Miniseries Madness!

I have kind of a love-hate relationship with miniseries. Most of the time, I hate them. They're stories that are completely dragged out and should have instead been consolidated into a 2 hour movie. But, there is one media company that does miniseries well, and that's the BBC. I am sucker for any BBC miniseries (Pride & Prejudice with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, the 80s versions of the C.S.Lewis books). Outside of the BBC, I have not seen a good miniseries in quite awhile. Then along came two I had high hopes for...

The first is "Mildred Pierce" on HBO. It was a five part series that wrapped up two weeks ago. The casting was spot on for the roles. Kate Winslet starred as Mildred Pierce, a woman left by her husband during the Great Depression who uses her cooking skills to make a living. Guy Pierce stars as her romantic interest and her spoiled daughter is played by Evan Rachel Wood. I think a five-part miniseries was the perfect length and it wasn't drawn-out or boring ever. The only issue I had with it was that I wish it had been even more about the wonderfully resilient Mildred Pierce and less about her bratty, spoiled, snobby daughter. The daughter was so horrible to her mother that it was almost hard to watch at points. Definitely rent this when it comes to DVD.

The second miniseries that just wrapped up was the scandalous portrait of America's royal family, "The Kennedys."  This has been getting a lot of press because it was suppose to air on the History Channel but then the Kennedys made it clear they were not pleased and all the sudden it looked like it may not air at all. The Reelz channel ended up getting it, and in turn getting the best ratings they have ever had. Greg Kinnear plays JFK and misses a lot of the charisma the real JFK had. Katie Holms plays Jackie O. and imparts the weirdest accent on her I have every heard. It is almost unbearable to watch her, she's that bad. Barry Pepper plays Bobby and does a decent job. The only standout actor was Tom Wilkinson, who plays the the matriarch of the family and steal the show. Overall, it was interested to learn all the sordid details of the Kennedy's, but not worth eight hours of watching Katie Holms try to be Jackie O. I would imagine there's a written biography that covers all the juicy details that's much better.