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Flyers999
07-11-2025, 04:24 PM
What are your three favorite miniseries? (or as many as you want to list)

First, we have to define exactly what a miniseries is. We’ll go with this definition (from Wiki). “ In the United States, a miniseries is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. A miniseries is distinguished from an ongoing television series because the latter does not usually have a predetermined number of episodes and may continue for several years.

As far as the Emmy Awards are concerned (not that it really matters) they dropped the term “Miniseries” and use the term “Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series.” These shows must have two or more episodes, with a total running time of at least 150 minutes, as well as must tell a complete, non-recurring story, and not have an ongoing storyline or the same main characters in subsequent seasons.

The current holder of the award is “Baby Reindeer” (2024). Note that season one of the White Lotus did win in 2022. This show qualifies even though it has multiple seasons because there’s (almost) a different set of characters in each season. Here’s a list of the winners (in yellow) and runners-up since the award has been instituted in 1973:

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primetime_Emmy_Award_for_Outstanding_Limited_or_An thology_Series)


I notice that it has two of the three shows that are my favorites. I’ll list them, as well as why I like them, soon, but feel free to start us off if you want. (I noticed that many miniseries have already been mentioned in this forum in different threads but feel free to mention them again along with the reason you like them.)

Taltarzac725
07-11-2025, 04:47 PM
Band of Brothers .
Fargo.
Lonesome Dove.
The Pacific .
Shogun.

tophcfa
07-11-2025, 05:10 PM
Reacher
Fargo
Jack Ryan

Honorable mention- Mr. In between

Taltarzac725
07-11-2025, 05:32 PM
Also really liked Downton Abbey.

shaw8700@outlook.com
07-11-2025, 06:03 PM
The Wire
The Crown
Any of the true crime ones
Mathewsons
Ozark
Justified
Duck Dynasty
Landman
Delhi Crime
Downton Abbey
Mayor of Kingstown

Stu from NYC
07-11-2025, 07:35 PM
Shogun
Reacher
Jack Ryan

thevillages2013
07-12-2025, 05:27 AM
Don’t know if these qualify as miniseries or tv shows. Sopranos, Ozark, Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, Animal Kingdom and The Recruit. The Recruit definitely qualifies. Watching Suits currently

Radamo
07-12-2025, 05:49 AM
Shogun
Band of Brothers
The Wire (not really mini)
The Unit (not really mini)
Landman
Madmen (not really mini)

Worldseries27
07-12-2025, 06:14 AM
what are your three favorite miniseries? (or as many as you want to list)

first, we have to define exactly what a miniseries is. We’ll go with this definition (from wiki). “ in the united states, a miniseries is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. A miniseries is distinguished from an ongoing television series because the latter does not usually have a predetermined number of episodes and may continue for several years.

As far as the emmy awards are concerned (not that it really matters) they dropped the term “miniseries” and use the term “outstanding limited or anthology series.” these shows must have two or more episodes, with a total running time of at least 150 minutes, as well as must tell a complete, non-recurring story, and not have an ongoing storyline or the same main characters in subsequent seasons.

The current holder of the award is “baby reindeer” (2024). Note that season one of the white lotus did win in 2022. This show qualifies even though it has multiple seasons because there’s (almost) a different set of characters in each season. Here’s a list of the winners (in yellow) and runners-up since the award has been instituted in 1973:

primetime emmy award for outstanding limited or anthology series - wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/primetime_emmy_award_for_outstanding_limited_or_an thology_series)


i notice that it has two of the three shows that are my favorites. I’ll list them, as well as why i like them, soon, but feel free to start us off if you want. (i noticed that many miniseries have already been mentioned in this forum in different threads but feel free to mention them again along with the reason you like them.)
dark shadows
have gun will travel
mission impossible

jasamy2
07-12-2025, 06:53 AM
Blacklist
Suits
Outlander
Sons of Anarchy

When a series runs for too many seasons, it gets boring, such as Lost.

Taltarzac725
07-12-2025, 07:03 AM
Blacklist
Suits
Outlander
Sons of Anarchy

When a series runs for too many seasons, it gets boring, such as Lost.

I got lost trying to follow Lost .

Glowfromminnesota
07-12-2025, 07:08 AM
The Gilded Age; Handmaids Tale; The Bear

Cheapbas
07-12-2025, 07:36 AM
By miniseries I assume you mean 1 season and done, so…

DEVS, on Hulu I think
Adolescence (recent)
Presumed Innocent
The Night Manager
Chernobyl
The Jackal ( recent version)
The Pitt
Under the Banner of Heaven

Many seasons
Scott & Bailey (Britbox)
Homeland
Breaking Bad

airstreamingypsy
07-12-2025, 07:38 AM
Dexter, Breaking Bad, The Gilded Age, The Good Wife, Sopranos, Godless.

Finchs
07-12-2025, 07:50 AM
My most recently watched favorites are:

CLARKSON'S FARM (Prime)
PRISON BREAK. (Netflix)
FAUDA

opinionist
07-12-2025, 07:51 AM
Dune

daca55
07-12-2025, 08:12 AM
The Handmaids Tale, Queen of the South, Outlander, King of Tulsa, Lincoln Lawyer, 1923. Watching animal kingdom right now

Regorp
07-12-2025, 08:19 AM
What are your three favorite miniseries? (or as many as you want to list)

First, we have to define exactly what a miniseries is. We’ll go with this definition (from Wiki). “ In the United States, a miniseries is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. A miniseries is distinguished from an ongoing television series because the latter does not usually have a predetermined number of episodes and may continue for several years.

As far as the Emmy Awards are concerned (not that it really matters) they dropped the term “Miniseries” and use the term “Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series.” These shows must have two or more episodes, with a total running time of at least 150 minutes, as well as must tell a complete, non-recurring story, and not have an ongoing storyline or the same main characters in subsequent seasons.

The current holder of the award is “Baby Reindeer” (2024). Note that season one of the White Lotus did win in 2022. This show qualifies even though it has multiple seasons because there’s (almost) a different set of characters in each season. Here’s a list of the winners (in yellow) and runners-up since the award has been instituted in 1973:

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primetime_Emmy_Award_for_Outstanding_Limited_or_An thology_Series)


I notice that it has two of the three shows that are my favorites. I’ll list them, as well as why I like them, soon, but feel free to start us off if you want. (I noticed that many miniseries have already been mentioned in this forum in different threads but feel free to mention them again along with the reason you like them.)

Many have listed actual full season series rather than mini series. My top 3 mini series are Rich Man Poor Man, The Thor birds, and Shogun.

Regorp
07-12-2025, 08:20 AM
Thornbirds

paqdkq
07-12-2025, 08:23 AM
Civil War by Ken Burns
Centennial
Baseball by Ken Burns
Shogun

MandoMan
07-12-2025, 08:27 AM
What are your three favorite miniseries? (or as many as you want to list)

First, we have to define exactly what a miniseries is. We’ll go with this definition (from Wiki). “ In the United States, a miniseries is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. A miniseries is distinguished from an ongoing television series because the latter does not usually have a predetermined number of episodes and may continue for several years.

As far as the Emmy Awards are concerned (not that it really matters) they dropped the term “Miniseries” and use the term “Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series.” These shows must have two or more episodes, with a total running time of at least 150 minutes, as well as must tell a complete, non-recurring story, and not have an ongoing storyline or the same main characters in subsequent seasons.

The current holder of the award is “Baby Reindeer” (2024). Note that season one of the White Lotus did win in 2022. This show qualifies even though it has multiple seasons because there’s (almost) a different set of characters in each season. Here’s a list of the winners (in yellow) and runners-up since the award has been instituted in 1973:

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primetime_Emmy_Award_for_Outstanding_Limited_or_An thology_Series)


I notice that it has two of the three shows that are my favorites. I’ll list them, as well as why I like them, soon, but feel free to start us off if you want. (I noticed that many miniseries have already been mentioned in this forum in different threads but feel free to mention them again along with the reason you like them.)

Extraordinary Attorney Woo
TrueBlood
The Tudors
Downton Abbey
Orphan Black
Vikings and Vikings Valhalla
The Last Kingdom
Pride and Prejudice (1980 version)

AnthonyJ
07-12-2025, 08:28 AM
The good witch
NYPD Blue
In the heat of the night
Everwood

Basmit
07-12-2025, 08:30 AM
The Good Wife
The Good Fight
Suits
Matlock 2024
Damages with Glenn Close is my all time favorite

Taltarzac725
07-12-2025, 08:37 AM
Civil War by Ken Burns
Centennial
Baseball by Ken Burns
Shogun

Ken Burns has a new series coming out. Home - Ken Burns Home - Ken Burns (https://share.google/0aZuom2XlNxHmPZzY)


The American Revolution - The Better Angels Society The American Revolution - The Better Angels Society (https://share.google/MsgTcUlhVsLJfyhXR)

SaucyJim
07-12-2025, 08:45 AM
What are your three favorite miniseries? (or as many as you want to list)

I see a LOT of series (Lost, Dexter, Sopranos, The Wires, etc. ) being listed here that, by definition, are not mini-series. That said...

Godless an outstanding mini-series western that came to mind immediately when I read this thread.

An honorable mentions would be The Stand (the 90's version -- not the new one).

On that note, when we will all admit that the series paradigm (not so new, really) has morphed into the equivalent of nighttime soap operas. That's what a lot of these long-rerunning series seem to be, IMHO. The biggest of these? Grey's Anatomy. How, on earth, is that show still running? LOL!!

CFrance
07-12-2025, 08:55 AM
Mare of Easttown
Broadchurch

GymJim
07-12-2025, 08:56 AM
Among my favorites that come quickly to mind
are: Breaking Bad; Game of Thrones; Roots; Money Heist; Winds of War; 1883; and Teheran.

ElDiabloJoe
07-12-2025, 08:58 AM
Lonesome Dove
Don't f**k With Cats.
Nightstalker: The Hunt For A Serial Killer

All of these are MINIseries, not simply TV Series, of which I have other favorites as do other judging by many of the misguided posts above.

Joe C.
07-12-2025, 09:25 AM
Once an Eagle
Yellowstone

Taltarzac725
07-12-2025, 09:41 AM
By miniseries I assume you mean 1 season and done, so…

DEVS, on Hulu I think
Adolescence (recent)
Presumed Innocent
The Night Manager
Chernobyl
The Jackal ( recent version)
The Pitt
Under the Banner of Heaven

Many seasons
Scott & Bailey (Britbox)
Homeland
Breaking Bad

I am pretty sure The Jackal is returning. They left a lot of the story hanging.

Taltarzac725
07-12-2025, 09:45 AM
It is hard to define a series as there are so many variations of these .


Seinfeld is a fully developed series.


35 Best Limited Series on Netflix 35 Best Limited Series on Netflix (https://share.google/sG9ROGjb9OUkppH62)

Gene63
07-12-2025, 10:13 AM
Lonesome Dove
24
Better Call Saul

wjilenei.yahoo.com
07-12-2025, 10:15 AM
The Queens Gambit

garykoca427@gmail.com
07-12-2025, 11:18 AM
Paradise
Reacher
Anne with an E
Several others, I am sure.

SoCalGal
07-12-2025, 11:29 AM
All wonderful:

Downton Abbey
Outlander
Ozark
Suits

MAXFLY
07-12-2025, 11:31 AM
Roots
Lonesome Dove
Shogun

DonRaleigh
07-12-2025, 12:03 PM
Band of Brothers
Roots
Lonesome Dove

Stu from NYC
07-12-2025, 02:14 PM
I got lost trying to follow Lost .

I just got bored watching lost

ElDiabloJoe
07-12-2025, 02:33 PM
The Queens Gambit

Ooooh, this was very good also!

jimjamuser
07-12-2025, 03:51 PM
Band of Brothers .
Fargo.
Lonesome Dove.
The Pacific .
Shogun.
Band of Brothers. Fargo, Lonesome Dove, Shogun, OA, Roots, Blind Ambition, Winds of War, Lincoln, Bourne, The Stand, The Shining, In Cold Blood, Hiroshima, Nuremberg, Taken, Traffic, Elvis, Into the West, John Adams, The Adromeda Strain, The Pacific, Roots, Watchmen, The Queen's Gambit, Mare of Easttown, Daisy Jones and the Six, Obi-Wan Kenobi, True Detective: Night Country season 4, Stranger Things, Raised By Wolves 1 and 2, Black Mirror, The Expanse, Avenue 5 and best of all .....Fallout.

jimjamuser
07-12-2025, 04:04 PM
I forgot about Breaking Bad, Dune, The Vikings, and Better Call Saul.

ElDiabloJoe
07-12-2025, 04:38 PM
Band of Brothers. Fargo, Lonesome Dove, Shogun, OA, Roots, Blind Ambition, Winds of War, Lincoln, Bourne, The Stand, The Shining, In Cold Blood, Hiroshima, Nuremberg, Taken, Traffic, Elvis, Into the West, John Adams, The Adromeda Strain, The Pacific, Roots, Watchmen, The Queen's Gambit, Mare of Easttown, Daisy Jones and the Six, Obi-Wan Kenobi, True Detective: Night Country season 4, Stranger Things, Raised By Wolves 1 and 2, Black Mirror, The Expanse, Avenue 5 and best of all .....Fallout.
Gee, you left a couple out.

TOMTOFVIL
07-12-2025, 06:13 PM
Call of duty

Goliath

Deden
07-13-2025, 10:50 AM
The Highlander series Animal Kingdom

ThirdOfFive
07-13-2025, 11:12 AM
Shogun (1980 version)
Band of Brothers
Hatfields and McCoys

catballou
07-13-2025, 02:08 PM
Captains and the Kings
Lonesome Dove
Shogun
Centennial
The Night Manager

Flyers999
07-13-2025, 05:01 PM
● Bleak House (BBC 2005) - Hands down my wife and my all-time favorite. This is a fifteen-episode adaptation of Charles Dickens’ great novel of the same name, which was originally published in 1852–53. Includes an all-star cast featuring Dennis Lawson, Gillian Anderson and Nathaniel Parker, to name a few. When the novel first came out in 1852 it got bad reviews but today is considered by most critics to be Dickens’ best. It was ahead of its time with all of its subplots and remarkable characters including police Inspector Bucket, who is widely considered to be the first literary police detective in English literature. (The first literary detective is generally considered to be Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin, created by Edgar Allan Poe who first appeared in Poe's 1841 story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." Dupin is an amateur detective whereas Bucket is a member of the police force.) A few of our other favorite characters in Bleak House are Harold Skimpole and Smallweed.

● Pride and Prejudice (BBC 1995) is a six-episode adaptation of Jane Austen's 1813 novel of the same name. Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth starred as Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, respectively. Don’t miss David Bamber as Mr. William Collins, a sycophantic and somewhat dimwitted clergyman; and Barbara Leigh-Hunt as Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Darcy's meddling aunt. I’ve seen other TV/movie adaptations of this novel, and they don’t compare.

● Band of Brothers (HBO 2001) - This miniseries dramatizes the history of "Easy" Company: 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. It begins during Easy Company's paratrooper training and follows its participation in the Western Front of World War II. Damian Lewis (one of our alltime favorite actors) plays U.S. Army Major Richard Winters Lewis (Damian Lewis is the actor who played U.S. Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody in the 2011 Showtime series Homeland).

npwalters
07-14-2025, 02:50 PM
Band of Brothers .
Fargo.
Lonesome Dove.
The Pacific .
Shogun.

That is a good list

Taltarzac725
07-15-2025, 06:28 AM
That is a good list

You could probably tell I am male from that even though I suppose some ladies would have a similar list. One of my former girlfriends tutored in WWII history while she was at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire.