10 best hbo tv miniseries based on books, ranked for their lasting impact
Why books suit miniseries
Television’s miniseries boom has made literary adaptations an appealing alternative to films. A run of four to ten episodes can provide more space to develop characters and preserve details from a book than a two-hour movie.
HBO has benefited from the format’s growth, attracting writers, actors and directors to adaptations of fiction and nonfiction. The selections are assessed by how they handle their source material, their reception at release and their longer-term legacy.
A housing fight in Yonkers
Show Me a Hero adapts Lisa Belkin’s nonfiction account of a white middle-class Yonkers neighborhood opposing a federal order to provide affordable housing without regard to race. Oscar Isaac plays Nick Wasicsko, the town’s recently elected 28-year-old mayor.
David Simon and William F. Zorzi adapted the book, with Paul Haggis directing. The series follows protests by residents and city officials who resisted desegregation measures, while emphasizing the conflict’s effects on individuals and the continuing relevance of its themes.
John Adams in seven parts
HBO’s 2008 miniseries John Adams draws on David McCullough’s 2001 book. Written by Kirk Ellis, directed by Tom Hooper and executive produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, it follows Adams’ political career and the nation’s early decades.
The story opens in 1770 and spans 50 years, ending with Adams’ death on July 4, 1826. Paul Giamatti portrays Adams, while Laura Linney plays his wife, Abigail. Both actors won Emmys, and the series’ 13 wins remain the record for a miniseries.
An alternate American history
The Plot Against America adapts Philip Roth’s quasi-autobiographical alternate-history novel. It imagines Charles Lindbergh defeating Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election and leading the country toward fascism through xenophobic, populist and isolationist policies.
David Simon and Ed Burns developed the HBO series after Simon had declined earlier approaches to adapt the novel. They began work following the results of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The story is seen through a working-class Jewish family, called the Levins in the series.
Key points
- HBO’s miniseries format gives adaptations more room to develop characters and preserve details from books.
- Show Me a Hero follows resistance to a federal affordable-housing order in Yonkers.
- John Adams won 13 Emmys, the most awarded miniseries in Emmy history.
- The Plot Against America imagines a Lindbergh presidency and a turn toward fascism.