The art of the great miniseries has been perfected by streaming television, with every app releasing a few every month in a format perfect for binge watching. It’s a great way to make must-see TV: the short-form nature of the miniseries is great for casting the type of A-list talent whose schedule usually only allows for movies, and the structure works for adapting well-known books or expanding the plot of an old movie out to eight to ten episodes.
Sometimes these shows are so well loved they get another season order, transforming from a miniseries into a regular old TV show. (The White Lotus is probably the most famous example of this.) Usually, though, a miniseries stays a miniseries, content to spin a yarn from beginning to end in a sensible one season’s length of time.
While miniseries are everywhere these days, they’re mainly the purview of the streaming apps and premium channels, and over the decades HBO remains one of the best places to find high quality TV. As it’s been around for decades, so many of its projects have come and gone, even the somewhat popular ones, leaving the cultural consciousness and our fragile human memories as soon as they arrive.
That’s why we’re taking the time to remind you of some of the best ones you may have watched, loved, and promptly forgotten about—if you even knew to watch them at all. If you’re looking for a binge that won’t take you three years to finish, these are the HBO miniseries worth checking out.
10 Great HBO Miniseries You Totally Forgot About
We loved these miniseries when they came out, but now barely anyone talks about them.
Gallery Credit: Emma Stefansky
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Gallery Credit: Emma Stefansky