Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries
Encyclopedia
The Primetime Emmy Award
for Outstanding Miniseries represents excellence in the category of miniseries that are considered either six hours or more, or more than two parts.
What has been unique about this award in recent years is that there almost always has been at least one nominee that is a British
miniseries originating from Great Britain
. For example, the 2005
winner was The Lost Prince
, which happened to be that year's British entry. The 2006 winner, Elizabeth I
, was also a British miniseries, although it was a co-production with American television network HBO. Likewise, the 2009
winner, Little Dorrit
, was a co-production of British and American companies (in this case, the BBC
and PBS). In 2011, due to a limited amount of numbers of miniseries in recent years, the academy merged this and the made for television movie
category together by calling it Outstanding Miniseries or Movie.
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...
for Outstanding Miniseries represents excellence in the category of miniseries that are considered either six hours or more, or more than two parts.
What has been unique about this award in recent years is that there almost always has been at least one nominee that is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
miniseries originating from Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. For example, the 2005
2005 in television
The year 2005 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 2005.For the American TV schedule, see: 2005–06 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-Miniseries:...
winner was The Lost Prince
The Lost Prince
The Lost Prince is an acclaimed British television drama serial, produced by Talkback Thames for the BBC and originally broadcast in two episodes on BBC One in January 2003...
, which happened to be that year's British entry. The 2006 winner, Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (TV series)
Elizabeth I is a 2005 British television miniseries directed by Tom Hooper. The teleplay by Nigel Williams concentrates on the last 25 years of the nearly 45-year-long reign of Elizabeth I of England....
, was also a British miniseries, although it was a co-production with American television network HBO. Likewise, the 2009
2009 in television
The following is a list of events affecting American television in 2009. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and new channel launches.-January:-February:-March:-April:-May:-June:-July:-August:...
winner, Little Dorrit
Little Dorrit (TV serial)
Little Dorrit is a 2008 British television serial directed by Adam Smith, Dearbhla Walsh, and Diarmuid Lawrence. The teleplay by Andrew Davies is based on the serial novel of the same title by Charles Dickens, originally published between 1855 and 1857....
, was a co-production of British and American companies (in this case, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and PBS). In 2011, due to a limited amount of numbers of miniseries in recent years, the academy merged this and the made for television movie
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie
This is a list of the winners of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie, which is awarded since 1992. The category was originally called Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special.-1980s:*1980: The Miracle Worker...
category together by calling it Outstanding Miniseries or Movie.
1970s
- 1973: Tom Brown's Schooldays (PBS)
- The Last of the MohicansThe Last of the Mohicans (1971 series)The Last of the Mohicans is a 1971 BBC serial, based on James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Last of the Mohicans.It was shown during the Sunday tea-time slot on BBC1, which at that time often put on faithful adaptations of classic novels aimed at a family audience...
(PBS) - The Life of Leonardo da VinciThe Life of Leonardo da VinciThe Life of Leonardo da Vinci is a 1971 Italian television miniseries dramatizing the life of the Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci....
(CBS)
- The Last of the Mohicans
- 1974: Columbo: Double Exposure (NBC)
- The Blue KnightThe Blue Knight (TV series)The Blue Knight was a CBS Crime TV series, running in 1975 and 1976, starring George Kennedy as Officer Bumper Morgan. The show was a based on a novel by author Joseph Wambaugh and produced by Lorimar Productions.- Plot :...
(NBC) - McCloud (NBC)
- The Blue Knight
- 1975: Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin (TV miniseries)Benjamin Franklin is a 1974 American television miniseries that chronicles the life of Benjamin Franklin. It was broadcast by CBS. It won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series.-Cast:*Willie Aames as Franklin at age 12...
(CBS)- Columbo (NBC)
- McCloud (NBC)
- 1976: Upstairs, DownstairsUpstairs, DownstairsUpstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a...
(PBS)- The Adams ChroniclesThe Adams ChroniclesThe Adams Chronicles is a thirteen-episode miniseries by PBS that aired in 1976 to commemorate the American Bicentennial.-Synopsis:The series chronicles the story of the Adams political family over a 150-year span, including John Adams , his wife Abigail Adams, his son John Quincy Adams The Adams...
(PBS) - Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (PBS)
- The LawThe Law- Music :* The Law , an English rock group** The Law * The Law , an indie rock band from Scotland* The Law * "The Law", a song by Leonard Cohen on the album Various Positions- Film :...
(NBC) - Rich Man, Poor ManRich Man, Poor Man (TV miniseries)Rich Man, Poor Man was a 1976 American television miniseries that aired on ABC in one-hour episodes at 10:00pm ET/PT on Monday night for twelve weeks, beginning February 1. It was produced by Universal Television and was the second time programming of this nature had been attempted. The first TV...
(ABC)
- The Adams Chronicles
- 1977: RootsRoots (TV miniseries)Roots is a 1977 American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's fictional novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Roots received 36 Emmy Award nominations, winning nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings with the finale still...
(ABC)- The Adams ChroniclesThe Adams ChroniclesThe Adams Chronicles is a thirteen-episode miniseries by PBS that aired in 1976 to commemorate the American Bicentennial.-Synopsis:The series chronicles the story of the Adams political family over a 150-year span, including John Adams , his wife Abigail Adams, his son John Quincy Adams The Adams...
(PBS) - Captains and the KingsCaptains and the KingsCaptains and the Kings is a 1972 historical novel by Taylor Caldwell chronicling the rise to wealth and power of an Irish immigrant, Joseph Francis Xavier Armagh, who arrives penniless as a teenager in the United States of America...
(NBC) - Madame BovaryMadame BovaryMadame Bovary is Gustave Flaubert's first published novel and is considered his masterpiece. The story focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life...
(PBS) - The MoneychangersThe MoneychangersThe Moneychangers is a 1975 novel written by Arthur Hailey. The plot revolves around the politics inside a major bank.-Plot summary:As the novel begins, the position of CEO of one of America's largest banks, First Mercantile American is about to become vacant due to the terminal...
(NBC)
- The Adams Chronicles
- 1978: Holocaust (NBC)
- Anna KareninaAdaptations of Anna KareninaThis is a list of adaptations of Anna Karenina. Anna Karenina is a novel by Leo Tolstoy.-Drama :* 1907: Anna Karénine by French playwright Edmond Guiraud....
(PBS) - I, ClaudiusI, Claudius (TV series)I, Claudius is a 1976 BBC Television adaptation of Robert Graves' I, Claudius and Claudius the God. Written by Jack Pulman, it proved one of the corporation's most successful drama serials of all time...
(PBS) - King (NBC)
- Washington: Behind Closed Doors (ABC)
- Anna Karenina
- 1979: Roots: The Next GenerationsRoots: The Next GenerationsRoots: The Next Generations is a 1979 television miniseries that continues the story of the family of Alex Haley from the 1880s, and their life in Henning, Tennessee, to the 1960s, with Haley researching his family history and his travels to Africa to learn of his ancestor, Kunta Kinte...
(ABC)- Backstairs at the White HouseBackstairs at the White House (miniseries)Backstairs at the White House is a 1979 NBC television miniseries based on the book My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House by Lillian Rogers Parks...
(NBC) - Blind Ambition (CBS)
- Backstairs at the White House
1980s
- 1980: Edward & Mrs. Simpson (SYN)
- Disraeli (PBS)
- The Duchess of Duke StreetThe Duchess of Duke StreetThe Duchess Of Duke Street is a BBC television drama series set in London between 1900 and 1935. It was created by John Hawkesworth, the former producer of the highly successful ITV period drama Upstairs, Downstairs...
(PBS) - The Scarlett O'Hara WarThe Scarlett O'Hara WarThe Scarlett O'Hara War is a 1980 made for TV movie directed by John Erman. It is based on the novel Moviola by Garson Kanin. The film is set against the backdrop of late 1930s Hollywood as the search for Scarlett O'Hara begins to unfold.- Synopsis :...
(NBC)
- 1981: ShōgunShogun (TV miniseries)Shōgun is an American television miniseries based on the namesake novel by James Clavell. As with the novel, the title is often shown as Shōgun in order to conform to Hepburn romanization. The miniseries was broadcast over five nights, between September 15 and September 19, 1980 on NBC in the...
(NBC)- East of Eden (ABC)
- MasadaMasada (miniseries)Masada is an American television miniseries that aired on ABC in April 1981. Advertised by the network as an "ABC Novel for Television," it was a fictionalized account of the historical siege of the Masada citadel in Israel by legions of the Roman Empire in AD 73. The TV series' script is based on...
(ABC) - Rumpole of the BaileyRumpole of the BaileyRumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer which starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an ageing London barrister who defends any and all clients...
(PBS) - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, SpyTinker, Tailor, Soldier, SpyTinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a 1974 British spy novel by John le Carré, featuring George Smiley. Smiley is a middle-aged, taciturn, perspicacious intelligence expert in forced retirement. He is recalled to hunt down a Soviet mole in the "Circus", the highest echelon of the Secret Intelligence...
(PBS)
- 1982: Marco Polo (NBC)
- Brideshead RevisitedBrideshead Revisited (TV serial)Brideshead Revisited is a 1981 British television serial produced by Granada Television for broadcast by the ITV network. The teleplay is based on Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited...
(PBS) - Flickers (PBS)
- OppenheimerOppenheimer (TV miniseries)Oppenheimer is a television serial about J. Robert Oppenheimer, produced by the BBC. It began broadcast in the United Kingdom on 29 October 1980 and in the United States on 11 May 1982...
(PBS) - A Town Like AliceA Town Like AliceA Town Like Alice is a novel by the British author Nevil Shute about a young Englishwoman in Malaya during World War II and in outback Australia post-war....
(PBS)
- Brideshead Revisited
- 1983: Nicholas Nickleby (SYN)
- Smiley's PeopleSmiley's PeopleSmiley's People is a spy novel by John le Carré, published in 1979. Featuring British master-spy George Smiley, it is the third and final novel of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Honourable Schoolboy...
(SYN) - The Thorn BirdsThe Thorn Birds (TV miniseries)The Thorn Birds is a television mini-series broadcast on ABC between 27 and 30 March 1983. It starred Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Barbara Stanwyck, Christopher Plummer, Richard Kiley, Bryan Brown, Mare Winningham, Philip Anglim and Jean Simmons...
(ABC) - To Serve Them All My DaysTo Serve Them All My DaysTo Serve Them All My Days is a novel by British author R. F. Delderfield.First published in 1972, the book was adapted for television in 1980...
(CBS) - The Winds of WarThe Winds of WarThe Winds of War is Herman Wouk's second book about World War II, the first being The Caine Mutiny . Published in 1971, it was followed up seven years later by War and Remembrance; originally conceived as one volume, Wouk decided to break it in two when he realized it took nearly 1000 pages just to...
(CBS)
- Smiley's People
- 1984: Concealed EnemiesConcealed EnemiesConcealed Enemies is an American television docudrama of the events leading to the arrest, conviction, and imprisonment of former U.S. State Department official Alger Hiss....
(PBS)- ChiefsChiefs (TV miniseries)Chiefs is a miniseries based upon the novel of the same name by Stuart Woods. It was broadcast on CBS over three nights in November 1983. It was directed by Jerry London, and stars Charlton Heston, Keith Carradine, Stephen Collins, Danny Glover, Wayne Rogers and Billy Dee Williams...
(CBS) - George WashingtonGeorge Washington (TV miniseries)George Washington is a 1984 television miniseries directed by Buzz Kulik. The miniseries, released in three parts, chronicles the life of George Washington, the 1st President of the United States, from age 11 to age 51. George Washington is based on the biography by James Thomas Flexner.The...
(CBS) - Nancy Astor (PBS)
- Reilly: Ace of Spies (PBS)
- Chiefs
- 1985: The Jewel in the Crown (PBS)
- Ellis Island (CBS)
- Robert Kennedy & His TimesRobert Kennedy & His TimesRobert Kennedy & His Times is a 1985 American television miniseries directed by Marvin J. Chomsky. The miniseries was released in three parts and depicts the life of Robert F. Kennedy.-Cast:- Crew :-Awards and nominations:...
(CBS) - Space (CBS)
- A Woman of SubstanceA Woman of SubstanceA Woman of Substance is a novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford, and was published in 1979.This novel is the first of a saga about the fortunes of a retail empire and the machinations of the business elite across three generations....
(OPT)
- 1986: Peter the GreatPeter the Great (TV Series)Peter the Great is a 1986 NBC television mini-series starring Maximilian Schell as Russian leader Peter the Great, and based on the biography by Robert K. Massie. It won three Primetime Emmy Awards, including the award for Outstanding Miniseries....
(NBC)- Dress Gray (NBC)
- The Long Hot Summer (NBC)
- Lord Mountbatten: The Last ViceroyLord Mountbatten: The Last ViceroyLord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy was a British television series which first aired on ITV in 1986. It depicts Lord Mountbatten's time as Viceroy of India shortly after the Second World War in the days leading up to Indian independence.-Main cast:...
(PBS) - On Wings of EaglesOn Wings of EaglesOn Wings of Eagles is a 1983 thriller novel written by British author Ken Follett. Set against the background of the Iranian revolution, it tells the story of the rescue of Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord from prison in Tehran by a team of Electronic Data Systems executives led by retired Col....
(NBC)
- 1987: A Year in the LifeA Year in the LifeA Year in the Life was a 1986 Emmy Award–winning miniseries and a one hour dramatic series which ran on NBC during the 1987–1988 television season, created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey A Year in the Life was a 1986 Emmy Award–winning miniseries and a one hour dramatic series which ran on NBC...
(NBC)- Anastasia: The Mystery of AnnaAnastasia: The Mystery of AnnaAnastasia: The Mystery of Anna is a 1986 TV movie, starring Amy Irving, Olivia de Havilland and Jan Niklas. The film was loosely based on the story of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia and the novel The Riddle of Anna Anderson by Peter Kurth. It was Christian Bale's first film and Rex...
(NBC) - Nutcracker: Money, Madness & Murder (NBC)
- Out on a LimbOut on a Limb (Shirley MacLaine book)Out on a Limb is an autobiographical book written by American film actress Shirley MacLaine in 1983. It details MacLaine's journeys through New Age spirituality. The book follows McLaine from California to various locations including New York, Hawaii, and Europe, culminating in a life-changing...
(ABC) - The Two Mrs. GrenvillesThe Two Mrs. GrenvillesThe Two Mrs. Grenvilles is a 1985 novel by Dominick Dunne based on the sensational Woodward murder case of 1955. It was made into a television movie in 1987, directed by John Erman, and starring Genevieve Allenbury, Ann-Margaret, Elizabeth Ashley, Claudette Colbert and Stephen Collins...
(NBC)
- Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna
- 1988: The Murder of Mary PhaganThe Murder of Mary PhaganThe Murder of Mary Phagan, a 1987 two-part TV miniseries made by Orion Pictures Corporation and distributed by National Broadcasting Company , is a dramatization of the story of Leo Frank, a factory manager charged and convicted with murdering a 13-year-old girl, a factory worker named Mary Phagan,...
(NBC)- Baby MBaby MBaby M was the pseudonym used In re Baby M, 537 A.2d 1227, 109 N.J. 396 for the infant named Sara Elizabeth Whitehead at her birth, and later named Melissa Stern by her father and adoptive mother....
(ABC) - Billionaire Boys ClubBillionaire Boys ClubThe Billionaire Boys Club was an investment-and-social club organized by Joseph Gamsky, also known as "Joe Hunt", in southern California in 1983...
(NBC) - The Bourne Identity The Bourne Identity (1988 film)The Bourne Identity is a 1988 television movie adaptation of Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Identity.The film follows the storyline of the novel, with a run-time of 3 hours 5 min...
(ABC) Rumpole of the BaileyRumpole of the BaileyRumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer which starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an ageing London barrister who defends any and all clients...
(PBS) ruled ineligible moved to drama. - Gore Vidal's Lincoln (NBC)
- Baby M
- 1989: War and RemembranceWar and RemembranceWar and Remembrance is a novel by Herman Wouk, published in 1978, which is the sequel to The Winds of War. It continues the story of the extended Henry family and the Jastrow family starting on 15 December 1941 and ending on 6 August 1945. This novel was adapted into a mini-series presented on...
(ABC)- I Know My First Name Is Steven (NBC)
- Lonesome Dove (CBS)
- A Perfect SpyA Perfect Spy (TV series)A Perfect Spy is a BBC miniseries adaptation of John le Carré's spy novel of the same name. It follows the career of the British MI6 spy Magnus Pym from his early days as a schoolboy to his eventual disappearance as a suspected agent of the Czech secret service.-Episode one:As a young boy Magnus...
(PBS) - The Women of Brewster Place (ABC)
1990s
- 1990: Drug Wars: The Camarena StoryDrug Wars: The Camarena StoryDrug Wars: The Camarena Story is a 1990 TV mini-series based on Elaine Shannon’s book Desperados and the Time magazine article of the same name. It was directed by Brian Gibson and starred Steven Bauer, Miguel Ferrer, Benicio del Toro, Treat Williams and Craig T. Nelson...
(NBC)- Blind Faith (NBC)
- Family of SpiesFamily of SpiesFamily of Spies, also known as Family of Spies: The Walker Spy Ring is a 1990 direct to TV movie based on the espionage of John A. Walker Jr.. The film was directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal and starred Powers Boothe as John Walker....
(CBS) - The Kennedys of MassachusettsThe Kennedys of MassachusettsThe Kennedys of Massachusetts is a 1990 TV miniseries that aired on ABC. Focusing mainly on the fifty-four year marriage of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Kennedy. The events depicted in the series are based upon the book by Doris Kearns Goodwin titled The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys : An...
(ABC) - Small SacrificesSmall SacrificesSmall Sacrifices is a 1989 made-for-TV movie based on the best-selling true crime book by Ann Rule of the same name. The film is about Diane Downs and the murder and attempted murder of her three children. It stars Farrah Fawcett, Ryan O'Neal, Gordon Clapp, John Shea and Emily Perkins...
(ABC)
- 1991: Separate But EqualSeparate but equalSeparate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law that justified systems of segregation. Under this doctrine, services, facilities and public accommodations were allowed to be separated by race, on the condition that the quality of each group's public facilities was to...
(ABC)- Decoration DayDecoration Day (film)Decoration Day is a 1990 film based on a novel by John William Corrington of the same title. The award-winning made-for-TV movie was directed by Robert Markowitz and filmed on location in Georgia.-Plot:...
(NBC) - The Josephine Baker StoryThe Josephine Baker StoryThe Josephine Baker Story is a 1991 television movie that debuted on the TV Broadcasting System, HBO. The movie told the life of that of Josephine Baker, an African-American, who rose to popularity in France, in the late-1920s, with her "banana dance"; meaning she wore only bananas on her bottom,...
(HBO) - Paris TroutParis TroutParis Trout is a 1991 drama film directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, starring Dennis Hopper, Barbara Hershey, and Ed Harris. It is based on the National Book Award-winning novel Paris Trout by the author Peter Dexter.-Plot:...
(Showtime) - Sarah, Plain and TallSarah, Plain and Tall (film)Sarah, Plain and Tall is a television film in the Hallmark Hall of Fame anthology series that was released in 1991. It is the first of three installments in the film adaptation of Patricia MacLachlan's novel of the same name.-Plot summary:...
(CBS) - Switched at Birth (NBC)
- Decoration Day
- 1992: A Woman Named JackieA Woman Named JackieA Woman Named Jackie is a 1991 American made for television miniseries chronicling the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It was based on C...
(NBC)- The Burden of ProofThe Burden of Proof (film)The Burden of Proof or Scott Turow's The Burden of Proof is a 1992 television miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Scott Turow. The story follows the character Sandy Stern following events in the film and book Presumed Innocent....
(ABC) - Cruel DoubtCruel DoubtCruel Doubt is a 1992 television movie starring Blythe Danner and Matt McGrath. The film was first broadcast as a two-part miniseries on NBC in the United States and CTV in Canada on May 17 and May 19, 1992....
(NBC) - Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel (NBC)
- In a Child's Name (CBS)
- The Burden of Proof
- 1993: Prime Suspect 2 (PBS)
- Alex Haley's QueenAlex Haley's QueenAlex Haley's Queen is a miniseries adaptation of the 1993 Alex Haley/David Stevens novel Queen: The Story of an American Family, directed by John Erman and starring Halle Berry in the title role. The film tells the life story of a young slave girl named Queen, and illustrates the problems faced by...
(CBS) - Family Pictures (ABC)
- The Jacksons: An American DreamThe Jacksons: An American DreamThe Jacksons: An American Dream is a five-hour American miniseries broadcast in two halves on ABC and originally broadcast on November 15 through November 18, 1992...
(ABC) - Sinatra (CBS)
- Alex Haley's Queen
- 1994: Prime Suspect 3 (PBS)
- Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells AllOldest Living Confederate Widow Tells AllOldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All is a 1989 first novel by Allan Gurganus which was on the New York Times Best Seller list for eight months. It won the Sue Kaufman Prize from The American Academy of Arts and Letters, was a main selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, and sold over four...
(CBS) - The StandThe Stand (TV miniseries)# Project Blue [1:33]# The Dream Begins [2:08]# On the Road to Kansas [3:57]# The Trashmen in Vegas [1:58]# Headin' West [1:56]# Larry & Nadine [2:38]# Mother Abigail [3:10]# 'Sorry Mister, I Don't Understand' [2:54]# Mid Country [3:22]...
(ABC) - Tales of the CityTales of the City (miniseries)Tales of the City is a 1993 television miniseries based on the first of the Tales of the City series of novels by Armistead Maupin.To date, the first three books in the sequence have been adapted into television miniseries; the first, Tales of the City, was produced by the UK's Channel 4 and was...
(PBS) - World War II: When Lions RoaredWorld War II: When Lions RoaredWorld War II: When Lions Roared is a 1994 TV movie, directed by Joseph Sargent, that stars John Lithgow, Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins as the three major Allied leaders....
(NBC)
- Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All
- 1995: JosephJoseph (film)The Bible: Joseph is a German/Italian/American television movie from 1995, which tells the story of Joseph from the Old Testament.- Plot :Joseph, a Canaanite Hebrew, is an Egyptian slave to Potiphar, chief of Pharoah's palace guard. When Joseph is placed under the charge of Ednan, Potiphar's...
(TNT)- Buffalo GirlsBuffalo GirlsBuffalo Girls is a 1990 novel written by American author Larry McMurtry about Calamity Jane . It is written in the novel prose style mixed with a series of letters from Calamity Jane to her daughter. In her letters, Calamity describes herself as being a drunken hellraiser but never an outlaw...
(CBS) - Children of the DustChildren of the Dust (TV miniseries)Children of the Dust is a TV miniseries that aired on February 26 and 28, 1995 on CBS, featuring an ensemble cast led by Academy Award winning actor Sidney Poitier...
(CBS) - Martin ChuzzlewitMartin ChuzzlewitThe Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit is a novel by Charles Dickens, considered the last of his picaresque novels. It was originally serialized between 1843-1844. Dickens himself proclaimed Martin Chuzzlewit to be his best work, but it was one of his least popular novels...
(PBS) - A Woman of Independent MeansA Woman of Independent MeansA Woman of Independent Means is an 1995 TV mini-series starring Sally Field. Sally Field also producer. Field was nominated for Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Awards...
(NBC)
- Buffalo Girls
- 1996: Gulliver's TravelsGulliver's Travels (TV miniseries)Gulliver's Travels is a U.S. TV miniseries based on Jonathan Swift's novel of the same name, produced by Jim Henson Productions and Hallmark Entertainment. This miniseries is notable for being one of the very few adaptations of Swift's novel to feature all four voyages. The miniseries aired in the...
(NBC)- AndersonvilleAndersonville (film)Andersonville is a film directed by John Frankenheimer about a group of Union soldiers during the American Civil War who are captured by the Confederates and sent to an infamous Confederate prison camp....
(TNT) - HiroshimaHiroshima (film)Hiroshima is a 1995 Japanese / Canadian film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara and Roger Spottiswoode about the decision-making processes that led to the dropping of the atomic bombs by the United States on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki toward the end of World War II. Except as actors,...
(Showtime) - Moses (TNT)
- Pride and Prejudice (A&E)
- Andersonville
- 1997: Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgement (PBS)
- In Cold Blood (CBS)
- The Last DonThe Last DonThe Last Don is a novel by Mario Puzo, best known as the author of The Godfather.The story alternates between the movie industry and the Las Vegas casinos, showing how the Mafia is linked to them both.-Plot:...
(CBS) - The OdysseyThe Odyssey (TV miniseries)The Odyssey is a 1997 Emmy award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated American television miniseries. Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, the miniseries aired in two-parts beginning on May 18, 1997 on NBC. The series later won the award for "Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries or a Special"...
(NBC) - The ShiningThe Shining (TV miniseries)The Shining is a three-part television miniseries based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. Directed by Mick Garris from King's teleplay, the series was first aired in 1997.-Plot:...
(ABC)
- 1998: From the Earth to the Moon (HBO)
- George WallaceGeorge Wallace (film)George Wallace is a 1997 television film starring Gary Sinise as George Wallace, the former Governor of Alabama. It was directed by John Frankenheimer, who won an Emmy award for it; Sinise and Mare Winningham also won Emmies for their performances...
(TNT) - MerlinMerlin (film)Merlin is a television miniseries which originally aired in 1998 that retells the legend of King Arthur from the perspective of the wizard Merlin...
(NBC) - Moby Dick (USA)
- More Tales of the City (Showtime)
- George Wallace
- 1999: Hornblower: The Even ChanceThe Even ChanceThe Even Chance is the first of a number of TV adaptations of the exploits of Horatio Hornblower, first related by C.S. Forester.The Even Chance is the name given to this first film in the United Kingdom, while in the United States it is known as The Duel...
(A&E)- Great ExpectationsGreat Expectations (1999 film)Great Expectations is BBC's 1999 BAFTA award-winning television film adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel of the same name and was aired on Masterpiece Theatre.- Plot :...
(PBS) - Joan of Arc (CBS)
- The '60s (NBC)
- The Temptations (NBC)
- Great Expectations
2000s
- 2000: The CornerThe CornerThe Corner is a 2000 HBO drama television miniseries based on the nonfiction book The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood by David Simon and Ed Burns and adapted for television by Simon and David Mills. It premiered on premium cable network HBO in the United States on April 16,...
(HBO)- Arabian NightsArabian Nights (TV miniseries)Arabian Nights is a two-part 2000 American/British miniseries, adapted by Peter Barnes from Sir Richard Francis Burton's translation of the medieval epic One Thousand and One Nights. Mili Avital and Dougray Scott stars as Scheherazade and Shahryar respectively...
(ABC) - The Beach Boys: An American FamilyThe Beach Boys: An American FamilyThe Beach Boys: An American Family is a 2000 television film written by Kirk Ellis and directed by Jeff Bleckner. It is a dramatization of the early years of The Beach Boys, from their formation in the early 1960s to their peak of popularity as musical innovators, through their late-60s decline ,...
(ABC) - JesusJesus (1999 film)Jesus is a Biblical telefilm that retells the story of Jesus. It was shot in Morocco and Malta. It stars Jeremy Sisto as Jesus, Jacqueline Bisset as Mary of Nazareth, Debra Messing as Mary Magdalene and Gary Oldman as Pontius Pilate.-Overview:...
(CBS) - P.T. Barnum (A&E)
- Arabian Nights
- 2001: Anne Frank: The Whole StoryAnne Frank: The Whole StoryAnne Frank: The Whole Story is a mini-series based on the book Anne Frank: The Biography by Melissa Müller. The mini-series aired on ABC on May 20 and 21, 2001. The series starred :Ben Kingsley, :Brenda Blethyn, :Hannah Taylor-Gordon, and :Lili Taylor...
(ABC)- Further Tales of the City (SHO)
- Hornblower: MutinyHornblower (TV series)Hornblower is the umbrella title of a series of television drama programmes based on C. S. Forester's novels about the fictional character Horatio Hornblower, a Royal Naval officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars....
(A&E) - Life with Judy Garland: Me and My ShadowsLife with Judy Garland: Me and My ShadowsLife with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows is a 2001 television film based on the memoirs of Lorna Luft, the daughter of Garland. The production is notable for its meticulous recreations of her films and concerts, and verisimilitudinous impressions of her by Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis.The film,...
(ABC) - Nuremberg (TNT)
- 2002: Band of Brothers (HBO)
- DinotopiaDinotopia (TV miniseries)Dinotopia is a four-hour TV miniseries co-produced by Walt Disney Television and Hallmark Entertainment. It is based on the fictional world of Dinotopia, a utopia in which sentient dinosaurs and humans coexist, created by American author James Gurney...
(ABC) - The Mists of AvalonThe Mists of Avalon (TV miniseries)The Mists of Avalon is a 2001 miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It was produced by American cable channel TNT and directed by Uli Edel...
(TNT) - Shackleton (A&E)
- Dinotopia
- 2003: Taken (Sci-Fi)
- Hitler: The Rise of EvilHitler: The Rise of EvilHitler: The Rise of Evil is a Canadian TV miniseries in two parts, directed by Christian Duguay and produced by Alliance Atlantis. It explores Adolf Hitler's rise and his early consolidation of power during the years after World War I and focuses on how the embittered, politically fragmented and...
(CBS) - NapoléonNapoléon (miniseries)Napoleon is a historical miniseries which explored the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 2002, it was the most expensive television miniseries in Europe, costing the equivalent of $US46,330,000 to produce. The miniseries covered Napoleon's military successes and failures, including the Battles of...
(A&E)
- Hitler: The Rise of Evil
- 2004: Angels in America (HBO)
- American Family: Journey of DreamsAmerican Family: Journey of DreamsAmerican Family: Journey of Dreams is a PBS series created by Gregory Nava that follows the lives of a Latino family in Los Angeles.This was the first broadcast television drama series featuring a predominantly Latino cast...
(PBS) - Hornblower: DutyHornblower (TV series)Hornblower is the umbrella title of a series of television drama programmes based on C. S. Forester's novels about the fictional character Horatio Hornblower, a Royal Naval officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars....
(A&E) - Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness (PBS)
- TrafficTraffic (TV miniseries)Traffic: The Miniseries is a three-part feature on the United States cable channel USA Network in 2004 featuring an ensemble cast portraying the complex world of drugs, their distribution, the associated violence, and the wide variety of people whose lives are touched by it all. The mini-series was...
(USA)
- American Family: Journey of Dreams
- 2005: The Lost PrinceThe Lost PrinceThe Lost Prince is an acclaimed British television drama serial, produced by Talkback Thames for the BBC and originally broadcast in two episodes on BBC One in January 2003...
(PBS)- The 4400The 4400The 4400 is a science fiction TV series produced by CBS Paramount Network Television in association with Sky Television, Renegade 83, and American Zoetrope for USA Network. The show was created and written by Scott Peters and René Echevarria, and it stars Joel Gretsch and Jacqueline McKenzie...
(USA) - ElvisElvis (TV series)Elvis is a 2005 CBS mini-series written by Patrick Sheane Duncan and directed by James Steven Sadwith. It chronicles the rise of American music icon Elvis Presley from his humble beginnings in Tupelo, Mississippi to his international superstardom....
(CBS) - Empire Falls (HBO)
- The 4400
- 2006: Elizabeth I (HBO)
- Bleak House (PBS)
- Into the WestInto the West (TV miniseries)Into the West is a 2005 miniseries produced by Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks, with six two-hour episodes . The series was first broadcast in the U.S. on Turner Network Television on six Fridays starting on June 10, 2005...
(TNT) - Sleeper Cell (Showtime)
- 2007: Broken TrailBroken TrailBroken Trail is a 2006 Western miniseries that originally aired on American Movie Classics as their first original movie. It stars Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church, and was directed by Walter Hill....
(AMC)- Prime Suspect: The Final Act (PBS)
- The Starter Wife (USA)
- 2008: John AdamsJohn Adams (TV miniseries)John Adams is a 2008 American television miniseries chronicling most of President John Adams's political life and his role in the founding of the United States. Paul Giamatti portrays John Adams. The miniseries was directed by Tom Hooper. Kirk Ellis wrote the screenplay based on the book John...
(HBO)- The Andromeda StrainThe Andromeda Strain (2008 miniseries)The Andromeda Strain is a 2008 science fiction miniseries, based on the novel published in 1969 by Michael Crichton about a team of scientists who investigate a deadly disease of extraterrestrial origin. The miniseries is more of a "reimagining" of the original Michael Crichton novel than an...
(A&E) - Cranford (PBS)
- Tin ManTin Man (TV miniseries)Tin Man is a 2007 four and a half hour miniseries co-produced by RHI Entertainment and Sci Fi Channel original pictures that was broadcast in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel in three parts. The first part aired on December 2, and the remaining two parts airing on the following nights...
(Sci-Fi)
- The Andromeda Strain
- 2009: Little DorritLittle Dorrit (TV serial)Little Dorrit is a 2008 British television serial directed by Adam Smith, Dearbhla Walsh, and Diarmuid Lawrence. The teleplay by Andrew Davies is based on the serial novel of the same title by Charles Dickens, originally published between 1855 and 1857....
(PBS)- Generation KillGeneration Kill (TV series)Generation Kill is a 2008 HBO television miniseries based on the book of the same name by Evan Wright about his experience as an embedded reporter with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the United States Marine Corps during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It was adapted for television by David Simon,...
(HBO)
- Generation Kill
2010s
- 2010: The PacificThe Pacific (miniseries)The Pacific is a 2010 television series produced by HBO, Seven Network Australia, Sky Movies, Playtone and DreamWorks that premiered in the United States on March 14, 2010....
(HBO)- Return to CranfordReturn to CranfordReturn to Cranford is the two-part second season of a British television series directed by Simon Curtis. The teleplay by Heidi Thomas was based on material from two novellas and a short story by Elizabeth Gaskell published between 1849 and 1863: Cranford, The Moorland Cottage and The Cage at...
(PBS)
- Return to Cranford
- 2011: Downton AbbeyDownton AbbeyDownton Abbey is a British television period drama series, produced by NBC Universal-owned British media company Carnival Films for the ITV network. The series is set during the late Edwardian era and the First World War on the fictional estate of Downton Abbey in Yorkshire, and features an...
(PBS)- Cinema Verite (HBO)
- The Kennedys (ReelzChannel)
- Mildred Pierce (HBO)
- The Pillars of the EarthThe Pillars of the Earth (TV miniseries)The Pillars of the Earth is an eight part 2010 TV miniseries, adapted from Ken Follett's novel of the same name. It debuted in the U.S. on Starz and Canada on The Movie Network/Movie Central on July 23, 2010. Its UK premiere was on Channel 4 in October 2010 at 9pm...
(Starz) - Too Big to FailToo Big to FailToo Big to Fail is a television drama film in the United States broadcast on HBO on May 23, 2011. It is based on the non-fiction book Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin. The TV film was directed by Curtis Hanson...
(HBO)