# Centennial (1978)

> A sprawling miniseries following the people of a Colorado frontier town as they settle, trade, and build across seven generations.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/5306

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 90 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: western, drama, history
- Network: NBC
- Cast: Robert Conrad, Richard Chamberlain, Sally Kellerman, Barbara Carrera, Richard Crenna, Donald Pleasence, Alex Karras, Lynn Redgrave
- TMDB rating: 8.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076993/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: sweeping, earnest, nostalgic, adventurous, melancholic

## Synopsis

Centennial (1978-1979) is an American network miniseries created for NBC, adapted from the novel by James Michener and told across twelve roughly ninety-minute episodes. Its sprawling story follows the fictional town of Centennial, Colorado, through the intertwining lives of the people who settle, trade, and build there. Robert Conrad plays Pasquinel, a fur trapper whose ambitions tie the town to the frontier economy, while Richard Chamberlain portrays Alexander McKeag and Barbara Carrera plays Clay Basket, both drawn into the shifting alliances and rivalries of a growing community. Richard Crenna and Lynn Redgrave also appear among the principal cast. The engine of the series is the slow accumulation of enterprise, land, and kinship across generations, with each episode carrying characters through hardship, commerce, and cultural collision. Told as a single continuing saga rather than a case-of-the-week format, the miniseries spans two centuries, from the settling of the area in the 1700s to the late 1970s. Its tone is broad, earnest, and sweeping, closer to a frontier pageant than a gritty reckoning, and it will appeal to viewers who enjoy the family sagas of Little House on the Prairie, The Big Valley, and Roots.

## Shows like Centennial

- [Rich Man, Poor Man (1976)](https://ember.film/tv/13730)
- [Broken Trail (2006)](https://ember.film/tv/18517)
- [The Winds of War (1983)](https://ember.film/tv/38612)
- [The Sacketts (1979)](https://ember.film/tv/21443)
- [The High Chaparral (1967)](https://ember.film/tv/10326)
- [The Big Valley (1965)](https://ember.film/tv/10770)
- [Lonesome Dove: The Series (1994)](https://ember.film/tv/23106)
- [North and South (1985)](https://ember.film/tv/3107)
- [How the West Was Won (1977)](https://ember.film/tv/2435)
- [Little House on the Prairie (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/14649)

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