Cinematic Sagas on the Small Screen: The TV Miniseries of the GenX Era
Kristin Nilsen 0:00
Hey listeners, before we begin, just quickly, I'd love to tell you about three ways you can support the pop culture Preservation Society. As you know, we are an independent podcast. We're not owned or paid by anybody. We do everything by ourselves, and all of our financial support comes from you, the listeners. So if you'd like to help us pay our bills so we can keep on trucking. Here's what you can do. One, pledge your support with a recurring monthly donation on Patreon. There are three levels of support, and each one comes with exclusive bonus content. Just go to patreon.com or look for the link in our show notes. Two, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Did you know we had one even if you don't have any intention of watching anything on YouTube. Do it anyway, because when we get to a certain level of subscribers, we have a shot at getting a little compensation, and every little bit counts three. This one is new. Buy your books using our bookshop.org, Link bookshop.org. Is an online bookseller that benefits small independent bookstores, and when you use our link, we get a little bit of that love. All of these links will be in our show notes and in our email newsletter and in our link tree. But most importantly, thank you for being here. Thank you for listening, and thank you for sharing with your Gen X friends. You are the reason we do this, and we couldn't be more grateful to you, Nanu. Nanu, keep on trucking, and may the Force be
Michelle Newman 1:22
with you. Well, he's naked because he got, he got really wet in a rainstorm, and he and they bring him out dry clothes to change. So he changes on her porch, and all I was thinking was Body of Christ
Unknown Speaker 1:37
been waiting all day. Hello World is
Speaker 1 1:41
dance. Hello. Well, there's a song that we're singing. Come on, get
Unknown Speaker 1:50
happy. It's what we'll be bringing will make you happy.
Kristin Nilsen 1:57
Welcome to the pop culture Preservation Society, the podcast for people born in the big wheel generation who did not hit the deck and do an army crawl behind the sofa. When somebody knocked at the door, they just they just answered the door. Hello, I just did it last night.
Carolyn Cochrane 2:12
We believe our Gen X childhoods gave us unforgettable songs, stories, characters and images, and if we don't talk about them, they'll disappear like Marshall will and Holly on a routine expedition.
Michelle Newman 2:24
And today we're saving that very special chapter of small screen history, the shows you wish you could binge watch, but couldn't binge watch because binge watching wasn't possible. The TV mini series. I'm Carolyn, I'm Kristen, and I'm Michelle, and we are your pop culture preservationists. Before Netflix cues and weekend binges, there was a magical TV phenomenon called the mini series, and in the 70s and 80s it ruled the airwaves these Multi Night television events were part epic saga and part national obsession. Truly, You didn't watch them. You committed to them. Families gathered around the wood paneled console TV like it was a campfire, night after night, hanging on every cliffhanger and dramatic zoom in, and then we had to wait seven whole days for more.
Carolyn Cochrane 3:29
It's torture. Michelle, I agree with you on most of what you just said, except for the part about families gathering around, because I have memories, particularly of a mini series I'm going to share in a little bit that I was not allowed to watch. But by golly, my mom was going to be watching it. And so that's when we were sequestered to, like my parents bedroom, and would my sister and I would get to watch on the little black and white portable TV. Because No, no, no, Carolyn was not going to watch any little saucy, racy show. But you know what Carolyn did when she was better believe I'm changing that channel to the you know, I gotta see why I'm not allowed to be in the living room with my mom.
Michelle Newman 4:13
I was a lot older when I watched most of these that we'll talk about, so I think that's why it was mom. Yeah, we started being Dallas watching buddies when I was like 10, so yeah. Well, anyway, regardless of which miniseries you were watching, this was must see TV.
Kristin Nilsen 4:30
It's the epitome of the water cooler moment of old, right? Something that we've kind of been missing in our culture is and they weren't just water cooler moments. These were synchronous water cooler moments. It all happened at the same time for everybody. So you wouldn't go to school the next day and they wouldn't be like, no, no, don't tell me the
Michelle Newman 4:51
end, because I haven't seen it yet together, yeah, and it wasn't possible for some people to say, Oh, I binged all of it. And someone go, No, I'm only on Episode Two. You. Couldn't we
Kristin Nilsen 5:00
live in an asynchronous media landscape right now? And this was so hyper synchronous, everybody's watching the same thing,
Carolyn Cochrane 5:08
yeah, and it was the marketing of it, because we were all watching the same thing. It. It was all around us, you know, the trailers on the networks. I remember the, you know, big full page ads and maybe the TV Guide, even on the news, depending on what the mini series was. It was just an all encompassing event that really, as we say, a lot, kind of brought us all together because it was we were all experiencing it at the same time.
Kristin Nilsen 5:33
It was for everybody. We weren't a divided nation. These shows, these mini series, these events were, they were inclusive, whether or not the content was inclusive, that's beside the point. It doesn't matter. It meant that we were all watching it together, unless you didn't have a TV. I mean, that was the only reason that you wouldn't
Michelle Newman 5:52
well. And back to Carolyn's point about not being allowed to watch it, even if you were young and you weren't allowed to watch it, it was still all inclusive, like you're saying Kristen because you knew about it. Yes, if you weren't allowed to watch, you know The Thorn Birds, you knew about you because your parents were probably watching it, or somebody else's mom was watching it, and you see the commercials, knew enough about it, yeah, that it still was very inclusive. Everybody knew this was going on for the next four weeks. Yeah,
Kristin Nilsen 6:19
it was something that included every single person in the culture, whether or not they were watching, still a part of the air that we were breathing. Well,
Michelle Newman 6:27
you know, in just a minute, we're gonna go down two very different lists. And I guarantee you, everybody listening is going if they didn't see it, they know the title of that miniseries. I haven't seen a lot of these, but boy, I knew what most of them were. Yeah, yeah. So interesting. So we could spend the first segment of this episode telling you the history of the miniseries and how it came to be so popular. But you guys, that's really boring and truly, we know you're all here to hear about father debris, casarts, naked ass. So we're gonna fast forward to all that good stuff.
Kristin Nilsen 6:58
I could never say his name. I just didn't I like, that's the first time I've seen it in print.
Michelle Newman 7:02
Well, I think it's because I just recently watched it, and I hear him saying that a lot. So a lot of the information we got for this episode came from one of our favorite magazines. Yes, y'all, I'm talking about a print magazine, a real magazine, a real magazine, but it's also a terrific and informative website, and that's remind magazine and remind magazine.com which, it's a really great site for all the retro TV, movie and celebrity, Celebrity Trivia you didn't know you needed. And they also have a lot of really fun quizzes, like, how well do you remember family ties? Or really, this was my latest favorite. Finish the Elvis lyric. Oh, funny. We share a lot of these links to remind magazine.com in our weekly newsletter, The Weekly Reader, because we just think it's a treasure trove of fun facts and it's just all around fun. Like, when I'm looking for a quiz, sometimes I will, 30 minutes later, come up for air, because I've been like, because you've been taking all of them, taking all the quizzes, yeah, so yes. In March of 2024 remind magazine dedicated an entire issue to the TV mini series. And you guys, we love this magazine so much and all the people involved with it, that in this week's Weekly Reader, we're gonna have a code if you would like to subscribe to remind magazine, to actually get the magazine in your mailbox. It's super fun. It's also good, like crosswords and word finds. Okay, so here is the list that we got from remind magazine, and we're gonna walk you through the top
Carolyn Cochrane 8:39
11 mini series on their list, yes, 11, because they actually identified the 20 best mini series of all time. And we thought we'd send numbers 11 through 20 to our Patreon members, but you guys, number 11 is just way too hoosker dooey, so we're going to do the top 11 mini series of all time. And Patreon members, you'll be getting the entire list numbers 12 through 20 this week, so you can see just how many of these mini series you might remember. So what did remind magazine put in the number 11 spot.
Michelle Newman 9:12
Okay, number 11, Jesus of Nazareth from 1977 now I did not see this, but when I saw Olivia Hussey as Mary. That's, I was like, I feel like I can see these people on a poster or on the cover of a TV Guide or something. So this was an international cast, and this was an international cast, and it did include Olivia Hussey as Mary, Anne Bancroft as Mary Magdalene Ian McShane as Judas. You might know him from Deadwood, Rod Steiger as Pontius Pilate, Peter Ustinov as Herod, and Michael York as John the Baptist. Did you guys watch I get
Kristin Nilsen 9:51
Jesus just at the mention of Jesus, of Nazareth and Carolyn's nodding her head, I'm guessing it's for the same reason I get nervous because I. Jesus of Nazareth came on TV every Easter. What else came on at Easter? The Sound of Music. And I remember being at someone else's house for Easter, and they were saying, well, we should turn the channel. Let's watch. We should be watching Jesus of Nazareth because it's Easter. And I'm like, No, oh my god, no. And I just really, really panicked. I really, really panicked, and I remember having to watch it for a few minutes. But I, I don't know if there was, like, there was a vote that took place, but there was a there was a volume of people who said, This isn't right. Do you need to watch Sound of Music?
Carolyn Cochrane 10:34
Well, I think when it came out in 1977 we my parents made us watch it. Oh, sure kind of thing. So at least the first time it came out. And I do remember, when I was looking at photos of images from the mini series, I was like, Yes, that's the Jesus in my head that I think of in terms of when he was portrayed on a screen. It's that guy and his face, yeah, and so yes, we were made, made to watch it.
Michelle Newman 11:02
Well, you weren't the only ones, because an estimated 90 million US viewers watched the second part when it aired on Easter Sunday in 1977 which is probably why they were like, Hey, that's pretty good. Let's keep showing this every
Kristin Nilsen 11:16
Easter. That's probably the one that would be the Easter 1977 I can picture where I was and everything, and that timing lines up, that it would be where it's like, no, no, no, no,
Unknown Speaker 11:25
please don't turn the chair. Yeah, yeah.
Carolyn Cochrane 11:27
And you know what, I have this, like, initial feeling when you said 90 million turned in this, you know, the second night, and not that many the first night. And I was thinking, well, how are they going to know what's going on? Like, Oh, well, it is Jesus of Nazareth. I guess they might know a little bit of that earlier story. Why would you just watch the second night?
Kristin Nilsen 11:47
Magdalene? Person, she just comes out of nowhere.
Michelle Newman 11:53
Poof, okay. Number 10, I don't know this one. I don't either. Five, the jewel
Unknown Speaker 11:58
is a crown. No, it sounds
Michelle Newman 12:02
Yeah, the jewel in the crown number nine Centennial from 1979 This is a James A Michener. Is it Michener or Michener? I always said, Michener Michener. Yeah. A James A Michener. Gigantic saga, historical saga. And this was made for the mini series format. This aired in 12 installments. That's crazy. It's too much.
Carolyn Cochrane 12:27
That's a huge commitment in terms of, like, I can't do it back then you wouldn't have been able to, like, Oh, let me quickly watch the first three episodes, if you're only like, catching on on number four, right? So yeah, that was, but I think it did well, didn't it? In terms of, I
Kristin Nilsen 12:42
think so probably think about it, that is more content than you get in an entire season of a series that is now released on HBO.
Carolyn Cochrane 12:50
Yeah. I know it's hardly any some of these mini series, how they're being defined, I guess is what I'm thinking of, is what you could say, oh, severance is a mini series, yeah,
Kristin Nilsen 13:03
limited series, yeah, more than the three, the three seasons of severance. For sure. I don't remember watching this, but, of course, I remember it in the zeitgeist. I remember everybody talking about it, and I have mostly memories of the book, which was like a brick, right? And it was on every coffee table, yeah? Every coffee table,
Carolyn Cochrane 13:24
yeah. Kristen, if you had tuned in and watched it, I'm just gonna tell you the people that were in it, you could have seen Richard Chamberlain. We'll talk again. Am I knowing? Yeah, upcoming. He loved the mini series. He did love the mini series. Raymond Burr, you would have Ironside chatting with Brian Keith,
Kristin Nilsen 13:42
uncle, Bill, Uncle Bill, uncle, Bill and uncle. Chad
Carolyn Cochrane 13:45
Everett, thank
Kristin Nilsen 13:46
you. Oh, dr, dr early yes from
Carolyn Cochrane 13:50
Medical Center. Dennis Weaver, again, McLeod and Gregory Harrison were some of the people. Trapper, John, MD,
Kristin Nilsen 13:58
that's everybody. Look us. Listen to us. Just like rattle off those roles.
Michelle Newman 14:01
It's a good cast, but that's too long. That's too long. It's too long coming in at number eight, and not to be confused with the 1955 film version that starred James Dean in 1981 we got to see East of Eden, and this was an eight hour twist on John Steinbeck's novel. And this is kind of known for launching former Bond Girl Jane Seymour's career. Oh, well, I do
Kristin Nilsen 14:28
remember it. I don't remember but I don't think that I watched it, but I was aware. I think this was also a learning moment for me, just like Lillian Linda would have said, well, this is based on the original movie East of Eden from 1955 starring blah, blah, blah, and so I think that's why I remember it.
Michelle Newman 14:46
It's another one that when I was researching for this episode, I had like, three or four that I was like, Oh, I'd watch that. It's hard to watch these old mini series now. It's hard to find
Unknown Speaker 14:55
them.
Michelle Newman 14:55
Yeah, they're not preserved very well. No. Okay. Number seven. I'm actually shocked that this is as low as it is, because it's so massively popular, so massively popular, that there was just a very, very like a multi award winning redo of this this past year. And that's Shogun from 1980 it was a 12 hour mini series. This made history as the first American TV series to be filmed entirely in Japan, with most of the native cast speaking Japanese, often without subtitles. That's when I kind of was like, I think I'll watch last year's also starring Richard Chamberlain. He kind of was the king. He was the king of the mini he was the John Sebastian of the mini series
Kristin Nilsen 15:44
this 1980 No, that was way over my head, and I was not nearly culturally intelligent enough to have the desire to watch it. And with the new Shogun that that just came out, that it won so many awards, also the first something to something in Japan, I felt so old when this new Shogun came out, because it's winning all of these awards, and I felt like a grandma going, isn't that a remake? Because nobody I was like, Don't you remember this? Everybody? Don't she remember the original Shogun, but they never referenced it. I
Carolyn Cochrane 16:15
know that's what made me wonder if it was even related. I did
Kristin Nilsen 16:19
too. I wondered if I was mistaken, and that's just a common term that was applied to two different shows. So it wasn't until I read your backstory here, Michelle, that I understood that it is, in fact, the same show. And yet we live in a time where people have forgotten, like we're the old people now, and they don't even care that something was made before. I'm rambling, grandma's rambling. But I
Michelle Newman 16:43
was just confused. Go get a Werther's or a brownie, butter, lemon drama. Hey, did you guys watch this recent one that won all the awards I had? And I was like, Oh, hell no, hell no. I don't want to watch it. I don't want just because, sorry listeners, but I'm just, I'm not a huge history buff. I should be. It's not something I'm proud of. But it's not like, that's not the best series I wanna watch. No, give me a good shrinking or a good, yes, even severance I loved, but I was like, I have to think too much. But when it started winning award after award after award, I have huge FOMO. So now it's on, it's on our list of something to maybe watch this summer. Okay, number six. This is from 1978 and this is Holocaust now. This starred an unknown Meryl Streep. And do you guys remember in our Kramer versus Kramer episode, we mentioned this because she had just done that. She went on to creamer versus creamer right after Holocaust, and it won the Emmy for Outstanding limited series. I guess they called it limited series then two,
Kristin Nilsen 17:46
I don't think they did. Oh, but that maybe I don't know. Okay, don't listen to me. I
Michelle Newman 17:50
don't know. In it, with an audience of 120 million Americans watching some or all, it is credited for bringing the term Holocaust into the vernacular. That's my magazine, because that's a super fun fact, and that's a really good fact. Let's Yeah, thank you.
Kristin Nilsen 18:07
Let's Yeah. And it is true for me. It is absolutely true for me. I had never heard the word Holocaust before this miniseries, and that's because my parents made me watch it. You know how many of these are your parents made you you watch it, and good for them, and that's one great reason that we have art. But also I think it was a topic that was very difficult for parents to talk about. And so instead, let's have them watch this show. Yeah, and I remember there was special emphasis on from my parents on the gas chambers, as if they prepared me for this. And I'm like, what is it about? And they're trying to tell me what it's about. I remember the scene so distinctly, of them hurting the people into the gas chambers. I'm not going to describe what happened in the gas chambers, because it was horrific. And I was really in disbelief. I was just like, this. Didn't know, No, there's not this. Is there really this much evil in the world? And if you think about it, this, I'm watching this in 1978 this happened just 35 years prior. Oh, my, that means we're talking, in today's words, that would be that the Holocaust happened in 1990
Carolyn Cochrane 19:11
Yeah, like our parents, or some of our parents, were alive, yeah,
Kristin Nilsen 19:15
yes, when this was happening? So that was that was eating your vegetables, for sure, and that's I learned Holocaust for the first time. And you can bet I never forgot
Michelle Newman 19:26
it. Well, that is definitely one that I flagged to to watch again, having just said that I'm not into historical limited series or mini series. I I just feel like that's an important one to watch. And Meryl Streep, I know Carolyn clever your ears, but I love Meryl Streep, so I would do you not like Meryl Streep, well, she'll remember.
Carolyn Cochrane 19:49
Yeah, I kind of said she kind of annoys me a little bit. She's like my Adele, like, I appreciate kind of what she does a little and she's growing on me as she gets older, I guess.
Michelle Newman 19:58
And number five, we have a tie. Which makes me wonder if Kristen works for remind magazine. It's just math. Did you do the math? Can't control math. It's a tie between the Winds of War of 1983 and War and Remembrance from 1988
Kristin Nilsen 20:12
which I told you was the same mini series, absolutely.
Michelle Newman 20:17
Yeah. It's about a war.
Carolyn Cochrane 20:18
Yeah, there's some war, and there's probably people fall in love. I have a memory of it, not watching it necessarily, but it being like background, like whether it was on my TV in my bedroom, like, because the 1983 would have been my senior year of high school, and I feel like I had a TV in my room that could have been on but I was over at my desk, you know, doing some homework or something. So it's there, but not like I was following the plot line. Well,
Michelle Newman 20:44
remember how we talked about before we started this list, about how it was even watching it or not watching it? It was a collective experience, right? That's how, definitely the Winds of War and War and Remembrance and even going back to North and South were for me. I didn't watch them, but I have very strong memories of them being talked about, of hearing about them on, I don't know the Tonight Show, if I was watching it or Letterman, or seeing it on the cover of a magazine. I mean, for sure. So it still is a collective. We can't we still collective. The collective
Kristin Nilsen 21:18
still knew everybody who was in it. You knew if people liked it or didn't like it? Yeah,
Michelle Newman 21:22
yeah. All right. And coming in at number four is one that I flagged to really try to watch. I hope Carolyn's gonna tell me where I can watch it only because it had it sounded like a really intriguing storyline and has a really good cast. What's that Carolyn?
Carolyn Cochrane 21:35
So this would be what is often considered the first major mini series in US television, and this would be rich man, poor man, 1976 to answer your question, Michelle, you cannot find it anywhere. Okay? It actually you can find book two. So there was the original Mini Series, which was basically book one. It was very successful, and we'll talk about that in a minute. And then they decided, Oh, we're going to ride those coattails. There wasn't even a book two at the time, I don't think. But they quickly put something together for the next season that did not do well. And Eight is Enough came in and took its place ABC. So in February and March of 1976 is when rich man, poor man initially aired. It was the second most watched TV show of the entire 1975 76 television season number one was all in the family. And then rich man, poor man, wow. This was actually a book first by Erwin Shaw. And boy, when I looked that book up, I was who screwed dude in such a way my I can, I could see the font everything my mom had that book that was a lot of these mini series. Actually, I can see the paperbacks sitting in different places in my home. But for some reason that rich man, poor man. You know what it was. I'm having a moment here listeners. I'm thinking I knew some, I knew there was some saucy stuff about this one, because this was one I was not allowed to watch. And I can, I think the book was on our bookshelf, so I maybe pulled the book down shelf and started going through and looking for words like penis or nude or something. That's perhaps why that cover is so ingrained in my head. I'm just coming to this moment right now because, yeah, I
Michelle Newman 23:30
Lillian's like, why are these certain sections of my book all like? And there's like, is that great jam on that page? Well,
Carolyn Cochrane 23:40
rich man, poor man tells the story of the Jordache family, and this is pre Jordache
Michelle Newman 23:45
Jeans. Jeans.
Kristin Nilsen 23:46
Oh, really, it's just a coincidence, yeah, okay,
Carolyn Cochrane 23:50
the story of the Jordache family, and it focused on the contrasting lives of two brothers, Rudy and Tom. Rudy was the ambitious, well educated son who pursues corporate success, while Tom struggles with poverty, he turns to boxing, and he has years of conflict and jealousy, and there's just a lot of heartbreak between these two. Now the cast you might you're going to recognize these names, but at the time, they were not that recognizable. Peter Strauss was probably the most well known actor in this series when it came out the and he played the role of Rudy Tom was played by a young Nick Nolte, and this was his first major role. Okay, he was cute. Yeah, that was and do you remember there's probably because I was in the bedroom, flipping the channels, but one of the iconic scenes is kind of like him in a bathtub. I mean, you know, he's nude, and it gets pretty close to knowing he's nude, like, you know, obviously they don't show everything, but it was pretty risque. And so that's how I remember, Is he drunk or something? Probably something clandestine happening. He's, like, down on his luck. Yeah, he's kind of always down on his luck. And I remember this scene Susan Blakely, who, well, I mean, I grew to know her. She became a little more famous, or became more famous after rich man, poor man. But she was the female lead of rich man, poor man. And so you guys have to remember, in 1976 the TV audiences were really accustomed to more wholesome programming. Think like this was the years of Laverne and Shirley and happy days in the Waltons, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Welcome back, Cotter. I mean basically our lives by an equipment $6 million Man, so rich man, poor man was considered scandalous and salacious with scenes such as Tom telling Rudy he better nail Judy before someone else does. Yeah, Axel calling Tom's French teacher a slut for letting her boobs hang out.
Kristin Nilsen 25:48
So they said the words slut and boobs, boobs, hanging on the show,
Carolyn Cochrane 25:52
on the show. Okay? And oh, before he viciously slaps her, whoa. And then Julie, that was the main female character. So Susan Blakely coming this close to sleeping with an African American character named Arnold.
Michelle Newman 26:07
But, yeah, 1970 tame,
Carolyn Cochrane 26:12
yeah. But 1976 this got the, you know, mature warning and all of that kind of stuff I hear. So yes, again, you guys, I was in the bedroom watching this with my sister, and I might have even planted Ronnie by the door and said, tell me if you're a mom coming. And I quickly, and I have my hand like on the dial, I have memories of this. I'll need to ask Ronnie if she does. But could you imagine, like when my mom was so insistent on one, she was gonna watch it? Two, there was no way we were allowed to watch it. And I'm sure I saw ads and things like that in in Yeah, TV guides, and a shark said, Oh, whatever. And so of course, that meant I needed to watch it when
Kristin Nilsen 26:51
they're probably kids in your class who were watching it. There probably were, yeah, I always say, if you don't want your if you want your child to read something. Tell them they can't read it. They're not allowed,
Carolyn Cochrane 27:03
right? And here, I mean, I'm 1011 right now, so I'm, I kind of know what's going on, and all I want to do is, like, find the stuff and read about it. Because Mom circle the word penis, that's right, yeah. So that was rich man, poor man
Michelle Newman 27:16
for you guys. Well, coming in at number three is a mini series that I automatically think of when I think of the TV mini series of the 80s, and that's the Thorn Birds.
Michelle Newman 27:37
The Thorn Birds aired from March 27 to March, 30, 1983 it was four parts, so you didn't have to wait a whole week. It was just Night, night, night, night at the time, it was the second most widely watched television miniseries in history, behind roots. Did you guys watch when it was on?
Kristin Nilsen 27:54
I can't believe I didn't watch it. I don't know why I didn't. I certainly knew everything about it, and I thought it was sexy as hell. I didn't read the book. I didn't maybe it was because my mom was into it and I was differentiating. That's very possible, because I know my mom watched,
Michelle Newman 28:09
yeah, I definitely have memories of my mom reading the book, because I remember the cover, and I also know that I watched it with her. I was in eighth grade, so I think that's okay. That's pretty appropriate, because I remember, yes, I remember this very forbidden subject matter. I remember my mom almost like gasping audibly at Richard Chamberlain. She loved Richard Chamberlain. He was not out yet. He came out publicly as gay, as a gay man in his 2003 memoir called shattered love, and this is sad. He had previously been outed by a French magazine in 1989 but he didn't publicly confirm or deny it until his own memoir, until he could do it himself. But my mom, even if she was like he might be gay, she didn't care. She was like, he is gorgeous. Shocked by this. All right, so The Thorn Birds is based on the 1977 Australian novel by Colleen McCullough that we all, like I said, saw our mothers reading, most likely, and Richard Chamberlain stars as Father Ralph de Brookes art, and he's forced to make a choice between his vows to God and His inappropriate feelings. And don't worry, we're gonna circle back to that in just a minute. Let's put a pin in that. Shall we say? It's set in the early 1900s on a sheep station and the Australian outback called dragita, which, after watching only one episode, if it was a drinking game, I would still be drunk a week later, as many times as they say, dragita, you experience that we
Unknown Speaker 29:42
all, like you said,
Carolyn Cochrane 29:45
started Yep, and Richard
Unknown Speaker 29:47
King for London,
Michelle Newman 29:54
stars and Bob and brown, and
Kristin Nilsen 29:58
he's forces himself and.
Michelle Newman 30:16
And it follows members the Cleary family, who moved to a sheep station, which is run by big sister, Mary Cleary, who's played by Barbara Stanwyck, which leads to a, shall we say, Pivotal relationship between young Maggie Cleary and Father Ralph de brockssart, when he recognizes that Maggie is neglected basically by her mother, Fiona, who truly is only obsessed with one child, the bastard, Frank. And I say that because Frank actually is a bastard, and it's a big, shocking revelation. Well, Father Ralph and Maggie's relationship, it starts off fairly innocent. We don't really get creepy vibes until about half an hour in, or the exact moment he lays eyes on 11 year old Maggie, and he locks eyes with her, and he cups her face in his hand, and then he inexplicably carries her into the house. She's an 11 year old child, and he's carrying her like like a little baby into the house. And I just felt like that's creepy, and this is wrong and unnecessary. It's unnecessary she can walk.
Kristin Nilsen 31:17
And also, they're trying to portray this as a love story, not an like in an appropriate story. It's a love story
Michelle Newman 31:24
well, but they have to build up, because it's not till the very end of episode one that she comes becomes of age. So we have to this whole grooming process, which I'm calling it, because it is I think we have to get little. I don't know signs of that. I don't know, but I do think we can all agree that young Maggie is adorable and she's innocent in all this grooming, played so well by a young actress named Sydney penny. I don't know if you guys if that brings back any memories, but she is so cute, and I'm going to use one of Kristen's words because it's so true. She's earnest in all of her scenes. She received a total of six Young Artist Awards nominations, winning two for playing young Maggie Cleary. She also was in Pale Rider. She starred in the sitcom The new Gidget from 1986 to 1988 she was the new Gidget. I remember that little sitcom. She also in the 90s, was on the soap Santa Barbara. She was BJ Walker. She received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress. Then she was on all my children. She was Julia Santos Kiefer, and she got a Daytime Emmy Award for that as well.
Kristin Nilsen 32:35
Postgre do,
Michelle Newman 32:36
she got a nomination.
Kristin Nilsen 32:38
Now I know her. Now I know her well.
Michelle Newman 32:41
Episode One that I watched, it really does set everything up for us and gives us all the information we'll need going forward, besides the growing attraction between the good father and young Maggie, and I'm sorry, but making us try to buy Rachel Ward as an 18 year old Maggie doesn't work, and it's still gross. It's still she's 18, it's still gross,
Carolyn Cochrane 33:04
it's still gross, but it's so weak. Nobody thought that's just
Michelle Newman 33:09
crazy. I guess all the people who read the book Well, besides that, we get to see Old Lady Barbara Stanwyck. Come on to the sexy father multiple times once when he's naked on her porch. Was naked because he got, he got really wet in a rainstorm, and he and they bring him out dry clothes to change. So he changes on her porch. And all I was thinking was Body of Christ.
Unknown Speaker 33:37
Michelle's been waiting all day,
Michelle Newman 33:40
you guys, it's a he's got a really good butt. He just does, but you see his butt, he's got one leg, I remember, yes, yeah, well, yeah, Barbara Stanwyck, who's Mary Cleary, and she's probably supposed to be like, 80. I mean, she comes out, she's running her hands all over his chest, and he's just standing there naked. He doesn't try to cover up. So this is all the stuff that I'm like, Oh no, yuck. So the attraction between Maggie and Father Ralph grows and becomes passionate and forbidden, and it turns into a full blown love affair. But then Maggie marries Luke O'Brien, who's played by Brian Brown, who she marries in real life. Fun fact, to try to forget Father Ralph, but let's be real. No one can forget that body, right? Body, like I said, Body of Christ,
Unknown Speaker 34:25
the fact that his name is
Michelle Newman 34:26
Father, Ralph, I know, right? Because forever, it's just too long. Yeah, it's too forever. It doesn't work out, because it's abusive and, oh, let's not forget, she's sleeping with the priest who basically raised her, which leads to, you guessed it, the baby Jesus, but she names him Dane. Oh, yeah. So meanwhile, Father Ralph, who is unaware he's a father of a different kind, now he develops a close relationship to Dane as he grows much like he did with Meggie, not like, really, like that. But. Sort of the same, like father figure. Father is another. Could be a drinking game here, and I really feel like we can see where this is going. Okay, so the Father, Father does take Dane because, remember, he's the father, but he's also a father. You guys keep the father. I'm proud of you. Yeah. So the Father, He does end up taking Dane to Rome to study for the priesthood, but it's not until after Dane tragically drowns while trying to save two women that Maggie finally tells him that he's not just a Catholic father, but he's Dane's father. Harsh, right? Oh, he didn't know. He didn't know at all anyway, after he finds out basically at the funeral, she tells him, which is such bad timing, but he's so overcome with grief that he has a heart attack and dies. The end. Spoiler,
Kristin Nilsen 35:53
sorry, don't you. Can't you just see him like, like, getting Dane ready for the priesthood. And he's like, don't worry about the celibacy part.
Michelle Newman 36:02
You know, sex with whoever you I used to sleep with your mom from the time she was 18. Yeah, how old? It was fine, yeah, exactly, you guys. And then there's this whole grooming thing. And I know, you know she's she has neglected by her parents, so she thinks she's dying when she gets her period, but it's Father Ralph, who has to tell her about sex and about and he tells her about all this stuff. And she's like, well, well, I have your baby when I get married one when we get married one day and all this stuff. And he's like, oh, dear child. But he's like, looking at her just a beat too long every time
Kristin Nilsen 36:38
I do have to watch it. Now I have
Michelle Newman 36:40
available on Amazon Prime, and you guys have to buy each episode for $6 Oh, well, it's okay. It was well worth my $6 but I didn't continue on, because one, I ran out of time, and two, I'm like, I know where this story's going. And I honestly, you guys, I don't think I could. I could have watched the sex part. It's too creepy for me, especially now being an adult and watching how I'm sorry, lovers of Thorn Birds who disagree with me feel free to disagree with me, but I am sorry. I'm gonna say it again. I feel like he groomed that child.
Kristin Nilsen 37:08
Yeah. Well, okay, you have to ask why. It's worth asking the question, Why did our moms love this? And it could just be exactly because it was disgusting, or because it was clandestine, or it was forbidden, forbidden. It's not something you would ever want to see in real life, but when it's in imaginary life, then it's very titillating.
Michelle Newman 37:29
The Thorn Birds, though, I mean, it deserves its place at number three on this list because it was so important at the time, people loved it. It was nominated for 16 Emmys. It won six and it was followed by a It was followed by a sequel mini series in 1996 called The Thorn Birds the missing years. I have some fun facts, though, because you know how I love casting, like almost casted. Because regardless of if you watch this or not, we know these people, right? So this is so interesting. The first director was Herbert Ross, and he saw Christopher Reeve about playing the lead of father debris. See that? Yes, they took a meeting. If you Yeah, I like that. Well, guess what? Herbert Ross, then was out Peter Weir became attached to direct, and his favorite for father to burka Sartre was Robert Redford. No, no. Okay, no. So, no, so yes. Christopher Plummer, no, not Christopher Reeve. Christopher Reeve, Christopher,
Kristin Nilsen 38:28
not Georg, yeah.
Michelle Newman 38:32
So then Peter Weir drops out as director. What was happening behind the scenes, right? And Arthur Hiller comes in to direct, and he wants Ryan O'Neill absolutely see I could see that. Oh no, I could see that one.
Kristin Nilsen 38:47
Well, maybe it's because I'm not used to this is weird blonde Catholic people. Well,
Michelle Newman 38:54
I will say Richard Chamberlain's hair was kind of a light light brown. It was like nothing blonde
Carolyn Cochrane 39:01
do with hair color, I don't think. But Ryan O'Neal, to me, Will was like love story, and it was he wasn't playful.
Michelle Newman 39:11
Yeah, in all the scenes, like all the village women in Australia, come on to Father debris, casart to Richard Chamberlain. I mean, it's out in the open, and he doesn't really shy away from it. He plays into their jokes and their innuendos and stuff. So they're what a waste well, so eventually, okay, the role of Maggie became the most sought after role of the production. Some say it was considered the role of a lifetime. And here are some other actresses who auditioned for the part. Michelle Pfeiffer, Jane Seymour, oh yes. Olivia Newton, John, No, not right after Greece, no way. And heck, I'm gonna say heck after I've just been talking about grooming. And no, no, yeah. And Kimber. Singer, passenger, passing her, passenger, I think it's, who
Speaker 2 40:04
knows. I don't like any of those, to be honest, with that kind of
Kristin Nilsen 40:08
works. But Rachel Ward was just perfection. She was, yeah, really was, yeah. She
Michelle Newman 40:12
was, she was, except for, like, I say that first when it's like, six years, you know, you get the little six years later. Yeah, it's like the little SpongeBob thing. And here she comes, and everyone's gasping. She's a beautiful woman, but I'm sorry she's not 18.
Michelle Newman 40:34
Okay, so coming in number two, another big name mini series, I think if you didn't watch it, you know this one, and that's Lonesome Dove from 1989
Kristin Nilsen 40:43
it's so funny that I think the theme of this show is, even if you didn't watch it, you still knew about it,
Michelle Newman 40:48
right? I think in 20 has there only been maybe four? Yeah, I don't know. Qb, the seventh.
Kristin Nilsen 40:53
And the number one thing I know from Lonesome Dove is Ricky Schroeder. That's the number one thing that I know because it was the first time we saw him since silver spoons. And you're like, That's right, he's a man. Look at him. He grew up, and he might have been Rick Schroeder, I don't remember. Did he transfer over? Adam, get over yourself. Ricky Schroeder, go drive your little bed car or whatever it is, right? Your little train
Michelle Newman 41:15
through your living room. Diane Lane was also in lonesome All right. Well, let's go down. Drum roll, please. You know what's coming. Kristen, you got to take us to them. You know, everybody knows, and it's, I mean, obviously,
Kristin Nilsen 41:29
it's obvious, if Thorn Birds isn't the number one mini series, what is the number one mini series of all time? According to remind magazine, but let's be honest, according to the American public, the number one mini series of all time is roots.
Kristin Nilsen 41:49
Roots, of course, is the iconic 1977 miniseries based on Alex Haley's book called roots, the saga of an American family, which traces his story, the story of his family from its roots in Africa, through slavery and into freedom. He eventually, I think most people know this. He eventually admitted that not all of the book was factual. It's possible that he borrowed, slash plagiarized from somebody else's work. And he and admittedly so, he said, Yes, this is true. And he started calling the book a work of faction, so fact, plus some fictionalized parts of it. And he had to pay a settlement for that, and he didn't try to deny it. So it but it even so, even so he takes responsibility for that. Even so the mini series, possibly even more than the book, is what made an impact on our culture. It's possibly the first mini series that many Gen Xers remember. It might be the first thing in their consciousness that has to do with a mini series, because it was a cultural and educational event for everybody, not just for adults, but for children also. Many kids were given extra credit for watching it. Many kids were assigned watching it as homework, and that's because it wasn't just the story of slavery in America. We had lots of sources about slavery, right? We learned about slavery in school. It was the first story of this breadth and depth about slavery that was told from the perspective of the Africans, and that had never been done before. So roots aired on eight consecutive nights on ABC from January 23 until January 30, 1977 and this was on purpose, instead of releasing one episode a week, like a normal miniseries, as it was done at the time, TV execs did this essentially to get it out of the way, to get it over with. They so feared the public's reaction that they said, just air it and we'll move past it. They wanted to. They were very worried about sweeps week. They were like, Let's just cut our law, cut our losses, get it. They were sure, certain it was going to be a flop. They thought this was going to be a flop, aren't they the same people that would have had to green light it. Yes, yes. It's very there's a lot of push me, pull you going on right here. And it wasn't the racism that they were worried about. It was the unflinching portrayals of really horrific realities that they feared. They just didn't think that the American public had the stomach for it, and they were afraid that they would turn the channel so they believed in the project. They feared America's reaction to it, but Alex Haley and the writers, many of whom were black, which was not common for the 70s, it's not a lot of them. It's not all of them, by any means. But they were present, and Alex Haley was in that writer's room. They felt that watering it down would be a disservice, so they were just like, No, we're just gonna show it exactly as it happened, because they were here to tell a story of what actually happened, and they weren't going to pretend that it didn't. And they really did. You guys, oh, I had forgotten it was it was difficult, even in just the first few minutes of the show, there are things that you did not see on television, nor. Normally including bare breasts. They showed bare breasts on TV, and I do remember that going and it was not sexual. It's women in an African tribe like gathering water and carrying their children. It's all done in a very wholesome and organic and realistic way. So we weren't titillated. I was just a little like it was a cultural moment for me, going, don't overreact. Don't overreact. Yes, this is strange, but don't overreact. But the TV executives needn't have worried, because the first episode Drew 29 million people, and every night the audience got bigger and bigger and bigger, until the final episode, which was viewed by 100 million people. So that was an 80% share of the beauty viewing audience. So in total, there were 140 million Americans who watched at least some of roots, which equals 85% of all homes with a television set? Wow, yes, restaurants
Carolyn Cochrane 46:03
would close like depending on events. And I think if you remember, and I can't remember what show it was, maybe it was the Dallas one, when who shot Jr, but like college classes were canceled, that people and companies and churches took some of this into account. Might have said, Yeah, choir practice is canceled on Wednesday because roots is on or, you know, no
Kristin Nilsen 46:27
and everybody knows it's coming because it's a new TV guides and it's been advertised. There are no surprises. Everybody knows. And so that ended up being the largest viewership ever attracted by any type of television series, anything in US history? Wow, yes. And I remember knowing that and just being sort of in awe of this event that was happening. And part of what made this story so successful on TV was the casting. I really have to hand it to them, because they created a story and characters that stick with people even today. Basically everyone in Hollywood was in roots, many of them people you would not expect. But most memorably, roots gave us LeVar Burton as the young Kunta Kinte. Your
Speaker 1 47:15
name is Toby. You're going to learn to say your name. Let me hear you say it. What's your name, Kunta Kunta Kinte.
Kristin Nilsen 47:24
Nobody our age will ever forget the name Kunta Kinte. Everybody knows the name Kunta Kinte. They'll never forget LeVar Burton, so much so that when you saw him on Reading Rainbow or on Star Trek The Next Generation, you felt you're like, that's Kunta Kinte, like you felt an affinity for him. You knew him so well. He connected so hard with that audience, and we still have warm feelings for LeVar Burton today. So John Amos, who played James Evans, the dad on Good Times, played the older Kunta Kinte, and he says that that role was the role of a lifetime. It was the reason that he was put on this earth, essentially. And this is some real sweet I don't want to say revenge. That's too strong of a word, but it's important for him. Because if you recall John Amos was very unceremoniously fired from good times, remember they killed him in a car accident and just never came back. Like, why do they have to do it so violently? And they fired him because of John's outspokenness about his dissatisfaction with how good times portrayed black people in America. He wanted to tell real stories that told the truth and made an impact, and instead, he got JJ and so Roots was the story he needed to tell, and he did it unforgettably. So TV execs took a really big risk, and they cast some of America's most beloved actors in the most heinous roles as slaveholders and traders because they and traders, not traitors, but like slave traders, because they wanted to soften the blow for the watching audience, and this is according to the Museum of broadcast community communications. They said that they put actors like Lauren green, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Reed, aka Mike Brady, Ralph Waite from the Waltons, daddy man from the Waltons, Sandy Duncan, a young Tracy gold plays the young Sandy Duncan and you guys, Burl Ives, Burl Ives in these in these white secondary roles. And they did that to reassure audiences, and these white characters were featured very prominently in the commercials, disproportionately because Roots was not their story. But they they wanted to reassure the white audience that this show is for you. They even created a new character that wasn't in the book to be played by Ed Asner, again, a beloved person that will reassure the audience. And he was cast as a slave ship captain who was having sort of a crisis of conscience about what he was doing, really the only way. Person in in the trade of the slave trade, who showed any sort of moral compass. Oh, my God, daddy, man, Walton. He's a horrible character. It's bad. It's really bad. And it was hard to watch John Walton say those things. So yeah, he's having a real crisis of conscience about what he's doing. And this role was created to help white audiences feel better about their role in history. They wanted white people to feel better that their ancestors weren't all 100% villains, that there were some good people. They did not want to scare the white people away. And so this was to communicate to them that it would be safe to watch. But the real stars of the show, the people we remember are the people from whom Alex Haley was descended. Those are the characters we remember, like LeVar Burton, like John Amos. But listen to the rest of this cast list. It's just It's astounding. James Earl Jones plays Alex Haley. Maya Angelou plays one of the women in coontie quintes tribe. Scatman Crothers plays Mingo. Louis Gossett Jr plays fiddler. Richard Roundtree, who played shaft he plays Sam OJ Simpson, Lawrence Hilton, Jacobs, boom, boom. Washington from Welcome back, Otter so boom, boom plays an important role. Cicely Tyson, bless her heart, plays Kunta Cante his mother, Leslie ugms as Kizzy and Ben Vereen as chicken George. Everybody
Unknown Speaker 51:30
watch this now. I know
Kristin Nilsen 51:33
Todd bridges plays a role. Roxy Roker plays a role. Everybody in Hollywood had an important role, and in 2023 variety ranked roots as the number 10, the 10th greatest TV show of all time. Wow, of any TV show. Yes,
Michelle Newman 51:55
really, yeah,
Carolyn Cochrane 52:00
that seems low, but so impactful. I mean, that's so impactful. I can remember, like, if I close my eyes, I can see when LeVar Burton is getting, you know, whipped, yes, oh, and those scars and, oh my gosh, and his mother and Kizzy and listeners, well, if you watch this on YouTube, you'll see, I'm closing my eyes, but, but, yeah, that really impacted me as a 12 year old. And I'm sure there was, like the extra credit and stuff involved too. So it's like, we're watching this tonight, family, even if maybe we weren't going to,
Kristin Nilsen 52:31
if I recall correctly, I think I may have watched the first episode, and it could be that my parents were like, This is intense, and it might be too intense for an eight year old, and because I don't remember, I just remember snippets then of the rest of it, but I didn't sit down every single night. It was not Christian. Go watch love American in
Unknown Speaker 52:48
style. Yes, that's
Carolyn Cochrane 52:50
right. Go watch your soaps. What I remember very specifically, I think it would have been 78 because we would have moved to New Jersey, but we had it on a film strip in my classroom. So it was like a still, you know, there'd still photo from the show. Oh, there's some recording playing, and there was the beep. And I remember thinking when we were getting ready to watch it as a class, having watched it on television, like, how on earth is this going to be a film strip? And all I can remember is these still photos and the beep and thinking, this is not at all. Oh, like, it was like, what a disservice, in a way. Yeah, they were doing, but yeah, it was a film strip
Kristin Nilsen 53:32
because you you can't deliver the intensity. You can't. I mean, think of the emotions on levar Burton's face. That is what sold it for everybody. It's like that. It's the same as the the photo of John Lewis getting beaten with a baton on the head, the look on his face when he's looking up into the sheriff's eyes. It's the look on barberton's face that helps us understand the pain and anguish that is involved, that the the injustices that are being done. I looked at some things on on YouTube about roots and comment after comment after comment was one of the most impactful things I've ever seen, one of the most one of the most important things I've ever watched. Saw this as a child, had this assigned in history. I've never been the same. It was universally accepted that people were changed forever after watching roots. All
Michelle Newman 54:27
right, you guys ready to switch gears a little bit. So if the mini series of the 70s and the early 80s were basically history lessons like we were, you were just saying the Holocaust and roots and the mid to late 80s and the early 90s took a hard 180 and brought us a bunch of mini series full of big hair, bold shoulder pads and big scandal. This was the era of the romance novel miniseries, and it was truly escapism at its finest. God bless. Thanks. Sidney Sheldon, Judith, Carolyn. And Jackie Collins, these mini series delivered all the drama and all the sex you could want. Jet setting, billionaires, love triangles, revenge plots, family feuds, affairs, secret children and lust. So much lust. Did I just describe the former? Pretty much, yeah, just in Australia. Do you guys remember watching these romance novel mini series?
Kristin Nilsen 55:24
I This is very similar to all of the other mini series where I remember their existence, of them, and I was very aware that they came from books I would be so excited be like, Oh, the Daniel Steele, new one is gonna be a movie. It was almost like you waited for it to be a movie, and yet I didn't tune in. But I was very aware of
Carolyn Cochrane 55:40
them, right? I think same with me, Kristen. When I look at the years of these, this is when I was out also getting the $3 pitchers of beer lots of times like I was not staying home watching television. So yeah, I don't remember any specific except rage of angels by Sidney Sheldon. So I will tell you that I read that book. I read that book long before it was the mini series or TV movie. I remember you guys. I'm not lying when I say this. I thought it was the best book I had ever read. I was so I can't tell you I had to, like, read about many damn Sydney Sheldon book there ever was like, the other side of midnight. I mean, you name him. I was just, I was in love, and I felt like I had crossed some threshold into adult reading. Yes, it just had me on the edge of my seat. I was a Sidney Sheldon fan. And fun fact, he didn't even start writing those novels until he was in his 50s. He was a, yeah, he was a TV writer and creator before that. I mean, we have him to thank for. I Dream of Jeannie.
Kristin Nilsen 56:46
That's right. I'm so confused by all that, because I knew those two names. I mean, one name, I knew the one name, and I saw them in these two very disparate places, and I always assumed they were two different people with the same name. Yeah,
Michelle Newman 56:57
nope. That's crazy. That's a good fact. Well, I was not of the age to be buying $3 feeders at the time. I was in the perfect age to be just soaking all of these types of miniseries in. And let's not forget my mom, who wanted a Dallas watching buddy when the Buddy was only 10, loved these types of miniseries too. So we would get very excited. And my mom had probably read a lot of these books. And not only did our friend Shane, who's 87 ragged Tiger, on Instagram, not only did he watch all these and currently owns recordings of many of them, he told me yesterday that this list I'm about to share was basically his entire high school reading list. One of his best friends reminded him that when they were in high school, Shane used to just carry around a copy of the film birds. He said he never read it. He just wanted to look cool. That isn't this fantastic. That's what I said. I know Shane's like, God, I was a mess. I was like, This is gold. I was like, could I please share this on the podcast? And he's like, Haha, absolutely.
Kristin Nilsen 58:05
That's some very committed identity making. I love that.
Michelle Newman 58:09
Yeah, it's just one more reason that I'm like, Shane, we would have been, I wish we would have known each other in high school. We would have been, I would have seen
Kristin Nilsen 58:15
that guy carrying that Thornburg. And I would have been like, I'm going to go sit at his lunchtime. Let's
Michelle Newman 58:20
not forget, let's go all the way back to Shane's the little boy who carried around stacks of party boys didn't read them, but he did it so his mom would let him put posters of Sean Cassidy on his so brilliant. Well, okay, so here is, here's a list of the most unforgettable of these 1980s romance novel miniseries in no particular order, people so don't come at me, if you're like you said that one last we know you have you remember these and you have feelings about these. So in 1986 Carolyn, it was a Sidney Sheldon adaptation, if tomorrow comes, and it was a revenge thriller meets globe trotting romance Starring Madeline Smith. Do you guys know who that is?
Kristin Nilsen 59:04
Okay, I'm just reading this in your notes, and I'm gobsmacked. Pam, from Urban Cowboy, from Urban Cowboy, and I wonder if this is why she looks so familiar to me in Urban Cowboy. Maybe I watched, if tomorrow comes, maybe, yeah, maybe because I knew her. I definitely knew her and I had never seen I'd never seen Urban Cowboy before.
Michelle Newman 59:23
Carolyn, you'll have to talk to Shane about this. This is his very favorite. He owns a signed first edition copy of if tomorrow,
Kristin Nilsen 59:30
of course, he has such good collection. Okay,
Michelle Newman 59:34
another one that I remember only because, again, Shane has been asking us for like, three and a half years, when are you gonna do an episode on when are you gonna do an episode? Do an episode on lace? The 1984 mini series starring Phoebe Cates and Bess Armstrong from 1984
Kristin Nilsen 59:50
I did see this. I think I'd because I love those two women, Bess Armstrong and Bess
Michelle Newman 59:55
Armstrong. This is a scandal filled Tale of Four women and a daughter in search of. Her mysterious mother. This is the mini series that's famous for the line, which one of you bitches is my mother?
Kristin Nilsen 1:00:07
I love that line. I think I saw this. I'm pretty sure I saw this one. Ice is delicious.
Michelle Newman 1:00:12
Delicious is a great word. So I immediately was like, I'm watching that before we record this episode. Hard to find again. I think you might be able to buy it. It said it it said it was on some streaming service called pivotal. I don't something that sounded too sketchy for me. God. Judy, come on, get us lace. We need lace. I know. Shane, yeah, I know you're listening, and we know you own it. So if you want to, like, bootleg us a copy and send it, would be happy to watch it. Okay, Judith Krantz got that name. Isn't that just a queen of the romance novel? Can
Kristin Nilsen 1:00:40
you see the font on the front of the book? Yeah, the kind of scripty font? Yeah.
Michelle Newman 1:00:44
So this is the 1980 mini series. Scruples,
Kristin Nilsen 1:00:48
yes. Oh, I can see the cover. And she has, like, the little black, like, netted, the net
Michelle Newman 1:00:56
coming over her eyes. You guys are both like, I can see it because you can Yeah. You know, a lot of our followers on social media say, when we post something on Instagram that's like an Avon bottle or tickle deodorant, they'll say, I can smell this post. I can smell because so many of these memories are so olfactory or visual, in this case of what we're doing. Because I, when I was writing down these notes for this episode. I was Googling, and the images would come up, and I was like,
Unknown Speaker 1:01:25
you can
Michelle Newman 1:01:27
see them well, scruples is the rags to riches fashion saga, though it's a fashion saga following a woman's rise in Beverly Hills High Society starring Lindsay Wagner and Barry Bostwick. Come on. You know, Barry Bostwick from Spin City, but from the rock picture show those of you that are rocky, big, Rocky Horror people were, you guys, I missed that whole craze. I saw three or four times and threw, you know, toast at the at the screen and stuff. But we never, like, got into, never, I'm going to travel around the world. And
Kristin Nilsen 1:01:59
I've never seen it in the theater. I've only seen it like you
Michelle Newman 1:02:02
got to see it in the theater. It is an experience, because I've never had that to go and you want to watch everybody else in that theater. So we went to like, two midnight showings in high school, and we didn't know to dress up or anything, but we knew enough to bring, like, the water gun. You have to squirt water at one point. And anyway,
Kristin Nilsen 1:02:18
that was when my my cool aunt was going to take me to Rocky Horror. And my mom said, No, yeah, and I'm still mad, bizarre. Okay,
Michelle Newman 1:02:26
another Judith Krantz from 1987 I'll Take Manhattan now, this one I have very clear memories of, because it starred Valerie Bertinelli, and we all had girl a girl crush on Valerie Bertinelli. What listeners we know you probably had a girl crush on Valerie Bertinelli, but in 1987 we haven't seen her in a while, right? She's been in these little made for TV movies and stuff along the way. But, man, I was watching this one. She played Maxie amberville. She tries to save the magazine Empire her father built, but her treacherous uncle stands in the way Jane kasmerik is in this one, Jack Scalia, Julianne Moore and, once again, Barry boswick. Do you guys? These are all like Judith Krantz, but do you remember Princess Daisy from 1983
Kristin Nilsen 1:03:14
even I don't remember this, this title. I remember every everything else looks so familiar. And this one is not I remember
Michelle Newman 1:03:20
definitely the title. I bet it's because I'm looking at the hair going. I bet it's because I read it. I bet it's because my mom read it, and then I probably grabbed her little trade paperback later and read it. Okay, so like I said. Judith Krantz, this is a tragic fairy tale about a beautiful heiress coping with love loss and secrets. This stars Robert Urich, Rupert, Everett, Stacy Keach and Lindsay Wagner. She's coming back again too, no, so she's got a life after the bionic No. Mary Bostwick in this one, though, sorry. And then now we're going to get to a Jackie Collins one, because Jackie Collins too, come on, right? The Queen also of this. This, these 1980s romance. And, you know, they're thick and they're like, little brick, they're just a little brick. Yeah, they are. I can't read them now. I can't even with my readers, like, how our moms know I couldn't. Well, they were, they were too small. When my mom was reading all of these, she was probably in her late 30s,
Carolyn Cochrane 1:04:15
yeah, my mom was probably in her 40s. But I don't even know if I could have read them then. It was so small, the paper was like newsprint, if you had wet, if you like drip sweat on it, or you're something from your drink. Then the letters from the other side came through. And
Kristin Nilsen 1:04:29
have you left it in the window and it rained, it would swell up like, that's right?
Michelle Newman 1:04:35
Yeah, it did, though that's exactly the way you describe it. No Hollywood wives, based on the Jackie Collins novel was in 1985 and, oh, this is odd. It centers around the glitz, gossip and betrayal in the lives of Hollywood's rich and restless starring Candace Bergen, another another actress. My mother loved Stephanie powers too, and we watched heart to heart all the time, so we loved Stephanie powers and. Hopkins. What Angie Dickinson. My mom was a fan of hers as well. And Suzanne Somers, too. So I know we are watching this. Oh, yeah, that's a good one. That's another one I might want to watch for just, you know, some guilty pleasure. Yeah, that could be really good. And we couldn't include one of these romance novel mini series without including a Danielle Steele, and that would be 1986 his crossings, which was set in World War Two and was a sweeping romance and political drama starring Cheryl Ladd and Lee Horsley. Do you remember what he was in?
Carolyn Cochrane 1:05:34
I know that name Horsley. I would recognize him, but I don't know why.
Michelle Newman 1:05:38
From 82 to 85 Do you remember the show? Matt Houston? Was that? No, it
Kristin Nilsen 1:05:43
was a show. I know. I was like, What is 8285 what? That's its own show. It's not funny that we know the actor's name. I definitely know that actor's name, and I've never heard of Matt Houston before. That one didn't get stuck in the old cry.
Michelle Newman 1:05:56
Houston. Lee Horsley, Pamela Hensley, Lincoln, Kilpatrick, buddy Epson. What was it about Matt Houston and his American crime drama television series starring Lee Horsley as the title character, a wealthy Oil Man who holds a side job as a private investigator. Oh, you know what? It's an Aaron Spelling show. Oh, of course, produced by Aaron Spelling it originally aired on ABC for three seasons from 82 to 85 I bet you, if you saw him and read convertible and saw I'm looking right now at Wikipedia, at the font where it says Matt Houston. It's like college letter. I bet you would okay. I love how the synopsis on Wikipedia says Matt Houston stars Lee Horsley as a wealthy mustachioed Texas
Kristin Nilsen 1:06:40
oil. You don't even have to say mustachioed. We knew. We knew, Oh my goodness, that is a lot. That's a lot of TV. You guys, that was a lot of hours of TV. If you add up all of the hours for all of those mini series, that's a lot of hours of TV. And whether it was the epic battles of Shogun, the sweeping drama of roots, the misguided and controversial romance of The Thorn Birds, or the deliciously trashy and captivating stories of the romance novel adaptations. We didn't even know it was a genre back then, but it's a total genre. These limited run sagas were cultural touchstones for us, and they brought cinematic storytelling into our living rooms and proved that television could be just as grand, emotional and unforgettable as what we saw on the silver screen. Amen, we hope today's episode brought back memories or sparked your curiosity to visit these iconic shows and you take to the Googles to find one. Thank you today for listening and taking this trip back through television history with us, and we will see you next time.
Michelle Newman 1:07:43
And we would like to give a special, special thank you. Shout out to some of our supporters over on Patreon. We like to name them by name at the end of every episode, and today we're thanking Deb SJS. Now you have to understand everyone that this is just, you know, they put their name in and their email, and sometimes they don't like to put their name, and we respect that. So SJS, big thanks. SJS, Donovan, MP Magdalena, Mike, Alice, Miriam, Linda Richard, Laura Shannon, Jen, Teresa and Don
Carolyn Cochrane 1:08:18
Thank you everybody. Yes. Thank you so much. If you don't mind, we'd like to ask you a big favor. Okay, would you mind going and leaving a review of the podcast wherever you listen? Truly those reviews and ratings help us more than you could ever know. And if you're so in the mood, you can tell some more friends about how great we are and how they might give us a listen as well.
Kristin Nilsen 1:08:39
That's the best thing that you can do for us. Thank you so much. In the meantime, let's raise our glasses for a toast courtesy of the cast of Three's Company, two good times two
Michelle Newman 1:08:50
Richard Chamberlain's ass.
Speaker 3 1:08:54
That is happy days to Little House on the Prairie. Cheers, cheers, the
Kristin Nilsen 1:08:59
information, opinions and comments expressed on the pop culture Preservation Society podcast belong solely to Carolyn the crushologist and hello Newman and are in no way representative of our employers or affiliates. And though we truly believe we are always right, there is always a first time the PCPs is written, produced and recorded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of the fictional wjm studios and our beloved Mary Richards, nano nanny, keep on trucking and May the Force Be With You. You.