Does anyone else remember the days when the networks treated us to special mini-series shows? Epic examples of this would be Centennial, North & South, The Blue & The Gray, and The Thorn Birds. In most recent years, we had the mini-series that began the revision of Battlestar Galactica. Although this is much shorter than the three epic series mentioned.
These shows were short run special events. Some of them ran consecutive nights; some ran only on Sunday nights. Either or, each segment ran for about 2 hours. The stories were continuous from night to night. What I mean by this is that each episode continued from the previous ones. Basically, they’re made-for-TV movies that span more than 2 hours in their entirety.
So, where am I going with this stroll down memory lane? It’s simple, after having watched the first two segments of Invasion my impression was just this. They should have made the crossover into a special 2 or 3-night event. Give us 4 or even 6 hours in a one-off special instead of making each segment part of the individual shows. With the storyline, make it flow like one single story instead of each show handling a different scenario. In short, treat the fans to a made-for-TV event. It doesn’t have to be epic like the ones mentioned (epic as in length of time) but I’m sure the fans would enjoy it. I can say this with conviction because I am a fan.
Just to note- Run Times: (thanks, Amazon.com)
Centennial: 1,254 minutes = 20 hrs : 54 mins
North & South 1,392 minutes = 23 hrs : 12 mins
The Blue & The Gray 296 minutes = 4 hrs : 56 mins
The Thorn Birds 666 minutes = 11 hrs : 6 mins
Battlestar Galactica (2003 Miniseries) 183 minutes = 3 hrs : 3 mins
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the crossover should go 20+ hours. These are just examples. However, it would be nice if they did an event like this that was a special event, which was more than 4 hours, and outside the normal run of each show. Then, box it and sell it as a movie tie-in to all the series. We’ve seen this before. The makers of the revision for BSG did this with The Mini-Series, Razor, and The Plan, and then they gave us Blood and Chrome. I’m just saying, it’s an option, it’d be a nice one too.
Elusive and Enduring 