Somewhere between the confined storytelling of movies and the ongoing serialized narratives of a regular television show, there is the miniseries format. Miniseries have the episodic structure of TV series, but only last for a single season. Their stories are told from start to finish within the same run of episodes.
Miniseries are ideal for TV viewing in the streaming age because a lot of them can be binge-watched in a day or, at a push, over the course of a rainy weekend. Some of the best work in TV history — performances, writing, directing, etc. — has been done in limited series.
Updated January 14th, 2021 by Kristen Palamara: Miniseries continue to be an engaging form of storytelling for the small screen and have grown in popularity in recent years. Some television shows just keep dragging on until they're completely unrecognizable by their tenth season and the original characters have changed or have even left the series and fans stop watching. In comparison to shows that keep continuing past their expiration date, miniseries have a compact and defined story they want to tell and use the limited amount of time to tell that story without all of the extra filler.
15 11.22.63
Adapted from the Stephen King novel of the same name, 11.22.63 is not a horror story like King is known for; rather, it’s a science fiction story. James Franco stars as Jake Epping, a man who learns how to travel through time and is tasked with preventing the Kennedy assassination.
So, he goes back in time to 1963 — which is brought to life beautifully by the miniseries’ pitch-perfect production design — and falls deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of changing the course of history.
14 Unbelievable
Unbelievable is a Netflix miniseries based on a true story of a young woman (Kaitlyn Dever) reporting she was raped and then later recanting her statements because the police mishandled her case.
Three years later, two female detectives (Toni Collette and Merritt Wever) look closer into the evidence of her case while searching for a serial rapist with a similar M.O. to her story to find the truth. It's an intense and realistic look at how victims of rape can be treated by police, but also tells the true story of two detectives who did their best to find her justice.
13 Maniac
Jonah Hill and Emma Stone reteamed for the first time since Superbad made them both recognizable stars for the Netflix miniseries Maniac, a curious combination of psychological drama and pitch-black comedy.
Director Cary Joji Fukunaga, who helmed the first season of True Detective and the upcoming Bond movie No Time to Die, brought spectacular visuals to back up Hill and Stone’s captivating performances.
12 John Adams
The proud owner of more Emmy Awards than any miniseries in TV history, HBO’s John Adams recounts the political career of the second-ever President of the United States in a surprisingly compelling fashion.
Political dramas can often be dry, but between Paul Giamatti’s turn as Adams and Laura Linney’s performance as his First Lady, John Adams is anchored by fantastic acting.
11 The Pacific
The Pacific is an HBO miniseries based mostly on Eugene B. Sledge's autobiography of his time in World War II fighting in the pacific. Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg created this series around the same time as Band of Brothers which followed a different set of characters based on real-life veterans fighting in Europe during WWII.
The Pacific presents a realistic and in-depth look at a part of the war that many people might not be as familiar with, especially in comparison to the European theater.
10 Show Me A Hero
Show Me a Hero is a real-life story of the Mayor of small-town Yonkers, New York who was in charge of bringing low-income public housing into his district in the 1970s amongst strong opposition to the idea.
Mayor Nick Wasicsko (Oscar Isaac) is the youngest Mayor to have been elected in Yonkers and he tries to juggle angry constituents as his own personal beliefs change about public housing. It's a great miniseries showing that there is still hope for people in politics to do their job with empathy and do what's right even if there's a tragic ending.
9 The Night Of
Based on the British crime drama Criminal Justice, HBO’s The Night Of tells the riveting tale of the legal fallout from a man waking up to find a woman he slept with has been stabbed to death.
The miniseries is brilliantly written by Richard Price and Steven Zaillian and features terrific performances from a cast including Riz Ahmed, John Turturro, and Michael K. Williams. It’s gripping from beginning to end, right up to its shocking conclusion.
8 When They See Us
In 1989, a female jogger was assaulted and raped in Central Park and five black and Latino men were falsely accused and prosecuted for the crime. A convicted murderer and serial rapist later confessed to doing it, but even after being proven innocent, the Central Park Five still faced racially charged scrutiny for the incident.
Ava DuVernay’s Netflix series about the case, When They See Us, is an appropriately harrowing account of the hellish tribulations that the Central Park Five went through — and a timely one, as some people still believe them to be guilty.
7 Watchmen
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal comic book Watchmen was already adapted for the screen by Zack Snyder with mixed results, but that was a straight adaptation of the comics.
Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen miniseries, which aired on HBO last year, acts as a sequel to the comics, developing and recontextualizing Moore’s characters and worldbuilding to take on important issues like the rise of white supremacy.
6 Angels In America
There are fantastical elements in Angels in America, but its story tackles some very real issues. It takes place in the ‘80s, at the height of the AIDS pandemic, and focuses on a gay man who contracts the disease and is visited by an angel.
Tony Kushner adapted his own Pulitzer Prize-winning play for the screen, The Graduate director Mike Nichols’ work is impeccable as usual, and the cast includes stellar turns from such legendary actors as Al Pacino and Meryl Streep.
5 Big Little Lies
Big Little Lies was only meant to be one season long, but another season was created that went beyond the book it's based on. Even though Big Little Lies is two seasons, it's still a short series that deserves to be on this list for its gripping drama and a stellar cast.
The series follows five uniquely interesting women who are all involved in a death on their children's school grounds. The show delves into the town's politics, each character's past, domestic abuse, and sexual assault in a realistic way.
4 The Queen's Gambit
The Queen's Gambit is a 2020 Netflix miniseries that follows Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) throughout her life beginning in an orphanage where she learns to play chess for the first time and quickly shows she's a child prodigy.
The series shows her as a child to her first tournaments to her struggles with addiction and the pressure of being the best chess player at the height of the Cold War between America and Russia. It's a completely engaging series that makes chess relatable, accessible, and intense even if the viewer knows nothing about the game.
3 Chernobyl
HBO’s dramatization of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the cleanup operation that followed took a few artistic liberties with the truth, but the undeniable realities are shocking and the ensemble cast’s acting is powerful.
After working on Superhero Movie, Identity Thief, and the second and third Hangover movies, Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin sure took a while to show audiences he could be a great writer, but it was worth it.
2 Roots
From the enslavement of Kunta Kinte to the emancipation of his descendants, Roots charts the family history of writer Alex Haley in a truly powerful fashion.
Every episode of the miniseries ranks among the top 100 most-viewed TV broadcasts in American history. This show captured the ugliest chapter of America’s history in a way that really hit the zeitgeist and made history of its own.
1 Band Of Brothers
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg co-created this World War II drama, which follows the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division from jump training on American soil to mission in Europe right through to the end of the war.
Along with Hanks and Spielberg’s movie Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers is one of the definitive on-screen WWII stories, capturing the horrors of the conflict as well as the spirit of the soldiers who fought in it.
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