Three years after ABC's Roots proved in 1977 what a ratings bonanza the multi-night format could deliver, Shogun ruled the realm of miniseries.
When its 12 hours aired over five nights in 1980, Shogun gave NBC the highest weekly ratings in the network's history. The $22 million production ($69 million today) was then TV's most successful miniseries after Roots. (One in three televisions was tuned to at least part of the show.) The Hollywood Reporter said it offered "lofty romance, bloody battles, lovely ladies, ambitious men, wary friendships, betrayals, suicides and even time for some gently humorous, irrelevant incidents." The series was based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Australian author James Clavell, who in his.
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