Self-contained TV mini-series recommendations

[politux]

^That name reminded me of another one from HBO called The Night of.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2401256/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

[neanderthal]

This might interest you though it doesn't air until Nov 19:

The Little Drummer Girl

[politux]

Curious if you ever watched any of our recs?

[workerbee]

Please forgive me for not replying until now.

I have seen some of the series that were recommended, all of them before I created this thread.  Angels in America is a masterpiece by any measure in my book.  I enjoyed The Night Of (John Turturro was great).  Although I began The Terror with high hopes, I abandoned it half-way through because the supernatural/horror rarely appeals to me.  Alas, I detested Twin Peaks and you can't pay me to watch anything remotely associated with that worthless hack Stephen King.*

I look forward to The Little Drummer Girl (hadn't heard it was being made into a miniseries), although I thought the film was mediocre.  Le Carré can be superb when he isn't preaching at us.  The Night Manager was much better but the best will always be the 1979 BBC production of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy!

Thank you for all the suggestions!

* The only movie I've ever walked out on in my life was a Stephen King flick; I can't remember the name.

[Pollard44]

11.22.63,Show me the Hero are the best tv shows which have limited eppisode

[LZA]

... and you can't pay me to watch anything remotely associated with that worthless hack Stephen King.*

Shawshank Redemption on its own makes Stephen King a hero in my book. The Green Mile was another... I liked most of King's work, but if I can venture a guess... Did you walk out n Maximum Overdrive? That was pretty ridiculous.

[workerbee]

Did you walk out n Maximum Overdrive?  That was pretty ridiculous.

I had to look it up on Wikipedia, but yes, that was it!  Pure garbage and eminently forgettable.

[politux]

There have been a lot of shitty Stephen King TV and movies. But there have been a lot of good ones too. The Shining, Stand By Me, Shawshank, Pet Sematary to name a few of the gooders.

[Zenodotus_the_Ephesian]

Looking for recommendations for any critically acclaimed TV mini-series that is limited and self-contained, by which I mean it doesn't drag endlessly on for multiple seasons, at which point I just wish all the characters (and their writers) would perish violently in a Wagnerian apocalypse.  I have zero patience for series that contain lots of filler or meaningless dialogue and scenes only to stretch things out.

I don't watch much TV but examples of series that I've enjoyed are Fargo, the first season of True Detective, and more recently Big Little Lies -- stuff that has some claim to artistic merit and integrity.  It doesn't have to be in English; I just can't think of a foreign one at the moment.

WARNING: Posters who recommend any series that does not meet the standard described above will be instantly and permanently banned. 

Apart from the obvious american classics (the wire, the goodwife, damages, or even banshee), I would suggest:

The fall (Helen Miren!), Prime suspect, Quirke (John Banville!), la casa de papel (spain), borgen (denmark)*, the killing (denmark), trapped (iceland), babylon berlin (germany) and spin (Les Hommes de l'ombre, France). I have also enjoyed Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie (various AC novels transposed to France), as well as the BBC Agatha Christie series,  and there is a fair amount of light hearted satire of the nordic social model in Lilyhammer (norway). 

There are several series that I have not seen but might be worth a try (although considering how flat are the tv transfers of Camilleri's books I cannot guarantee that):

Rebecka Martinsson (sweden), Cuatro estaciones en La Habana (spain/cuba), the tv transfers of Arne Dahl's novels, the tv transfers of Ian Rankin's novels, and the swedish Wallander series.

Cuatro estaciones en La Habana Cuatro estaciones en La Habana 

*]Commissioner Margrethe Vestager was supposedly the model for Birgitte Nyborg

[LZA]

You know what I just watched that may fit into this category??

Did you ever see The people vs. OJ Simpson?

Awesome miniseries... 10 episodes, and it brings you back and reminds you of how it was back then.

Highly recommend it if you haven't already seen it

I didn't know that the white Bronco that was in the chase was owned by AC, NOT OJ. OJ's Bronco was impounded due to the blood, but AC idolized OJ so much he bought the exact same car... Didn't know there were 2 Broncos...