Editorial Review:Amazon.com:A remarkably ambitious and engrossing project, this 1978 television miniseries ran 26-and-a-half hours, cost a then-enormous $25 million, and involved 4 directors, 5 cinematographers, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 speaking parts. Based on James Michener's panoramic bestseller about the settling of the American West--as reflected in the history of a fictional town called Centennial, Colorado--the story begins in the late 18th century and ends with a typical 20th century conflict over land usage.
Centennial, however, largely concentrates on various memorable frontiersmen, trappers, Indians, ranchers, cowboys, and farmers from long ago. Richard Chamberlain shines as the pioneer Alexander McKeag, Robert Conrad does some of his best work as French-Canadian Pasquinel, and performances by Alex Karras, Chad Everett, Sally Kellerman, Raymond Burr, Richard Crenna, David Janssen, and Dennis Weaver effectively add to a tapestry of adventure, tragedy, violence, and dubious Western progress. Produced at a time when TV networks were in the throes of acknowledging America's history of racial injustice, the program paints a starkly villainous portrait of opportunists exploiting and destroying Indians in the name of manifest destiny. While the project's great length might make one wary of diving in,
Centennial is the sort of carefully paced drama that makes one care about the intertwined destinies of unique characters and how they illuminate America's past.
--Tom Keogh
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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Centenial
I loved the book and the series follows it very closely. Would recomend it to anyone who read the book and history.
Rating: -
Fantastic DVD Treatment of a TV Classic
If you were alive in the 1970's, you most likely remember settling down with the family and watching "Roots". That phenomenal mini-series was a landmark and a television event. Well close on it's heels came "Centennial". And while "Centennial" doesn't garner the press or praise "Roots" still generates three decades later...it should. "Centennial" doesn't play out like a conventional mini-series. It actually aired in similar fashion to "Prison Break" or "24". A season long series which aired weekly, not on consecutive nights as was so common on network TV back in the day.
The DVD set consists of six disks. Two episodes per disk, with the first chapter "Only The Rocks Live Forever" and the final chapter "The Scream of the Eagles" running two and half hours. All of the other episodes clock in at 90 minutes. There is a bonus feature on disk 2 called "Memories of Centennial" which is very good. We get interviews with various cast members recalling their days filming this magnificent epic. (Barbara Carrera who plays Clay Basket is still stunning!!)
The story itself is simply amazing. The cast is pitch perfect, and once seen you will never forget the characters you are introduced to.
I don't want to give out any spoilers by retelling any of the storyline. If interested, there are numerous reviews here that go into great detail. Everyone should be familiar with this tale, as it is OUR story. A true American tale, warts and all. This series will truly have you laughing, crying and cheering. At times you will be proud of our American heritage and the men who forged this country. And at times you will want to hang your head in shame at the high cost so many people paid so that a new nation could be born.
I was going to deduct 1 star from my rating for the final chapter "The Scream of the Eagles". While not awful, it only links to the preceeding chapters in setting. Some familiar last names pop up, but the final chapter is basically like a "clip show" from a great TV series. Andy Griffith running around modern day Centennial with Sharon Gless gets kind of dull. I'm sure that when this aired on TV, it was probably nice to re-visit clips of Pasquinel, Alexander McKeag, Levi Zendt etc. because they hadn't been part of the series for several weeks, but on DVD the flashbacks are basically rehashing scenes you had seen either days or hours earlier, and it feels as though the last chapter is 80% padding and 20% environmental message. I thought the final scene in the chapter "The Winds of Death" would have made a perfect ending. But I couldn't deduct a star from my review, the series taken as a whole is worth 5-stars and the DVD treatment looks wonderful.
This type of TV is no longer around, and it's a real shame, but luckily these fantastic shows are now available on DVD. Do yourself a favor, and pick up "Centennial", just let the saga unfold, and enjoy the story of America.
Rating: 
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No chapter Breaks
In a series that is some 20 hours long, it should have had chapter breaks (there are none!). The scenes are broken down into about 1 hour segments. This is far too long and it makes it impossible to pick up where you left off if you remove a disc (there are 6) for any reason. You can only get to within an hour of where you were. In an epic this long, they should have made a chapter break about every 10 minutes or so.
Rating: -
Powerful fiction
This series is one of the great memories I have from growing up in the 70s.
It is hard to single out films and series from 1980 to the present day that give me the feel of watching Centennial, and I think I'd much rather buy the box set than wear on our familys few remaining working VCRs, and play our recordings from the rerun in early 1990, though I have been known to restore the VCRs when parts allow.
I was born in 1970 and this series with Richard Chamberlain and the How The West Was Won/The McCahans series with James Arness & Bruce Boxleitner were the two series I loved the most. Close in the running is of course Little House On The Prairie, the much too shortlived The Invisible Man with David McCallum and the german crime series Der Alte with Siegfried Lowitz, english title The Old Fox.
Der Alte still runs, as does the other great german crime show Derrick, which I have never seen here on danish TV. Lovitz did not want to portray Kommisar Köster more than the ten year span 1977-1986, but he made two guest appearances on the competing Derrick show in the mid 1990s, when he was in his late 80s!
And David McCallum has been doing great in the JAG spin-off NCIS which is probably the best of the two these days.
Chamberlain is always great, and I must admit I did not remember that Mark Harmon (from NCIS) starred in Centennial, nor that Raymond Burr played in it. Sure signs it has been too long since I viewed those tapes last.
...Perhaps I should restore our familys 1989 monophonic Hitachi VCR on which the rerun of this show was captured. Gotta restore a second VCR just in case. Few people care for fixing stuff, they just throw away rather than enjoy something they did themselves, anyone can go into a store and buy something new.
...Or get the DVD box. It is so cheap.
-Mikkel
Rating: -
a great visit to my past
I waited a long time for this to come out on DVD but it was worth every bit of the wait. Well done and was very pleased. Great trip down memory lane. I had forgotten alot of the actors. Definetly a great addition to your video library.