Angels in America: Season 1

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Universal acclaim based on 17 Ratings

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9.0	User Score Universal acclaim based on 17 Ratings

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Angels In America

Now Playing: Angels In America

Season Details & Credits

HBO | Season Premiere Date: December 7, 2003

Starring: Ben Shenkman, Mary-Louise Parker, Justin Kirk

Summary: This six-hour HBO miniseries is based on Tony Kushner's Pulitzer-and Tony-winning plays set against the backdrop of the growing AIDS epidemic in the mid-1980s. Mike Nichols directs a cast that includes Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Patrick Wilson, and Justin Kirk and Mary-Louise Parker (both of whom would later star in Weeds). TheThis six-hour HBO miniseries is based on Tony Kushner's Pulitzer-and Tony-winning plays set against the backdrop of the growing AIDS epidemic in the mid-1980s. Mike Nichols directs a cast that includes Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Patrick Wilson, and Justin Kirk and Mary-Louise Parker (both of whom would later star in Weeds). The miniseries won 11 Emmy Awards, setting a record (since broken).… Expand

Genre(s): Drama, Movie/Mini-Series, Fantasy, Science Fiction

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Season 1 Episodes

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S1:E7. Perestroika: Chapter Five - Beyond Nelly
Air Date: December 14, 2003
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S1:E6. Perestroika: Heaven, I'm in Heaven
Air Date: December 14, 2003
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S1:E5. Perestroika: Beyond Nelly
Air Date: December 14, 2003

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Terry Kelleher

Jun 28, 2013

It's searching, witty, lacerating, poetic, profound—and, yes, overstuffed. Read full review

100

James Poniewozik

Jul 1, 2013

The key to Angels is that it is realistic and fantastic at once--a miraculous event in mundane circumstances, like a biblical visitation--and Nichols' movie-series is appropriately epic and gritty. Read full review

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User Reviews

JeBjBo

Dec 1, 2022

A (mostly*) timeless masterpiece. I can't even describe this adequately, you'll have to experience it for yourself.

*The epilogue feels very 1990/1.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Cyanurea

Jul 5, 2018

There are some weaknesses with the translation of this work from stage to screen, but this adaption nonetheless retains the heart of the original play: one of the best explorations of love and loss I have ever seen.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

juliankennedy23

Jun 16, 2014

Angels in America: 6/10: This play must have had a greater impact in the nineties then the miniseries has now. It also probably worked better as a play. That said this is one of the most creative filming of a theater piece one is likely to see.

Mike Nichols deserves great praise forAngels in America: 6/10: This play must have had a greater impact in the nineties then the miniseries has now. It also probably worked better as a play. That said this is one of the most creative filming of a theater piece one is likely to see.

Mike Nichols deserves great praise for making the stage bound fly with great imagination. He over reaches occasionally but the effect is memorizing. Al Pacino Meryl Streep and Justin Kirk shine. While the brilliant Jeffery Wright simply steals every scene he is in with his presence. Mary Louise Parker and relative newcomer Patrick Wilson are saddled with a disposable story that doesn't really fit in with the rest of the play (Poor Mr. Wilson simply disappears for the last third or so of the miniseries while his characters mother played by Meryl Streep takes center stage.)

Pacino's Roy Cohn is hammy and not nearly as evil as the original play probably made him (while Cohn has been more forgotten than redeemed since the play first came out his nemesis Ethel Rosenberg (Streep again) reputation has suffered greatly in the past ten years. While Pacino is very good Streep is simply brilliant in the very well written role of a Mormon mother lost in New York. Her character simply surprises both the other characters and the audience by not sticking to our preconceived notions.

Two actors however do suffer. Emma Thompson simply doesn't make a good angel. She certainly isn't helped that the angel moves around like a flying Peter Pan in a junior high school production. As a result the angel scenes simply don't work.

The other problematic performance is Ben Shenkman as Louis. One quickly has sympathy for every character that suffers with this insufferable character. No one has sympathy for the audience who suffers screen time with this horrible persona. The character is simply evil. That self centered, banal evil one finds in real life. This is of course fine in a film but Shenkman the actor doesn't seem to realize how repellent his characters actions are and instead pulls out Jewish stereotypes rather than real emotions in his scenes. Compare this to Pacino's entertaining vision of evil in the persona of Mr. Cohn.

Creative and surprisingly fun Angels in America runs a little long (as a miniseries is wont to do) but is worth a look.… Expand

0 of 4 users found this helpful04

Seasons & Episodes

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Series Overview
Season 1

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- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: December 7, 2003
- tbd
  S1:E7. Perestroika: Chapter Five - Beyond Nelly
  Air Date: December 14, 2003
- tbd
  S1:E6. Perestroika: Heaven, I'm in Heaven
  Air Date: December 14, 2003
- tbd
  S1:E5. Perestroika: Beyond Nelly
  Air Date: December 14, 2003
- tbd
  S1:E4. Perestroika: Stop Moving!
  Air Date: December 14, 2003
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  S1:E3. Millennium Approaches: The Messenger
  Air Date: December 7, 2003
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  S1:E3. Millennium Approaches: The Messenger
  Air Date: December 7, 2003
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  S1:E2. Millennium Approaches: In Vitro
  Air Date: December 7, 2003
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  S1:E2. Millennium Approaches: In Vitro
  Air Date: December 7, 2003
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  S1:E1. Millennium Approaches: Bad News
  Air Date: December 7, 2003