North and South was the first miniseries I ever remember watching. When it aired, my family was glued to the screen. Stories of the American Civil War have fascinated me ever since.

The North and South miniseries was based on novels by John Jakes. The novels were a trilogy and they made three separate North and South miniseries from the books. The first installment of the miniseries is still the seventh highest rated miniseries in TV history. The second, North and South: Book II, also did fairly well. The third installment, however, Heaven and Hell: North and South Book III, did poorly in the ratings.

The story is about two men who become friends at West Point: Orry Main from South Carolina and George Hazard from Pennsylvania.

The two friends later find themselves in the midst of a civil war, fighting on different sides. The miniseries follows the two friends from before the war, through the war, and immediately after the war ended. The first miniseries covers the summer of 1842 to April 1861. Book II covers June 1861 to April 1865. Book III covers summer 1865 to summer 1866.

Patrick Swayze played southern gentleman Orry Main and James Read play big city man George Hazard. The miniseries also had many other big names such as Kirstie Allie as George’s abolitionist sister Virgilia, Elizabeth Taylor as a bordello madam, Gene Kelly, Johnny Cash, Robert Guillaume, Morgan Fairchild, Linda Evans, Lloyd Bridges, Jimmy Stewart, Wayne Newton, Peter O’Toole and Billy Dee Williams.

North and South was truly a massive undertaking. The miniseries took more than two years to make and involved 8,700 pieces of wardrobe. It involved 940 scenes and a 540 page teleplay. None of the main characters wore the same costume twice, with the exception of military, servants, and Ashton who wore a purple dress on arriving and leaving Mount Royal.

The first two miniseries’ were released on NTSC VHS (American VHS), but Book III was never released in America. However, all three are now available in DVD format. The DVD also contains bonus features that were not released in the VHS version. The first miniseries was nominated for 10 Emmy’s and won one of them.

North and South will always be one of my favorite miniseries, partly because of the epic story and partly because it introduced me to the medium of miniseries.