HATFIELDS AND McCOYS MINI-SERIES. Yay or Nay?

I liked it....couldn't stand the saturation of ads that preceded it....got tired of that...yesterday they had marathon playing all three epidsodes straight...

I watched the original three nights H&M was on, and I also watched the six-hour marathon. This was definitely one of the best miniseries I've ever seen. Thanks for your response, Bob!

I loved it! The whole Roseanna and Jonse part killed me tho but I'm a sucker for romance, baha.

Yes, that "Romeo & Juliet" tragic romance of Roseanna and Johnse was SO SAD. I actually shed a few tears when she died. Bummer... Thanks for your response, LeAnn!

It was interesting. The setting and behavior of the characters was pretty accurate. I don't know the true story line, but movies have a way of warping things. This one made it all the McCoys fault. I don't know about that. The family closeness and power structure was real.

As a native of Kentucky, I can say that this look at the history of the eastern part of the state after the Civil War was pretty realistic. Thanks for your comments, wtxwoman!

My grandmother used to talk about it a lot. She lived part of her childhood near a place called Pinhook Creek, KY. My brother-in-law was from Paducah. I went there once and I thought it was beautiful (back in 1962).

Paducah, Kentucky is in the southwestern part of the state, by Bowling Green. It is beautiful down there. However, the Appalachian Mountains in Eastern Kentucky are GORGEOUS, especially during the fall when the leaves are turning colors. Of course, a lot of places in that neck of the woods have been ruined by strip mining, and the area is also rife with drugs -- meth labs, pot fields and prescription narcotics. That's why we Kentuckians call Oxycontin "hillbilly heroin." Also, the area is rife with poverty. It's sad, but there are still places in Eastern Kentucky that look virtually untouched, pretty much like they did a century ago. Oh, and another observation that I've made about living in the mountains... It's almost comical seeing the shacks (literally!) that some of these people live in, with old furniture, scrap metal, cars up on blocks, and such in their yard. However, almost every house you drive past has a big, expensive pickup truck and a giant satellite dish on the property!

Subtract 3/4 of the people and all of the vegetation that grows above 5' tall and that's what it looks like here.

Yikes.

When we first moved here, one of my older daughters called it the a-hole of TX.

We used to say that if God was going to give the world an enema, He'd stick the nozzle in West Virginia!

LOL! That is a good one. WV is beautiful, though, isn't it? Anywhere with big trees is beautiful to me.

Yes, West Virginia IS a beautiful state, for the most part. However, if you're going from Kentucky to West Virginia, right over the bridge is Nitro, and that place is so bad, you feel like you'll get cancer from just driving through. I mean, it's like being on another planet, especially at nighttime.

I'm going to have to make a road trip through there someday.

If you're a drinker, be sure to bring plenty of alcoholic beverages with you, because lots of Kentucky counties down in that neck of the woods are dry as a bone. Sure, you can find booze if you know where to look, but you're left to choose between buying moonshine or paying like $10 for a six-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer! And I know whereof I speak on this issue, having been stuck down at Lake Cumberland once for a long weekend and running out of liquor! I don't drink anymore, so it's no biggie for me now, but at the time, it was a total bitch! But the Appalachian Mountains are beautiful, drunk OR sober! Drive through during late September and October. The leaves changing color are just breathtaking.

Well, I'm not much of a drinker, but I grew up in a dry county. It was strange when I moved here and nothing is dry. You still have to buy liquor in a separate store, though. I would love to go there in the Fall. It's my favorite season.

Well, at the time of our little vacation, I was a raging alcohol, so being stuck in a dry county for even a day was a real bitch! I can't recommend the Appalachia's enough for a fall driving trip!

It sounds like you have that problem under control now. Good for you! I'll have to find someone to go with me. I need to do some research on my ancestry in that region as well.

I liked it. It was something that could have been done in less than 6 hours. It became tedious in parts.

I liked it, too. Thanks for your response, ally!

That is why I DVR the movies, etc. and fast forward through those parts. It saves a lot of time.

I wish I had done that. Either that, or I'll watch it on Comcast's On Demand next time.

They will probably put it out on DVD, too.

A very well done series, but pretty grim throughout.

Yes, the H&M miniseries was certainly a downer, not light TV fare that would cheer you up. That's one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much, and since H&M had record ratings for a cable channel, perhaps TV's head honchos will stop giving us crapulous reality shows and start releasing more quality programs for American the TV audience. I also liked the fact that the series was filmed in sort of sepia tones, which made it even MORE grim, but such cinematography WAS clever and gave it a more realistic look. Thanks for your comments, luvguins, and have a beautiful day!

Yes, thanks, and I sure hope that we will get more programs like this. What they call TV programs now is abysmal.

Hard to follow but I did record it so I'll watch it again. Love Kevin..

Kevin Costner and Bill Pullman, as the patriarchs of the Hatfields and McCoys respectively, both did an awesome acting job. I enjoyed the fact that almost all of the characters in H&M were conflicted, with none of them being 100% good or 100% bad. I think that complexity really made the miniseries come alive. The History Channel did rerun the entire thing last night, and I watched it for a second time. This gave me a better understanding of who was who, and what was going on at any particular time. I give H&M two enthusiastic thumbs up! Thanks for your response, Linda!

Your welcome Tigger Too. I'm hoping for the same thing as far as understanding. I'll be watching it today. Thanks for the info on it.

Boring.

Really? You thought "Hatfield and McCoys" was boring? I absolutely LOVED it, but since I'm from Kentucky, I may be a bit biased. The only problem I had with the mini-series was having a hard time trying to figure out who was who, because a lot of the guys looked alike. Thanks for your response, Rebecca!

I live in Kentucky and I still thought it wasn't that great. It may have been all the hype and i expected more. I also thought the storyline were a littled muddled. Just me, I guess.

I found that also about all looking alike. Got mixed up as to who was who in what family.

In reality, they were probably all kin to each other, so they would have looked alike. My family comes from EKY and ETN and NAL before TX.

yeah we all knew Costner was a great actor but Pullman held his own

Man, Bill Pullman sure did hold his own. Mare Winningham as the McCoy's mother was excellent as well. When the Hatfields executed her three sons, her reaction was dead on [so to speak!] in her tragic acceptance.

Both of their reactions were dead on. It was well acted all together. I had to remind myself of what they did to Devil Ance's brother before that scene because I was feeling sorry for them. it was hard to pick sides in that series. I felt bad for both wives. But I did want something bad to happen to the evil cousin