HBO miniseriesare in a class of their own, and even those on the lower end still constitute some incredible television. For as much as the format doesn’t get recognized,the miniseries may be the best unionof the gravity of movies and the ability to tell long stories on television. There’s definitely something “prestige” about a miniseries.
HBO in particular has some excellent miniseries, over 50 of them, over 60 if you include co-productions, and basically, every one is worth watching. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, considering how great thecatalog of original HBO TV showsis. Some miniseries stand above, and one stands above the rest.
A TV adaptation of Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name,Angels in America, revolves around six New Yorkers in 1985. With the likes of Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Patrick Wilson, Mary-Louise Parker, Emma Thompson, Justin Kirk, and Jeffrey Wright,the series' cast is exceptional at every level.
The central story follows Prior Walter (Kirk), a gay man with AIDS who is visited by an angel.The series, structured like a play with acts and actors playing multiple characters, also uses Reagan-era politics, the AIDS epidemic, and a changing social climate to make a powerful statement about sexuality that remains as relevant as ever.
InI May Destroy You, the British black comedy-drama, a Twitter-star-turned-novelist, Arabella (Michaela Coel), is in her late 20s in London. A new Millennial icon, Arabella, takes a night off from writing her second book to party with friends. She wakes up the next morning unable to remember what happened, leading her on a darkly funny journey.
The series is delicately balanced between its tones, with much of the success coming from Coel’s writing and acting.
I May Destroy Youis not an easy sell. It puts sexual assault front and center of the series, and,while it takes the subject matter seriously, it also is never afraid to make a joke or push boundaries.The series is delicately balanced between its tones, with much of the success coming from Coel’s writing and acting.
The eight-part miniseries,The Night Of, is based on the first season of the 2008 British series,Criminal Justice, itself a celebrated TV show.It stars Riz Ahmed as Naz Khan, a Pakistani-American college student who takes a woman home with him after a party, only to wake up and find her dead in bed alongside him.
It’s an intricately woven mystery, and you’re never sure who is really behind the murder.The Night Ofalso weaves in post-9/11 anxieties regarding Muslims and makes some brilliant statements about what guilt means. It’s an engrossing tale filled with devastation that lingers afterward.
Based on Gillian Flynn’s 2006 novel of the same name,Sharp Objectsis a Southern Gothic psychological thriller that gets the atmosphere of a sleepy, Southern town with dark secrets perfectly right.Amy Adams is at her bestas crime reporter Camille Preaker, who returns to her hometown to cover a story about the murders of two girls.
Gillian Flynn also wroteDark PlacesandGone Girl, both of which were turned into movies.
It’s a frightening and strange story, and Amy Adams plays Camille with a deep sadness and anger that helps her float through the show like a ghost. The mystery at the center is shocking and completely engrossing. Make sure you stick around past the credits in the final episode.
David Simon’s follow-up toThe Wire,We Own This City, feels like the documentary companion to that groundbreaking TV series.This miniseries is based on the true storyof the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), which was a nigh-openly corrupt task force of officers eventually convicted of numerous crimes.
Jon Bernthal stars as Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, a volatile police officer who uses his position in the GTTF to rob criminals, innocents, and the city itself. It’s a shocking indictment of the Baltimore Police Department, but it’s alsoa mesmerizing look into how much time and effort it takes to do something good vs. the ease of doing something bad.
Generation Killis the forgotten cousin to theBand of Brothers,The Pacific, andMasters of the Airtrilogy.This miniseries is set during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, following an embedded reporter with the US Marine Corps' 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. It only takes up about a few weeks of time, but quite a bit happens in that period.
While those previously mentioned TV shows are filled with the horrors of war, only occasionally giving the soldiers respite,Generation Killis the opposite.95% of the time is spent riding in the middle of barren deserts, waiting for orders and grousing. This makes the 5% of warfare all the more terrifying and real.
An original and acclaimed series from episode 1,Mare of Easttownfelt so fresh when it first premiered, in part due to how classic it was. The series is set in a working-class Philadelphia suburb where a single mother and police chief, Mare (Kate Winslet), is investigating the murder and disappearance of two young girls.
Mare of Easttownfeels so lived in, you wouldn’t be shamed to think it was a true story.
It sounds almost trite, but it’s far from it.The acting from the ensemble, which also includes Julianne Nicholson, Jean Smart, David Denman, Guy Pearce, and Evan Peters, is about as good as you’ll ever find.Mare of Easttownfeels so lived in, you wouldn’t be shamed to think it was a true story.
Damon Lindelof’sWatchmenis another entry in a catalog that just keeps getting better year after year.The series, based on both Alan Moore’s graphic novel of the same name and Zack Snyder’s 2009 movie adaptation, is infused with the same headyquestions that Lindelof filledLostandThe Leftoverswith.
Lindelof is becoming something of a master of the art of TV mystery. He must have learned quite a bit from his time onLost, working with so many loose threads.The mysteries and questions inWatchmenare numerous and mind-bending at times,but his answers come just as quickly and are immensely satisfying and easy to grasp.
Chernobylis as frightening as any horror TV show, and once it begins, it never stops shoveling piles of sadness on you like blocks of graphite being shoveled into a radioactive maw.Yet, there are few series as rewatchable asChernobylfrom Craig Mazin. It’s the series that gave HBO the confidence to hire Mazin forThe Last of Us.
The series details the apocalyptic explosion of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986, and brings into focus the utter destruction and pain plain bureaucracy can wrought.Lies and political grandstanding are as much on trial as graphite-tipped control rods, and despite the period setting, the whole series feels unnervingly modern.
The pinnacle of miniseries storytelling,Band of Brothersshowed everyone that movie-quality action and production could be done on television, and the stories could still retain gravitas and importance even with blockbuster budgets.Band of Brothersis the incredibly powerfuland true story of the 101st Airborne.
Dropped into Nazi Europe on D-Day in World War II, the specially trained soldiers, specifically those of Easy Company, journey through war-torn battlefields and cities, gripping tightly to their humanity as it crumbles through their fingers. It’s not just the bestHBO miniseries, it’s one of the best TV shows ever, period.
