Holiday weekends are great for many things - fishing, camping, cooking on the grill, and anything outdoors. Personally, I'm a big fan of all of the above, being a guy who would rather be outdoors than indoors most of the time. But there are the evenings, and sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate, requiring us to find something to do indoors.
In such times - and, of course, at times through our long, dark Alaska winters - we will spend a few happy hours watching some of the few television miniseries worth watching. While network fare is pretty bad most of the time, there are a few small, well-made miniseries that stand out, that are worth the time to binge-watch. Without further ado, here are five of my favorites. Consider any of these if you have a few hours to kill.
Black Sails. This well-made STARZ miniseries is a sort of prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island," having to do with some real people and some fictional ones in the famous New Providence Island Pirate Republic in the early 1700s. There are quite a few real people depicted, including Charles Vane, "Calico Jack" Rackham, Benjamin Hornigold, Ann Bonny, and others, along with the fictional Captain Flint and Long John Silver. They play around with the history some - a lot, in fact - and the ending of Captain Flint's take is jarringly wrong considering the sensibilities of that era. But it's a fun, action-packed series. Jessica Parker Kennedy's portrayal of Max and Toby Schmitz's Jack Rackham kind of steal the show.
Vikings. Based on the collected spoken Scandinavian legends of Ragnar Lothbrok, his family, his sons, and the beginnings of the Viking raids on the British Isles. There's a lot that is heavily embellished - the concept of the Viking shield-maiden is relied on heavily, best represented by the utterly lovely Katheryn Winnick as Lagertha when there is little real-life evidence of those women really existing. But that doesn't detract from this being a well-made production, with great characterizations, a great story, and excellent period props and costuming.The Pacific. This excellent HBO production hit home for me for a couple of reasons. First: My uncle landed on Peileliu and Iwo Jima, two of the island campaigns depicted in the series. Second, I maintained a second home for a while in Raritan, New Jersey, while working on a project there - that is the hometown of Medal of Honor awardee John Basilone - and attended two of that town's parades honoring their hero. This Speilberg/Hanks production is great technically, but it also very accurately captures the visceral nature of the Pacific campaign.(Warning: Harsh language)
See Related: Portrait of an American Hero: Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone
Band of Brothers. Another excellent HBO production, and again, it hit home for me, as my father's older brother was also in the 101st Airborne in Europe, having jumped into the Netherlands during Market Garden and was in the fighting at Bastogne. The European war was very different than the Pacific campaign, but Band of Brothers, as the name would suggest, focuses heavily on the bond that develops between those who have faced death together and who have been forever changed by it.
(Warning: Harsh language)
Rome. This excellent work centers around the events beginning with Julius Caesar's final conquest of Gaul, the Second Roman Civil War, and Caesar's rise to power and assassination. The second season focuses on the second Triumvirate with Caesar's nephew and heir Octavian, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus, Antony's exile to Egypt, and his affiliation with Cleoptatra. But the reason this show works is that it also presents these events through the eyes of the Roman commoners, mostly the centurion Lucius Vorenus and the soldier Titus Pullo. Highlights of the series are Ray Stevenson's portrayal of the cheerful, loyal brute Pullo, and the amazing James Purefoy portraying Mark Antony with a wonderful and strange mixture of malice and whimsy.See Related: The United States, Caesarism, and the Roman Republic: Is History Again Rhyming?
Spending a few hours in front of the television isn't always everyone's favorite way to spend a long weekend. But if you find yourselves indoors with a few hours to kill, any of these should prove worth the time to take in.
Any suggestions? The comments are yours!
