The Thorn Birds and the Decline of the Mini Series

[shmoogrrrl]

I just finished watching The Thorn Birds thanks to Netflix. I was only 11 when it came out and my Mom wouldn't let me watch it because it was so racy (They did let me watch Roots on a re-airing sometime when I was in Middle School!). Too funny. I am sure it was for the times, but it is positively tame compared to what you can see today! Yikes! I can't even imagine what the movie would be like if it were made today. The acting was over the top (although I think that was common back then) and the story was just sad. Talk about a dysfunctional family who pretty much wasted their lives! I felt sorry for them more than I felt for them, if that makes sense. Just depressing. Anyone know if the sequel to The Thorn Birds is any good? I know that sometimes sequels just aren't a good idea (anyone remember the horrible third part of the North & South trilogy?)

Anyway, before this, I watched The 10th Kingdom. I saw it when it aired, but it had been a while. Next up is Lonesome Dove. I didn't see it, so it will be something new.

So all this mini series watching has got me thinking. Why don't they make the epic mini series anymore? There have been so many good ones (North & South is my favorite, but the books were better) but it seems like they are just not done anymore. Did people stop watching them, or did they just become too expensive for what they were? I remember that they used to be these big events when they would come out. We are talking TV dinners around the living room and everything.

Do you have a favorite mini series?

 

[MIGrandma]

My favorite mini-series is "North and South" and I completely agree with you about the third book. The first and second parts were great!

I also loved "The Manions of America" with Pierce Brosnan. I checked to see if it was available on DVD because my video copy is almost unwatchable, but sadly it is not available.

I loved "Roots" too.

I too wonder why they don't make them anymore. It seems like they would do really well now that everyone has Tivo/DVR. I know people didn't want to watch them before if they knew they couldn't be home to watch every night, but now it seems like more people would watch them since they could record them.

 

[BCV513]

Oh my goodness I looooove The Thorn Birds! I was just a baby when it first came out, but my mom loves it. We bought it when it came out on DVD and watch it probably once a year. I've never heard of North and South - I'll have to look into that.

 

[AKL_Megs]

Ah, the Thorn Birds!

I was named after Meggie!

I remember watching it with my mom when I was about 9 years old. It was HER favorite book/story/movie.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

I never watched the Thorn Birds, although my mom did. She also read the book and loved both.

I think the mini-series has pretty much died because they are so expensive to make. That's also why there's so many "reality" tv shows. They're a lot less expensive to produce than regular shows. And the big guys at the top have to have their "fair" share of the profits.

My faves were always Roots and Lonesome Dove. I also likes North & South when I seen it a few years ago.

There's also Return to Lonesome Dove, which isn't quite as good. I think there was also yet another sequel, but I can't think of the name of it.

There was a series done as the sequel to Gone With the Wind. I believe it was called Scarlett.

 

[texasthumper]

I remember enjoying "Backstairs at the White House" and the book was great, too.

I guess you could call "Sybil" a mini-series since they aired it over a couple of nights. LOVED that one!

My mother liked "A Woman of Independent Means" but I couldn't get into it.

 

[tar heel]

Athough it's sappy as heck, I loved the Thornbirds mini series and book. The first time it aired I was working at a university, and one of the grad students who worked in our office was a nun. I had some really interesting conversations with her about the series.

No one has mentioned The Winds of War, which was certainly one of the most impressive series ever with several big-name actors. It, Lonesome Dove and Roots seem to be in a class by themselves quality wise.

 

[bicker]

The acting was over the top (although I think that was common back then)

I think a lot of folks forget this, in their rose-colored recollection of television of the past. Acting is now a more subtle (realistic) craft, and IMHO requires far more talent and skill than ever before.

So all this mini series watching has got me thinking. Why don't they make the epic mini series anymore?

They still do. They don't feature the over-acting that was common many years ago, but epic mini-series, themselves, are not uncommon. Of those presented recently, I recall Taken, Into the West, The Stand, etc. Just last summer there were at least three shorter mini-series that were epic in proportion, Storm, Meteor and Invasion. In addition, there have been several recent mini-series dramatizations of real events (just like Roots): Band of Brothers, The Pacific, John Adams. And coming this fall, we'll see Pillars of the Earth turned into a mini-series. Sometime next year we'll probably see the mini-series A Ribbon of Dreams. Also, some mini-series were so popular that they were followed by regular series. Rome and Battlestar Galactica actually started as mini-series.

There have been so many good ones (North & South is my favorite, but the books were better) but it seems like they are just not done anymore. Did people stop watching them, or did they just become too expensive for what they were?

Cost will always have impact, but as I pointed out above, I think your premise is faulty: Epic mini-series are still being presented. Some of us may not appreciate the subject matter that tends to be the basis for epic mini-series these days, but they're still being done.

I think another consideration is that there are so many different channels for epic mini-series now, that perhaps sometimes it is difficult to realize that something actually is filling that niche. "Back in the day," it was either ABC, NBC or CBS -- period. Now, besides the addition of PBS (which always presented mini-series, but now has begun presented some that could legitimately considered epic) and CW, we've got dozens of cable channels, including premium channels. Also, movie theaters have become a valid venue for epic mini-series: Prior to The Godfather II, presenting a series on film was generally disparaged, thought-of in the context of cheap serials of a couple of generations prior. Now, after Star Wars, Star Trek, X-Men, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Twilight, and so forth, that disparagement is simply no longer the general case.

 

[Sneezie]

I can still remember my mom talking about The Thornbirds when I was younger. I even have a vague memory of how the TV Guide cover looked the first time it aired. I remember realizing that it was a big deal - to my mom! I was too young to be interested in it.

But, OMG, I LOVE North and South!!! I love Orry and Madeline and George and Constance! My sister bought the trilogy for me a few years ago and I take a couple of vacation days every year to watch it.

 

[alexandria674]

Although I wasn't born yet when the Thorn Birds miniseries came back, I have watched and loved the series! I remember reading the book ages ago and then found the miniseries on DVD. I have seen the newer Thorn Birds, and it was..ok, not as great as the original was though. I mean, I guess you could watch it as a filler. I have went on to watch other miniseries, I am currently watching Minstrel's Daughter and trying to find this one called Queenie. I really do like the miniseries from the 70s-80s a little bit better then the recent ones, there is just something kind of glitzy and dramatic about them.

 

[Imzadi]

Ah! I loved The Thorn Birds. I was young. I remember Meggie had on a lavender gown that I really thought was quite suggestive. The top part was very demure, but the bottom had ruching (sewn in gathers) right in front of her crotch that was practically an arrow that said, "Look HERE!"


There was also the mini-series "Rich Man, Poor Man." I think that was my favorite mini-series.

I also liked "North & South." That was when Kirstie Alley could still act, not the caricature she has become today.

There were also the mini-series, "Noble House" & "Shogun." Both by James Clavell, I think. He seemed to be the king of mini-series.

Then there was the British snoozer, "Brideshead Revisited."

I always thought that "Harry Potter" should have been made into a mini-series instead. Then, they wouldn't have to rush the acting or cut out so much of the books to get them to fit into 2+ hour movies.

 

[alexandria674]

I thought Maggie was gorgeous but one moment I remember the most is when she had the baby Justine in her arms and she went to confront Luke (her husband) because he was a jerk throughout their marriage.

"You can't make love for toffee" Dang!

 

[Imzadi]

A little factoid: The actress who played Meggie, Rachel Ward, in real life, married her co-star from The Thorn Birds, Bryan Brown. He played Luke. They are STILL married & have 3 kids.

 

[Muushka]

As was mentioned above, they do make them still. I just finished John Adams HBO series from Netflix. Probably the best I have ever seen. And I have Captains and the Kings in my queue. I wonder if that will still be as good as it was almost 35 years ago.

 

[CharliNye]

Awesome. I love this mini-series, and the book is a million times better! When i was a preteen and teenager I had seen each so many times it wasn't even funny.

I recently rented Mistral's Daughter after not having seen it in ohh twenty or so years and couldn't get over how bad it was. Especially the first half. The actors were all about a good twenty yrs older then the characters they were portraying. Criminal.

I remember Queenie! I was just thinking about that one and the book by ermm something Korda(Alex?). I remember it being loosely based on the actress Merle Oberon who was married to one of the big studio guys back in the 30's.

The one I would LOVE to find is Lace and the sequel to it. It's not longer in existence and it's even more impossible to find a copy of the book! I still can't believe the book is out of print! argghh! I read those a million times as a teenager.

On Brideshead Revisted: Yes the miniseries from the 80's is boring as sin. You really should rent the movie made last year. It's PHENOMENAL! I love love love it.

 

[Villain-lover]

Ah! I loved The Thornbirds. I was young. remember Meggie had on a lavendar gown that I really thought was quite suggestive. The top part was very demure, but the bottom had ruching (sewn in gathers) right in front of her crotch that was practically an arrow that said, "Look HERE!"

The Ashes of Roses dress! I never thought about it that way though, just that she was supposed to be the prettiest in the room when she came down the stairs!

 

[tar heel]

The Ashes of Roses dress also was supposed to show that Meggie had clearly grown up.

One thing that has always struck me about Thornbirds, as much as I love it, is how bad the exterior house set looks. The plantings around the fence almost look like they are still in the pots.

I've always loved Richard Chamberlain in the role, too, even though he looked nothing like Ralph was supposed to look and would have no trouble staying away from a beautiful woman!

 

[Imzadi]

I've always loved Richard Chamberlain in the role, too, even though he looked nothing like Ralph was supposed to look and would have no trouble staying away from a beautiful woman!

I always thought it was interesting how Richard Chamberlain ended up playing a very ambitious Catholic priest, hiding his real feelings and passion, and secret life for his career. In real life, Chamberlain's ambition to be a romantic leading man caused him to hide his closeted gay life & relationships, while living a "straight" image because his career was so much more important to him.

Also, wasn't his son in the Thorn Birds, Dane, concerned that he thought he was gay, because he had feelings he couldn't understand about being drawn to Father Ralph?

I remember, even when I was young, long before the tabloids of today, that there were rumors swirling about Chamberlain being gay. I remember having a crush on him, watching him in The Slipper & the Rose, thinking, "What a waste if he's gay! " --

 

[sunnyday123]

Loved North and South!!! I named my daughter after the sister Ashton-you know the one who ended up a prostitute!! Horrible person, but loved the name. I wanted to name any future kids Orry and Brett.

 

[Imzadi]

Loved North and South!!! I named my daughter after the sister Ashton-you know the one who ended up a prostitute!! Horrible person, but loved the name. I wanted to name any future kids Orry and Brett.

I assume you left this part out of explaining to DH how much you love the name Ashton?