# Rich Man, Poor Man (1976)

> Two impoverished German American brothers, the Jordaches, take sharply divergent paths toward wealth and success in this 1976 miniseries adapted from Irwin Shaw's novel.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/13730

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Irwin Shaw
- Network: ABC
- Cast: Peter Strauss, Nick Nolte, Susan Blakely, Ed Asner, Dorothy McGuire, Bill Bixby, Ray Milland, Robert Reed
- TMDB rating: 8.2/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074048/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: melodramatic, sweeping, nostalgic, bittersweet, intense

## Synopsis

Rich Man, Poor Man (1976) is an American prestige miniseries created by Irwin Shaw for ABC, adapted from his best-selling 1969 novel. Peter Strauss plays Rudy Jordache and Nick Nolte plays his brother Tom, two impoverished German American brothers whose lives split along very different career courses. Their father Axel is played by Ed Asner, and Susan Blakely plays Julie Prescott, a woman who figures into the brothers' lives across their climb. Across twelve hour-long episodes, the engine of the story is ambition: each brother chases success through his own path, and every gain costs him something from family loyalty and personal integrity. The narrative moves through the working class roots of their immigrant household toward the wealthier, more compromised worlds they enter, shaped by the era's social pressures. Rather than a single case or puzzle, each episode builds on accumulated tensions between siblings, lovers and rivals. The tone is melodramatic and sweeping, with a warm nostalgic glow around its family bonds and a steady undercurrent of disappointment. Fans of Dallas, The Thorn Birds and Peyton Place will find resonance in its sprawling generational storytelling and its lush, emotionally heightened portrait of ambition.

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