Of course, they soon ran out of good material to film. And so we had ‘Lace’ and other atrocities…
My personal favourite was the Civil War epic ’North And South’, a three-miniseries marathon based on the novels by John Jakes, and with a stirring theme tune by veteran of US drama series, Bill Conti (whose ‘Falcon Crest’ theme was another favourite of mine).
My personal favourite was the Civil War epic ’North And South’, a three-miniseries marathon based on the novels by John Jakes, and with a stirring theme tune by veteran of US drama series, Bill Conti (whose ‘Falcon Crest’ theme was another favourite of mine).
It also featured amazing opening credits in ‘brushstroke’ (a technique also used to good effect in 2010's Fox TV series 'Human Target'):
It was packed with well-known names from stage and screen – their salaries alone probably cost as much as a few real-life Civil War battles, and it’s still popular today. I once had the entire lot on video, and I must get around to getting them on DVD.
Next month's theme: Ex Libris.
9 comments:
Bill Conti also did the Rocky theme.
I must admit to having a soft spot for MiniSeries. I've seen quite a few good ones lately. Whitechapel, Berkeley Square, The Triangle, The Promise and The Kennedys is about to be shown on the History Channel. I have quite a few now. They're usually pretty cheap second hand.
"Roots" ...
Was that the one starring Percy Thrower, Alan Titchmarsh & Monty Don .. with the "love interest" being provided by Charlie Dimmock ? ... ;)
I'm curious -how do you define a miniseries? Wikipedia seems to define it a single finite story told in a limited, planned, number of episodes.
In which case, I'd suggest my favourite was 1998's Ultraviolet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_%28TV_serial%29),starring Jack Davenport and the delectable Susannah Harker.
I'd also put in an honorable mention for Neverwhere.
JD- I don't see how Ultraviolet fits the definition you gave- the ending was clearly designed to set up an ongoing series which never happened.
"Bill Conti also did the Rocky theme."
Ahh, yes! Another favourite of mine.
"I must admit to having a soft spot for MiniSeries. I've seen quite a few good ones lately."
Me too!
"I'm curious -how do you define a miniseries? "
I think, like porn, you know one when you see it..? ;)
Bill Conti also did the music for "The Seduction of Joe Tynan".
I'm not musically gifted and not very good at remembering tunes but that tune stuck in my mind.
I searched unsuccesfully for a recording and in the end had to buy the DVD of the film, which I only watch to hear the music.
Ross
It's not a neat tidy ending, but I rather like that.
As for a second series, the writer and director Joe Ahearne is on record as saying he wrote the six episodes as a mini-serial and never had any plans to go beyond that.
There's an interview on the series homepage where he says "I'd really fought quite hard in Ultraviolet to have the end six episodes as something which had a definite conclusion. You know, at the end of six episodes you find out categorically what the vampires are up to and that's it. So at the end you find out that they want to wipe out humanity and create a nuclear winter. And once you've decided that, I don't think, personally, you can go on for another 3 or 4 seasons exploring that. You know, you've been told."
And I certainly think it fits the bill better than the other thing that came to mind: "Battlestar Galactica: The Mini-Series" :-)
"I searched unsuccesfully for a recording and in the end had to buy the DVD of the film..."
That's odd. Most soundtracks get released.
"It's not a neat tidy ending, but I rather like that. "
Fan fiction writers love that too.. ;)
Post a Comment