Miniseries (TV series)
A miniseries is a type of television series that typically tells a single narrative over multiple episodes, often ranging from two to several hours long. Originating in the mid-1970s, with notable examples such as "Rich Man, Poor Man" and "Roots," miniseries gained widespread popularity due to their ability to adapt complex stories from best-selling novels and historical events. They became an integral part of prime-time programming, particularly during "sweeps" periods when networks aimed to maximize advertising revenue by attracting large audiences.
Miniseries cover a diverse array of genres, including melodramas, historical biographies, and true crime stories. They often feature high-concept narratives that can sustain viewer interest and are typically scheduled in strategic time slots to enhance ratings. The format has evolved over the years, with production costs influencing the frequency and length of miniseries, leading to their migration to cable networks that seek quality programming. Additionally, the success of miniseries can significantly impact book sales, prompting publishers to capitalize on the renewed interest in adapted works. Overall, miniseries represent a unique blend of cinematic storytelling and television accessibility, captivating audiences with their rich narratives and character development.
Miniseries (TV series)
Television format in which a unified story is told in two or more episodes broadcast in relatively close succession
At the height of its popularity in the 1980’s, the miniseries was a lynchpin of network programming reaching millions of viewers. As special events taking place over successive nights, miniseries were ideal programming for “sweeps” periods, garnering increased viewership for networks when they needed it most.
The American miniseries originated in the mid-1970’s with the twelve-part “novel for television” adaptation of Irwin Shaw’s Rich Man, Poor Man on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). Alex Hailey’s Roots followed in 1977, enjoying the largest television viewing audience ever for a dramatic program. One hundred million viewers saw the final episode of Roots.

Network Strategy
By the beginning of the 1980’s, miniseries had become a vital part of prime-time programming. The broadcast networks apportioned funds in their yearly budgets for long-form development and production, which included two-hour original movies for television as well as miniseries. Because a miniseries required significant broadcast time, executives studied the ideal placement of the miniseries in the networks’ overall prime-time schedule. Anticipating that miniseries would receive higher ratings than regular prime-time series, the networks scheduled most miniseries during the so-called sweeps periods in November, February, and May. These periods were the months in which the networks set their advertising prices based on ratings, so it was important to their bottom line that shows aired during sweeps receive the highest ratings possible.
Miniseries were thus expected to attract and keep large enough audiences over the course of their airing to justify the expense of producing them. One key to a successful miniseries was a “high concept” that could be easily promoted, generating a large audience, but one that would also be capable of sustaining audience interest through the conclusion of the show. The material that worked most effectively would therefore include a complex story. It would also feature compelling characters able to generate strong viewer sympathy, or antipathy, as appropriate. Best-selling books were the primary source of material. Such books and their authors brought preconstituted audiences to television.
Source and Subject Matter
The subject matter of miniseries varied from melodramas, such as the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) series Rage of Angels (1983) and its 1986 sequel, to historical biography, such as the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) series George Washington (1984) and its 1986 sequel, to true crime dramas such as CBS’s Murder Ordained (1987). NBC’s Little Gloria, Happy at Last (1982) and Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story (1987), based on best sellers, explored the unhappy and dramatic lives of wealthy families. Another NBC miniseries, V (1983), was based on an original idea about an alien invasion.
In 1980, NBC aired the twelve-hour Shogun, an adaptation of the epic James Clavell novel. The story followed a seventeenth century British sea navigator, or pilot (Richard Chamberlain), stranded in Japan. The pilot adapted so completely to the Japanese culture that he became a samurai for a shogun, or warlord. The producers and director insisted on shooting the miniseries in Japan, and much of the dialogue was in Japanese with English subtitles. Clavell’s book had been a best seller, but the networks took a big risk in adapting the period, non-American subject matter to the small screen. The gamble paid off, with a total of 125 million viewers over five nights, as well as three Emmy Awards.
Best-selling authors Sidney Sheldon and Judith Krantz wrote about wealth, power, and sex. The authors’ names were so influential that they were tied contractually to their books and their television adaptations. Five of Sheldon’s novels were adapted as miniseries between 1980 and 1989. In 1985, CBS reportedly offered Sheldon the unheard-of sum of one million dollars for If Tomorrow Comes without executives having read the book. Four of Krantz’s titles were made into miniseries. Krantz and Sheldon frequently wrote novels whose lead characters were beautiful women. The networks preferred stories with female appeal, because advertisers relied on the buying power of women viewers. The networks favored casting regular-series stars in miniseries, but Chamberlain was the miniseries star of the 1980’s, second only to former Charlie’s Angels star Jaclyn Smith. In 1988, the two appeared together in a miniseries based on Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity.
Stories based on true crimes increasingly became the subject of miniseries throughout the latter half of the 1980’s. The networks sought out scripts based on contemporary stories and headlines. The Billionaire Boys Club, a fact-based story about murderous wealthy young men, aired on NBC in 1987 amid controversy. Attorneys sued NBC and the production company to stop the miniseries from airing, because an appeal and a jury trial of the young men were scheduled to take place. The courts decided in favor of NBC, however, and the miniseries aired on schedule.
In the mid-1980’s, all three networks changed ownership. The large media corporations that acquired the networks instituted cost-cutting measures and examined the miniseries as a source of overspending, particularly in the light of a recent decline in viewership. Two miniseries in the late 1980’s represented the changing network attitudes about miniseries. Lonesome Dove was based on Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Feature film actors Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones played “Gus” McCrae and Woodrow Call. The miniseries aired on CBS over four nights in 1989 to critical acclaim and high ratings. The network developed other Western miniseries, trying to recapture the popularity of Lonesome Dove. Throughout 1988-1989, ABC aired the thirty-four-hour War and Remembrance, the sequel to 1983’s The Winds of War. It took up much of the network’s schedule and was estimated to cost $100 million. The number of viewers fell below the estimate ABC had given to advertisers, and the network lost $30-40 million as a result.
Impact
In the wake of the networks’ new corporate ownership, broadcast networks continued to program miniseries as important events, but not as frequently. They also began to limit each miniseries to only four hours in length. Production costs were too high for more frequent and longer miniseries, and the networks were also concerned to attract younger viewers with shorter attention spans. The miniseries began to move to cable television channels that were more hungry for special-event and “quality” programming. Miniseries also affected book-publishing strategies. Publishers recognized that a miniseries based on a book generated renewed interest in a title, and they developed tie-ins, placing paperback editions of a book “soon to be a miniseries” at grocery-store checkout counters.
Bibliography
Auletta, Ken. Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way. New York: Random House, 1991. Details the factors that led to the precipitous decline of broadcast network viewership. Excellent behind-the-scenes descriptions.
Marill, Alvin. Movies Made for Television: The Telefeature and the Mini-series, 1964-1986. New York: New York Zoetrope, 1987. Listing of television movies and miniseries.
Roman, James. Love, Light, and a Dream: Television’s Past, Present, and Future. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1996. Offers a useful perspective on different eras of televison.
Vane, Edwin T., and Lynne S. Gross. Programming for TV, Radio, and Cable. Boston: Focal Press, 1994. Excellent information on ratings and networks.