Word: minis
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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VIDEO: TV' s most- everything- ever mini- series is here...
...that TV historians may one day call the Age of the Mini-Series began in January 1977. That was when ABC telecast an eight-night adaptation of Alex Haley's Roots and changed the face of television. Roots proved that TV dramas, once confined to neat two-hour blocks, could draw huge audiences when stretched into week-long programming "events." Not all the mini-series that followed Roots were hits, but a few -- Holocaust in 1978, Shogun in 1980, The Thorn Birds in 1983 -- have been among the most watched TV programs ever...
...event that TV historians may one day call the Last Gasp of the Mini- Series will come next week. That is when ABC launches the biggest, most expensive, most just-about-everything-else mini-series in TV history: Herman Wouk's War and Remembrance. A sequel to Wouk's The Winds of War, which drew vast ratings back in 1983, the drama will spend 32 hours (17 1/2 this month, an additional 14 or so next spring) recounting America's experience in World War II, mostly through the eyes of a fictional naval officer, Victor ("Pug") Henry, and his family...
...happened to TV since Pug and his clan last faded from the screen. Network audiences have dropped precipitately, and mini-series can no longer count on big audiences. What's more, the rising cost of these productions -- and the fact that they usually do badly in reruns -- have made them poor investments. The networks, as a result, have largely abandoned them in favor of more modest four-and six-hour dramas. War and Remembrance is an anachronism even before it airs. "It's hard to say 'never,' " says ABC Entertainment president Brandon Stoddard, "but it's very unlikely...
Minutes after the anniversary broadcast began in Braga (pop. 125,000), a mini-panic was on. Said Antonio Costa Guimares, one of the show's producers: "It was total chaos." While some residents fled, others rushed to the * spot where the fearsome extraterrestrials were said to have been sighted. In a show of strength that would have startled any alien bold enough to advance on Braga, a local fire chief sent two fire trucks roaring about in search of the outer-space cadets. The program, which had been announced well in advance, was intended as homage to Orson Welles...