Favorite mini series/Made for TV movies

[Lei K]

What are your favorite mini series or made for TV movies of all time?

I just bought a mini series I've wanted to watch ever since I missed it on TNT called Into The West. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409572/

I just got done with disc one and so far it's pretty good. Gotta finish it before I know my feelings on the series as a whole.

Another favorite mini series of mine is Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea. Gil and Anne forever! They are one of my favorite on screen couples. :o

[Leo Lakio]

I enjoyed (enough to buy the DVDs) the mini-series of James Clavell's Shogun, as well as the made-for-TV films (starring Ioan Gruffudd) of the Horatio Hornblower novels, books I dug as a child (as well as hearing the BBC radio adaptation.)

[Mokihana]

The Thorn Birds

Lonesome Dove

Anne of Green Gables



Those are a few of mine

[scrivener]

I'm not a big fan of mini-series on television, but I'm grateful for their rebirth on DVD. Though I haven't seen it since it was first on the air, I really dug V and would love to see if it's as good as teenaged me thought.

[alohabear]

I loved
Roots (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075572/)
V (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085106/)
Shogun (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080274/)
Shaka Zulu (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086798/)

[nikki]

Besides the ones already mentioned, I really got a kick out of 'Lost Room'.

[buzz1941]

"Piece of Cake," based on the Derek Robinson novel, is great. Watch it at least once a year.

[kdramafan]

I really liked "Band of Brothers". Can't for the 2nd installment to come out.

[Tiabla]

Lonesome Dove takes the cake for miniseries. I consider it one of the best Westerns ever made, based on one of the best books ever written.

I also like the Thorn Birds - trashy fun!

I look forward to watching Roots on DVD.

The best made for tv movie I've seen is Wit (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243664/), a movie that showed on HBO starring Emma Thompson. It also has the distinction of being the film that has made me cry the longest and hardest.

Honorable mention goes to another HBO production, Shot in the Heart (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0294918/). It's about Gary Gilmore (the last person put to death by firing squad in 1979, also the subject of The Executioner's Song) and is based on the devastating book written by his brother, Mikal Gilmore.

[Kaukura]

Loved "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" back in the 80's. Who could ever forget when Hart Bochner playing a Navy lt. sees his wife for the first time after she is released from a german concentration camp. Mini series back then were just epic in nature.

Also liked the above mentioned "Into the West" and "Band of Brothers".

If you like Lonesome Dove and Robert Duvall, he is in a really good one with he and Thomas Hayden Church (Wings) called "Broken Trail" (avail on netflix). It's about 2 wild west men traveling from San Francisco to the east in the 1800's sheparding a herd of cattle and they happen upon and rescue 4-5 non english speaking chinese sisters who are on their way to being sold to a Madam in the midwest or somewhere. It's very good, touching, exciting. I happened upon it a few months ago when I was in a western phase.

[mel]

In no particular order my faves include:

Battlestar Galactica (2 part mini-series, reimagined, 2003; became the catalyst that launched the current series).

The 4400 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_4400) (6 part mini-series is now known as Season 1; returned for 2 more seasons as 13 episode continuum; 13 episode Season 4 debuts June 17.)....

Steven Speilberg's "Taken (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taken)" (2002 - great 10 part series about alien abductions and control)

V: The Mini Series (1982) - the original 2 part mini-series that led to "V: The Final Battle" (1983 - a 3 part mini-series) and the regular series in 1984 that lasted for about 18 episodes and was cancelled. I have the entire thing on DVD; on loan to my sister on the Big island. I loved this so much that back in the 80s I recorded everything off of channel 2 to Beta. And a note to Kalihiboy.. I can't remember if I nixed Joe Moore's comments about the green baby.....

Pirates of Silicon Valley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_Silicon_Valley) - Pretty good made for TV movie on the early days of Apple Computer and Microsoft.

Babylon 5: In the Beginning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5:_In_the_Beginning) - prequel movie to the famed scifi TV series that filled in some of the holes in the 5-year arced story.

Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5:_A_Call_to_Arms) - pilot movie that launched the short lived series "Crusade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusade_%28TV_series%29)" which among the cast members was Daniel Dae Kim of the "Lost" series.

I have all of the DVDs relating to Babylon 5.

I saw Roots 2 in the early 1980s but never saw the original. I'd like to see that.

Holocaust: This was about as riveting as the more famous "Shindler's List" regarding the atrocities in Nazi Germany.

[Mokihana]

If you like Lonesome Dove and Robert Duvall, he is in a really good one with he and Thomas Hayden Church (Wings) called "Broken Trail" (avail on netflix). It's about 2 wild west men traveling from San Francisco to the east in the 1800's sheparding a herd of cattle and they happen upon and rescue 4-5 non english speaking chinese sisters who are on their way to being sold to a Madam in the midwest or somewhere. It's very good, touching, exciting. I happened upon it a few months ago when I was in a western phase.

You're right! This series was fabulous! We watched it right after watching Lonesome Dove.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

East of Eden (http://www.amazon.com/East-Eden-Mini-Jane-Seymour/dp/B000FHC9TI/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-5653071-7058504?ie=UTF8&s=video&qid=1180163463&sr=1-1) with Jane Seymour (I had a crush on Bruce Boxleitner)
The Day After (http://www.amazon.com/Day-After-Jason-Robards/dp/B000059PR5/ref=sr_1_3/102-5653071-7058504?ie=UTF8&s=video&qid=1180163530&sr=1-3) which scarred my teen existence
the last miniseries that rocked my world was The Stand (http://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Kings-Stand-Rick-Aviles/dp/6303391958/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/102-5653071-7058504?ie=UTF8&s=video&qid=1180163644&sr=1-2)because I thought it was faithful to one of my most favorite books read in my formative teen years.

[mel]

East of Eden (http://www.amazon.com/East-Eden-Mini-Jane-Seymour/dp/B000FHC9TI/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-5653071-7058504?ie=UTF8&s=video&qid=1180163463&sr=1-1) with Jane Seymour (I had a crush on Bruce Boxleitner)
The Day After (http://www.amazon.com/Day-After-Jason-Robards/dp/B000059PR5/ref=sr_1_3/102-5653071-7058504?ie=UTF8&s=video&qid=1180163530&sr=1-3) which scarred my teen existence


If you like Bruce Boxleitner, there are about 85 episodes of Babylon 5 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5)in which he is the star and 4 TV movies based on the series which he is also in. I mentioned 2 of them above.

"The Day After" is one of the best nuclear holocaust movies/mini-series ever. Another good nuclear disaster flick is a British movie that I caught on TBS in the mid 1980s called "Threads (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads)".

[ChicagoGuy75]

I'm not a big fan of mini-series on television, but I'm grateful for their rebirth on DVD. Though I haven't seen it since it was first on the air, I really dug V and would love to see if it's as good as teenaged me thought.

One of the local cable stations here played "V" a few months back. I have to say it was really hard to watch.:(

Then again, alot of things from childhood seemed great til I looked for them like a video I liked back then but now don't care for it - Art of Noise "Closer to Edit" is a good example.

My Fav was Band of Brothers.

[Lei K]

Just finished Into the West. I cried. And cried. And cried. Some great actors! I gotta say makes me extra happy I have Irene Bedard's (Margaret Light Shines) autograph. I got that during a Pow Wow a few years ago where she was also selling her own brand of clothes, Native Wear I think it was called.