Historic TV Series

[sinij]

I enjoy watching historical shows/miniseries. I thoroughly enjoyed Band Of Brothers, Rome I recently watched John Adams. Anyone has any more recommendations?

[Trippy]

Any from Ken Burns?

[Abagadro]

Dunno if this qualifies but Dogfights on the History Channel is a great show recreating actual dogfights.

[Big Gulp]

Netflix yourself a copy of I, Claudius.  70's BBC miniseries.  The production values weren't great, but the acting (aside form a horribly miscast Brian Blessed as Augustus) was great.

[Murgos]

Any from Ken Burns?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civil_War_(documentary)

If you haven't seen it then you're missing out.

[Nebu]

May not be the type of history that you're after, but I own and enjoy Baseball by Ken Burns.

[Engels]

I second I, Claudius and I would put in a vote for Horatio Hornblower, a swashbuckling high seas adventure series of the British Navy during the Napoleonic era.

[tar]

Not sure how historically accurate you're looking for, but Sharpe is fun. Napoleonic wars.

[IainC]

Not sure how historically accurate you're looking for, but Sharpe is fun. Napoleonic wars.

Sharpe's Waterloo is great if you can get past the recreation of the Battle of Waterloo with a cast of tens.

[Oban]

I Claudius, Sharpe and Horatio Hornblower are all great examples of British television.

[Moaner]

I recently watched I, Claudius after a friend at work recommended it.  It's great shit and starts almost directly after Rome ends. 

I'm going to have to watch Horatio Hornblower now.

[angry.bob]

As has been pointed out, I, Claudius is good. The 1993 4 hour movie Gettysburg with Jeff Daniels is probably the best Civil War I've seen.

If you liked BoB and Rome, you really have to watch Deadwood. The people who made Deadwood said it was originaaly going to be set in a Roman frontier town, but by the time they pitched it to HBO, Rome was already greenlighted. Frankly I think it worked out for the best. Excellent casting and acting all round, the overall prize going to Ian Mcshane. Be warned though, watch it while you're on vacation or something, by the end of the series every other word out of your mouth will be "fucking" or "cocksucker". It's just contagious.

Shogun is fun, even if it is dated and not really based on anything that really happened. The Masada miniseries was also pretty good if you can find it, I think it's out on DVD now. Peter the great with Maximilian Schell was good. The 1972 series Elizabeth R was excellent.

My very favorite was the Learning Channel's documentary series Mongols: Storm from the East. Unfortunately, I've only been able to find it one place, and that's an educational resource company that sells to schools and they want $360 for it. If anyone knows anyplace else to get it, I'd love to know.

[Merusk]

Most of what i know of/ enjoy has already been covered, but Bob mentioning the Civil War made me remember Glory.  It was a really good movie, even if I can't envision Matthew Broderick as the best choice for a lead.

[Furiously]

Most of what i know of/ enjoy has already been covered, but Bob mentioning the Civil War made me remember Glory.  It was a really good movie, even if I can't envision Matthew Broderick as the best choice for a lead.

You beat me. Denzel, Morgan Freeeman, the guy from Homicide, they had some really great actors. Made my wife watch it a few months ago. Hard movie not to cry watching.

[zubey]

I second the vote for Deadwood.  Might be my favorite show ever.

[sinij]

I second the vote for Deadwood.  Might be my favorite show ever.

Good show, I enjoyed it as well. Insults, pigs and all.

[Strazos]

Into the West was cool.

[IainC]

If you want to spread the net a little wider then I can heartily recommend The Water Margin. Joint Sino/Japanese TV show from the mid '70s about a bunch of 12th century Chinese bandits. It's considered a classic of Chinese literature and the televised series was damn good.

[Tale]

While it's not a drama, I think the absolute best thing you can ever watch, history-wise, is The World At War.

Narrated by Laurence Olivier and used to be called the best documentary ever made. No messing around, it was the 1970s, only about 25 years after Hitler died, the key participants were still around and interviewable, and they had all the right film clips. It is the full story of the Second World War.

Some excerpts:
Appeasement
France falls
Britain under bombing
Invasion of Russia
North Africa
Pacific war
Hiroshima and Nagasaki

[ShenMolo]

If by historical series, you mean a show which does a great job of bringing a certain time period to life, you might like:

Mad Men - Great show set in the early 60's New York, 1st Season available on DVD / OnDemand

The Tudors - Kinda like Rome on HBO...period soap opera with great costumes, lots of sex and politics