The Thorn Birds and the Decline of the Mini Series

[cassiez76]

add me to the list...

i looooooove the thorn birds too!!

it really is a shame they don't make more mini series these days.

 

[sunnyday123]

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

Lol...he honestly didn't care.... there is a reason he's the EX after all! I felt someone needed to dust off and re-establish the name!

 

[alexandria674]

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.

I have the book Queenie, it was written by Micheal Korda and I remember that Merle Oberon was actually his aunt! I loved Minstral, as bad as it was having an older Maggie I have to say it is my favorite miniseries to watch while I am sick except I never thought Minstral was goodlooking at all but I thought that man playing Perry was kind of hot.

As for Lace, I have the book I found it on Amazon a month ago. They do still sell it! I think there was a reprint in 2007. I got curious and found the Lace miniseries on youtube just now.

 

[shmoogrrrl]

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'd laugh if I hadn't named my daughter, Katie, after Scarlett O'Hara, and although she never became a prostitute, she sure did sell herself for money through marriage.

We just say that she was a strong female lead.

 

[clarabelle]

I really liked "Shogun"
wasn't there also one called "Hawaii"?

 

[kidzmom3]

A
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.

.

you can find the book on amazon.


I love the line "which one of you witches (b) is my mother!"

I also LOVED Phoebe Cates

 

[jldunbar]

I love North and South, this is how I got hooked on Patrick Swayze!!!!!!!

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

Winds of War
Shogun
Lace
Centennial
Roots
Masada (cried at the end, and had a huge crush on Peter Strauss for awhile)
The Day After
V

These are the mini-series I remember from my teen years. I did watch Thorn Birds but really didn't like it. Winds of War was the only mini-series I could get my mother to watch with me.

Then in the 90's there was:
It (only TV program to ever scare me)
The Stand
The 10th Kingdom
Storm of the Century

Now I find mini-series on other networks:
The Lost Room (SciFi/ScyFy) is really good (And filmed where I live. It was fun seeing land-marks posing as other places around the country). Tin Man, The Mists of Avalon were passable.
I watched the remake of Riverworld (2010) which technically is classified as a 4-hour movie. The story line was interesting but from what I've read it was an abomination to those who've read the books.

Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Five Days, Grey Gardens are all good mini's from HBO
The Monkey King (surprisingly fun to watch)
The Prisoner on AMC was a really disappointing remake of the 1960's series, but The Andromeda Strain was okay.

I love the BBC miniseries on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre:
Little Dorrit, Cranford, Northanger Abbey, Middle March to name a few. Next year, PBS will air a new remake of Upstairs/Downstairs. Can't wait.



http://www.listafterlist.com/tabid/...ies+of+the+1970s+and+1980s.aspx#ixzz0nrEW6x1X

 

[gshanny]

I watched Thorn Birds when it first aired. I can still remember the funniest commercial that aired during it and I never saw it again. It was one of those stupid Calvin Klein jeans ads they used to do where the girl sat there talking about stuff and at the end it said Calvin Klein. When it started the girl had her finger in the corner of her mouth and then pulled it out to start talking. She had a slobber string between her mouth and finger for just a split second. How no one noticed it before it aired I can't figure out.

 

[MichelleVW]

I loved North and South!!

The Stand was incredible too, I saw that just a month or so again on tv!

Did anyone see The Shining miniseries? Way way way better and true to the book than the earlier movie they put out.

 

[Nancy]

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.

OMG..I loved The Manions of America.

North and South was good.

I loved Rich Man Poor Man too.

I have to say I never saw Roots.

 

[Lintasare]

Ah The Thorn Birds...twas pretty good.

I remember lots of mini-series.

The Stand really stands out to me as well as Scarlett and The Mists of Avalon. But lets not forget other good ones like Band of Brothers, From the Earth to the Moon and Into the West. Wish they would make more but alas TV is ruled by reality TV and sitcoms.

 

[phillmolly]

They (TV excs) still make a ton of mini series! They just call them a new TV shows and then cancel it after one season or less! My fave is ABC (always be canceling) they are always canceling a new TV show, usally a really good interesting and smart drama, ie Life on Mars, ect. and airing an extra hour of some c**p reality show such as dancing with the has beens, whoops I mean Stars. I am still very bitter over Samantha Who and am fearing that Flash Forward and V are on the chopping block!

 

[Planogirl]

North and South was my favorite too.

I also liked The Stand, War and Remembrance and Blue and Gray. And yes, Rich Man Poor Man. I really enjoyed a good mini-series back in the day.

One that I never saw but many people I know loved is Lonesome Dove. I really should check it out some time.

 

[TheBigBadWolf]

North and South was my favorite too.

I also liked The Stand, War and Remembrance and Blue and Gray. And yes, Rich Man Poor Man. I really enjoyed a good mini-series back in the day.

One that I never saw but many people I know loved is Lonesome Dove. I really should check it out some time.

Lonesome Dove was my very favorite of all mini series. It is very true to the book, which BTW is an excellent book. Robert Duvall was the perfect actor for the part of Augustus McCrae.

My second favorite is Shogun, starring Richard Chamberlain. He played the lead in a lot of mini series from that time period (early 80's). I really loved the Thorn Birds too. I try to watch it every five years or so.

 

[Kit'smommy]

Band of Brothers is my favorite mini series ever.

 

[pl71]

This summer one Starz of the cable channels will show Pillars of the Earth as a miniseries, I'm looking forward to that one, I liked the book a lot.

http://www.the-pillars-of-the-earth.tv/

 

[pl71]

Here's a better trailer for Pillars of the Earth.

http://themovieblog.com/2010/05/pillars-of-the-earth-miniseries-trailer-online

 

[Jynohn]

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.

And I named my daughter Madeline because of North and South!

 

[Daisygal]

I miss Mini series as well. I also enjoyed many of the ones mentioned in previous posts. Thorn Birds was a pretty decent movie. Back in the day. I also like Queenie. Thank goodness Hollywood is more open minded. What poor Merle went through. Her last husband later became Audrey Hepburn's partner. He died a few years ago.

regarding Thornbirds, you have to wonder how things would have turned out, if Ralph had known about baby Dane.