Hoskins) longs to make a name for himself in celluloid, but before he finds his way to the silver screen he'll have to seek out some investors first. It's during his tireless search for financing that Arnie becomes locked into a curious romance with prickly entrepreneur Maude (de la Tour). As the unorthodox affair between Arnie and Maude becomes increasingly intimate, the pair struggles to keep the creditors at bay as they satiate the egos of insecure actors and strive to reign in an egotistical director to bring the film in under budget and on time. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Julian Glover portrays Mr. Dombey in the drama Dombey and Son. Dombey is a proud man who wants most in his life to have a male heir he can pass his business on to. His wish eventually comes true, but at great cost when his wife dies during the birth of the boy. Dombey also fractures his relationship with his daughter after the death of his wife. When the son dies at a young age, Dombey must reconcile with all those who were once close to him or face a bleak future of solitude. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Another of the many Sidney Sheldon novels given the TV-miniseries treatment in the 1970s and '80s, Master of the Game yielded a three-part, nine-hour extravaganza, with enough corporate and romantic intrigue to fill an entire television season. Covering nearly 100 years, the story (which remained astonishingly faithful to the book) begins in the late 19th century, when ruthless young Scottish entrepreneur Jamie McGregor (Ian Charleson) emigrates to South Africa, in hopes of accumulating enough wealth and power to get even with his longtime enemy, Dutch merchant Van der Merwe (Donald Pleasence). Thanks to an extremely prolific diamond mine, the money comes quickly -- as does vengeance, when McGregor deflowers Van der Merwe's convent-educated daughter, Margaret (Cherie Lunghi). The result of this indiscretion is a daughter named Kate (Dyan Cannon), who turns out to be the "Master" of the title. Upon attaining adulthood, Kate assumes control of her father's vast financial empire, ruling her inherited international conglomerate, and her husband, David Blackwell (David Birney), with an iron fist. The story continues into the next several generations, with Kate's lily-livered son, Tony (Harry Hamlin), giving birth to twin daughters, Eve and Alexandra (both played by Liane Langland). One is good, the other evil; the evil twin threatens threaten to destroy everything that Kate has so painstakingly built up. Eventually, they both become the victims of a sneering, malevolent gigolo (Fernando Allende) with a penchant for beating young women senseless. Told in flashback, the narrative comes to a head during Kate's 90th birthday celebration, an event tainted by the efforts of a mysterious killer to wipe the domineering matriarch and her family from the face of the earth. Largely filmed on location, Master of the Game was telecast by CBS from February 19 to 22, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this drama, a woman struggles to rise to the top of the fashion industry, but as she does, her past business sins come back to haunt her. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy was a 6-part British miniseries, first telecast in the US on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre. The series covers the years 1946 through 1947, during which time the British government granted independence to India. War hero Lord Mountbatten (Nicol Williamson), although considered a political lightweight, is appointed the task of overseeing the transition of power. It is the sort of test that separates the Lords from the boys: Mountbatten must not only unite the squabbling factions within India, but also counteract the rhetoric of Winston Churchill (Malcolm Terris), who is dead set against losing the Empire's "jewel of the crown." Once independence is officially granted, Mountbatten is challenged with open combat between the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, as well as territorial demands from Pakistan and the Kashmir. Also appearing in this epic production is Sam Dastor as Gandhi, Ian Richardson as Nehru, and Vladek Sheybal as Jinnah. Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy was first seen on Masterpiece Theatre from January 26 through March 2, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The adaptation of Vita Sackville-West's novel stars Wendy Hiller as Lady Slane, an elderly woman whose husband dies. Her children orchestrate how the rest of her life will be lived, but she takes control of her own future much to their consternation. She develops new friends, and considers the possibility of a new love. All the while she suffers through the complaints of her children who feel she is spending their inheritance. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Why do stars explode and how is the energy generated? What is the effect of all those little "aftermath" particles floating through space? Nova: Death of a Star is a 60-minute science documentary that explores rare astronomical events in all their dimensions. The film features the 1987 explosion of a supernova -- first observed by a Canadian astronomer in Chile -- and discusses its impact on the universe. Witness the celestial phenomena that baffles the scientific community as you travel from South America to Japan to Cleveland. A discussion of supernova neutrinos is a special highlight of the tape. ~ Kathleen Wildasin, Rovi

This spy outing hones in on secret agent Magnus Pym (Peter Egan). Having impersonated so many different people during his career as a British spy, Pym eventually lost track of who he really was -- a confusion compounded by the fact that he knew nothing of his actual past. Ultimately feeling that he could trust no one -- not even his so-called friends -- Pym turned his back on the British and began trading secrets with the Enemy. Filmed on location in England, Europe, and the U.S., the seven-episode A Perfect Spy originally aired in the U.K. in 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi