– From Band of Brothers to Chernobyl –
by Ryan Heffernan | Collider | August 25, 2025
The miniseries format has become one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the modern day. Its balance between the extended runtime of television and the succinct immediacy and well-rounded conclusiveness of shorter forms like film has clearly appealed to the masses, with recent sensations like Adolescence, The Queen’s Gambit, and Mare of Easttown just some titles that serve as proof of this trend.
However, the form has a long and rich history spanning decades, a history including many series that have revolutionized small-screen storytelling, sparked lasting societal trends in entertainment, and even had an impact on real-world politics. Ranging from trailblazing triumphs from decades ago to modern masterpieces of historical drama, these 10 limited series releases are the most influential miniseries of all time.
Number 10 – Brideshead Revisited (1981)
Number 9 – Lonesome Dove (1989)
Number 8 – I, Claudius (1976)
Number 7 – Chernobyl (2019)
Number 6 – Shōgun (1980)
Number 5 – Dekalog (1990)
Number 4 – Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
Number 3 – Roots (1977)
Number 2 – The World at War (1973-1974)
Number 1 – Band of Brothers (2001)
9.6 / 10 rating
Another landmark achievement of large-scale war drama being bought to the small screen, Band of Brothers is the greatest miniseries of all time as well as the most influential. A gripping and painfully realistic look at WWII, it follows E-Company, an American unit, through their campaign in the European Theater, starting with their training and eventual drop into D-Day through to their presence in Germany at the end of the war.
Headlined by the creative brilliance of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, the series is a monumental triumph of Hollywood stars transitioning to television with excellent results, one that also stands as a defining title of the medium’s golden age. It exposed a new generation of viewers to the horrors of war, revolutionized the possibilities of TV drama, and set a new benchmark for television entertainment that emphasized that the miniseries format could be every bit as prestigious as both extended television and cinema.
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