The Thorn Birds is kinda yuk, no?

Oh fuck me, OP. It's STANWYCK!

I still FEEL, I still WANT and oh GOD I want you SO MUCH...or something like that.

[quote] or something like that.

Just link it. It's simpler.

R3. So very close! Brava!!

NGL, this series checked all my boxes when I was a lustful child who really liked older men (from very, very afar). I'd probably retch if I watched it now.

I love when Old Mary interrupts the very naked Father Ralph on the porch shower. She's practically drooling...he's practically vomiting.

That Stanwyck scene is fucking ABSURD

R3 Haven't seen it since it aired the first time, I did my best.

I remember my mom asked me if I saw it. I said yes. She said, "Wasn't Barbara Stanwyck TERRIBLE?"

Other than Bryan Brown, who is Australian, none of the principal actors even attempted Australian accents. I think Richard Kiley and Barry Corbin at least did some quasi-Irish accent.

[quote] I love when Old Mary interrupts the very naked Father Ralph on the porch shower.

[quote]Why was this popular?

The costumes.

T4 Well. THAT was...overwrought.

How did they all stay so fashionable in Australia without airplanes to deliver.

I thought Rachel Ward was smokin' hot.

So there's that.

R13 Sewed their own clothes? A lot of women did back then.

The theme music was appropriate and memorable. They could've gone with a full orchestral intro, but it was low key.

Even when I was a kid in the '60s I remember my mom and her friends having sewing patterns.

No one could call THE THORNBIRDS great art, but it's melodramatic, even operatic, in a pretty entertaining way, especially with some wonderful actors on board ("Missy," of course, but also Richard Kiley, Jean Simmons, Christopher Plummer, even DL fave Mare Winningham and WEHT Philip Anglim).

[quote] WEHT Philip Anglim

He played a Bajoran cleric on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Isn't that fitting career cap?

Audrey Hepburn was the first choice to play Mary. Christopher Reeve was offered the priest role and Olivia Newton-John, Jane Seymour, and Kim Basinger auditioned to play Meggie.

R9 There was little attempt to capture the accents. It was filmed in Simi Valley, California, and Colleen McCullough hated the look of the mini-series. Fictional Drogheda was supposed to be set in the big, open fertile "Black Soil Plains" between NSW and Queensland.

It was better viewing than reading. The book is horrible, written with all the literary skill of a car's owner manual. The miniseries was, due to the actors more so than the heterosexuals-are-fucked-up "romance", at least entertaining.

Judy Davis also auditioned for Meggie.

I am surprised Sig "Cigarette" Thornton didn't get the Meggie part.

I remember loving the trashiness of the book and watching the miniseries? was it? And I don't remember much about either except there was a discussion about decomposition and blowflies. I don't know why that's the part I remember.

[quote] don't know why that's the part I remember.

The description of the dead body of Mary Carson is the most memorable part of the book.

As a teenage gayling in the 80s, I watched a lot of these "prestige" miniseries, both for the trashy stories and attractive older actors appearing in them. I remember this one boring me to death, even though my mother was really into it.

[quote]some wonderful actors on board ("Missy," of course, but also Richard Kiley, Jean Simmons, Christopher Plummer, even DL fave Mare Winningham and WEHT Philip Anglim).

And excuse me, Miss Piper fucking Laurie!

[quote]Olivia Newton-John, Jane Seymour, and Kim Basinger auditioned to play Meggie.

And instead they chose that plank of wood Rachel fucking Ward.

I always thought Richard Chamberlain looked trout like with the lens they used

r4 M-A-R-Y!!!

Christopher Plummer had a crypto-gay Bond villain campy presence as the cardinal.

R28 at least she knew how terrible she was and promptly quit acting

r10 Why did he not cover himself when he was naked in front of her? I am cringing so hard after watching that scene.

r28 Rachel Wood appealed to straight guys, I remember my brother saying she was good looking way back when my mother watched it.

I preferred Rich Man Poor Man, I wanted to take on both brothers.

[quote]The book is horrible, written with all the literary skill of a car's owner manual.

I loved the book.

R34, because at heart he cared more about ambition (Mary) than love (Meggie). He wasn't going to deny a powerful woman a little thrill.

“How many women have loved you other than your mother?”

Best. pickup. line. ever.

The Thorn Birds, Watership Down, Shōgun at every beach house in that era.

Yeah, I remember the book being a big bestseller and the mini-series highly anticipated.

Just like the Olympics, this show insulted my Christianity!

R23. Well, "Cigarette" was Judy Davis' main Aussie contender in the early 80s. Sig was at No.1, and queen of the corset drama as she'd had a huge hit with The Man from Snowy River.

When Judy's US career took off in the late 80s, Sigrid did 3 seasons of the of the acclaimed US show Paradice, basically playing an American version of the role she had perfected earlier, and a couple of do-nothing Hollywood films. She returned home and became a beloved fixture on TV, most recently in the show Wentworth where she played a terrifying monster of a character.

[quote] Olivia Newton-John, Jane Seymour, and Kim Basinger auditioned to play Meggie.

[quote] And instead they chose that plank of wood Rachel fucking Ward.

Instead of the brilliant thespian talents of Olivia Newton-John?? Shocking.

[quote] There was little attempt to capture the accents. It was filmed in Simi Valley, California, and Colleen McCullough hated the look of the mini-series. Fictional Drogheda was supposed to be set in the big, open fertile "Black Soil Plains" between NSW and Queensland.

Sometimes TV production in those days was like the old movie studios of the 30's--most far-flung locations were "played by" the back lot, or the valleys outside LA. Why would they spend millions more dollars to shoot in Australia when most of the TV audience didn't care, anyway?

R44. Yes, they did a good job on the locations in my opinion, as Simi Vally does resemble a lot of Australian locations. It rendered a background that fits with the minds of most viewers. However, somewhere like Utah would have been a closer fit.

R45 It was obvious to me it was not Australia, if only because if it was a true location they would have shown much more of it. But back then TV did not have the budgets of big movies, and in this case they probably wanted to be within a short driving distance of the homes of many of the actors and crew, so they wouldn't have to house them. Again, very similar to the 30's or 40's where many good movies set in far-off locales were shot in the LA area and the cast and crew went home at night.

Colleen McCullough wasn't a fan of the locations (or anything else about the mini-series)

What are you talking about, R32? Rachel Ward had any number of high-profile "acting" gigs after THE THORNBIRDS, most notably AGAINST ALL ODDS . . . AFTER DARK, MY SWEET . . . CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS: THE DISCOVERY . . . and of course the legendary TV movie MY STEPSON, MY LOVER, with then-hot Joshua Morrow!

I'm embarrassed to say I always assumed it was filmed in Australia. Obviously I don't get out much.

Rachel Ward is quite an interesting character.

She still has that great bone structure, but no cosmetic enhancements. What the great beauties of Hollywood could look like if they had aged naturally.

I remember when one of the reasons closeted actors stayed closeted was based upon the belief that audiences won't buy them as a straight romantic character.

Well, I've got now dearly dead adult female relatives who swooned at the love scenes between Meggie and Ralph.

I know because I was a kid watching them react to the bedroom scenes in TTB.

And, no, before anyone tries to raise this, it wasn't out of homophobic straight-women-turned-on-by-gay-men-playing-straight kink.

They all knew Chamberlain was gayer than a box of Christmas bows.

They were truly swept-up by Chamberlain's romantic presence and acting as Ralph De Bricassart (sp).

Richard Chamberlain was perfect. Christopher Reeve would have been gorgeous but, at that point in his career, he was a very wooden actor.

R9 isn’t Rachel Ward Australian?

[quote] but, at that point in his career, he was a very wooden actor.

Not as much as he would be later in life.

R54, she’s English but married Bryan Brown and moved to Australia.

She's from some toffee aristocratic family. Brother inherited the lot

Dated Bobby Kennedy's son David, who OD'ed in 1984.

Goddamn. The actor who played one of the Cleary sons was fucking beautiful.

He'd be a perfect Father Ralph.

Is Philip Anglim gay?

R59, he was gorgeous. Died from AIDS.

The pearl clutching continues.....how pathetic .....even Gen X-ers are doing it now.

Suffice to say he was not interested in Eli as a kid.

Meggie not Eli*

Both the book and television production are unbearable.

I loved The Thornbirds but the love scene was terrible.

The Thorn Birds was not great literature. Just a good summer read.

The miniseries was par for the course for American television at the time....good melodrama.

If we're talking forbidden priest/woman romance there's a very recomendable tv movie with Annette O'toole and Tommy Lee Jones in a detective drama who made for a very believable and sexy priest and the chemistry is 50 times better between the love interests.

[quote]Died from AIDS.

If anyone was curious, Wikipedia says he received a tainted blood infusion following a serious accident.

R60. Forgive me Father, I want to sin!

^ If you're older than 14, he's probably not interested

[quote]After being involved in a serious car accident in 1984, Burns received an emergency blood transfusion. The blood was contaminated, infecting Burns with HIV. Burns died on February 22, 1990, in Santa Barbara, California, being only 35 years old.

a tribute

Anyone else here like Jean Simmons?

r74 she was also in North and South, Patrick Swayze never did much for me but he was hot in those miniseries.

R75 I never watched N & S. I liked her in her movies.

Richard Chamberlain isn’t so hot that he’s fuckable. Chris Reeves on the other hand, I can see wanting him to drop the robe.