History Series / Amerika

''Amerika'' was an Creator/{{ABC}} UsefulNotes/ColdWar {{Dystopia}} {{Miniseries}} that aired for a week in February of 1987.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Takes place [[FailedFutureForecast in 1997]].

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* CanadaEh: Filmed predominantly (perhaps ironically) in Canada for tax purposes. The courtroom Milford's first hearing is held is in the Canadian style, and the Heartland political convention is held in Hamilton's Copps Coliseum.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: One of the most frustrating aspects of the series is that it suggests several far more compelling stories than ho-hum happenings in Nebraska.

[[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture It's 1997]]. Toward the end of TheEighties, the Soviet Union occupied the United States and has retained shaky but firm control of American imitations and society with the aid of a compliant and effective UsefulNotes/UnitedNations. The main characters are Devin Milford (Creator/KrisKristofferson), a former Senator and presidential candidate who was jailed as a dissident after the occupation and has just been released; Peter Bradford (Creator/RobertUrich) a government official who cooperates with the Soviets with the pragmatic goal of helping his constituents, but who gradually becomes TheQuisling; and Colonel Andrei Denisov (Creator/SamNeill), the KGB officer overseeing a number of states in the Midwest the Soviets call "Heartland." The series follows the characters as the Soviets plan to finally dissolve the remaining American government institutions.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: It's mentioned in passing that UsefulNotes/{{Alaska}} has never completely submitted to Soviet rule, and apparently local militias have been able to sustain a long resistance campaign against the Red Army, which honestly sounds like a much more compelling story than the ho-hum happenings in Nebraska.

* FlyoverCountry: The Midwest has had all its factory tech looted by the Soviets, and people never return from "voluntary" factory work in Russia. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Also]], it's now named "Ameritech", after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ameritech phone company]] that once served the area (it's since been absorbed into what's now AT&T).

ABC president Brandon Stoddard optioned the idea from Stein, which eventually expanded from a TV movie to a 14-hour miniseries. The series was much-hyped by ABC as both a spectacle and an important refresher course on American values, with a budget on par with contemporary feature films. The politically-charged premise proved to be a firestorm of controversy, with the United Nations and the USSR lodging official protests regarding their depictions, while in America ABC was accused of the toeing the ideological line of the UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan administration, with fears that it would lead to a renewed RedScare.

The hype and controversy led to phenomenal ratings on opening night, however, viewers quickly got bored with the dense political drama and deliberate pacing; Creator/DavidLetterman quipped that two of the most interesting questions actually raised by the series were "Do we still have those old board games in the closet?" and "What else is on?" The ratings dwindled with each new episode, making''Amerika'' one of the last of the "epic" miniseries of the American broadcast networks.

[[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture It's 1997]]. Toward the end of TheEighties, the Soviet Union occupied the United States and has retained shaky but firm control of American imitations and society with the aid of a compliant and effective UsefulNotes/UnitedNations. The main characters are Devin Milford (Creator/KrisKristofferson), a former Senator and presidential candidate who was jailed as a dissident after the occupation and has just been released; Peter Bradford (Creator/RobertUrich) a government official who cooperates with the Soviets with the pragmatic goal of helping his constituents, but who gradually becomes TheQuisling; and Colonel Andrei Denisov (Creator/SamNeill), the KGB officer overseeing a number of states in the Midwest the Soviets call "Heartland."

The series was an indirect response to ABC's TV movie ''Film/TheDayAfter'', which depicted the horrible results of nuclear attack on American soil. A columnist, Creator/BenStein, (yes, that Ben Stein) suggested that a movie should be made in response depicting the ''also'' horrible what-if scenario of America being conquered by the Soviet Union to show why a nuclear deterrent was necessary. ABC president Brandon Stoddard optioned the idea from Stein.

The resulting 14-hour miniseries was much-hyped by ABC as both a spectacle and an important refresher course on American values, with a budget on par with contemporary feature films. The politically-charged premise proved to be a firestorm of controversy, with the United Nations and the USSR lodging official protests, while in America it was accused of the toeing the ideological line of the UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan administration, with fears that it would lead to a renewed RedScare.

The hype led to phenomenal ratings on opening night, however, viewers quickly got bored with the rather dense political drama and deliberate pacing; Creator/DavidLetterman quipped that two of the most interesting questions actually raised by the series were "Do we still have those old board games in the closet?" and "What else is on?" The ratings dwindled with each new episode, making''Amerika'' one of the last of the "epic" miniseries of the American broadcast networks.

[[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture It's 1997]]. Toward the end of TheEighties, the Soviet Union invaded the United States and has retained shaky but firm control of their former superpower rival, with the aid of a compliant and effective UsefulNotes/UnitedNations. The next step is to dissolve the US government and Balkanize the country into several puppet republics. The story focuses on one of them, called Heartland, centered around Omaha. The main characters are Devin Milford (Creator/KrisKristofferson), a former Senator and presidential candidate who was jailed as a dissident after the invasion and has just been released; Peter Bradford (Creator/RobertUrich) a government official who cooperates with the Soviets with the pragmatic goal of helping his constituents, but who gradually becomes TheQuisling; and Colonel Andrei Denisov (Creator/SamNeill), the KGB officer overseeing the Heartland area.

With a reported $40 million budget (putting it on par with the most expensive feature films of its era), the 14-hour miniseries was much-hyped by ABC as both a spectacle and an important refresher course on American values. Naturally, the very politically-charged premise proved to be a firestorm of controversy, with the United Nations and the USSR lodging official protests, while in America it was accused of the toeing the ideological line of the UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan administration, with fears that it would lead to a renewed RedScare. Getting phenomenal ratings on its first night (despite a stiff challenge from ''[[Series/TheFactsOfLife The Facts of Life Down Under]]''), viewers got bored with the rather dense political drama and deliberate pacing, with Creator/DavidLetterman quipping that two of the most interesting questions actually raised by the series were "Do we still have those old board games in the closet?" and "What else is on?" The ratings dwindled with each new episode, making''Amerika'' one of the last of the "epic" miniseries of the American broadcast networks.

Cold War pop-culture history website [[http://www.conelrad.com/mutatedtelevision/mutv_other.html CONELRAD]] states that it "extended the Cold War by roughly twelve hours";

* TakeThat: At least, the concept for the miniseries was inspired by this train of thought. A 1983 column by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerika_(TV_miniseries)#Genesis Ben Stein]] (yes, ''that'' Creator/BenStein) suggested that since ''Film/TheDayAfter'' depicted the horrible what-if scenario of a nuclear attack on America, a movie should be made depicting the ''also'' horrible what-if scenario of America being conquered by the U.S.S.R., the ultimate threat that had led to the USA's maintenance of a massive fleet (to keep this impossible in the short term) and a series of disposable allies/buffer states in western Europe and East Asia (to keep this impossible in the long term). For its part, ABC said that ''Amerika'' wasn't supposed to be a rebuttal to ''The Day After'', just a story that examined another possible Cold War outcome, but the creators of ''The Day After'' took it as a personal rebuke to the extent that director Creator/NicholasMeyer and several cast members unsuccessfully tried to petition ABC to allow them airtime after ''Amerika'' to defend ''The Day After''.

With a reported $40 million budget (putting it on par with the most expensive feature films of its era), the 14-hour miniseries was much-hyped by ABC as both a spectacle and an important refresher course on American values. Naturally, the very politically-charged premise proved to be a firestorm of controversy, with the United Nations and the USSR lodging official protests, while in America it was accused of the toeing the ideological line of the UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan administration, with fears that it would lead to a renewed RedScare. Getting phenomenal ratings on its first night (despite a stiff challenge from ''[[Series/TheFactsOfLife The Facts of Life Down Under]]''), viewers got bored with the rather dense political drama and deliberate pacing, with [[Creator/DavidLetterman]] quipping that two of the most interesting questions actually raised by the series were "Do we still have those old board games in the closet?" and "What else is on?" The ratings dwindled with each new episode, making''Amerika'' one of the last of the "epic" miniseries of the American broadcast networks.

With a reported $40 million budget (putting it on par with the most expensive feature films of its era), the 14-hour miniseries was much-hyped by ABC as both a spectacle and an important refresher course on American values. Naturally, the very politically-charged premise proved to be a firestorm of controversy, with the United Nations and the USSR lodging official protests, while in America it was accused of the toeing the ideological line of the UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan administration, with fears that it would lead to a renewed RedScare. Getting phenomenal ratings on its first night (despite a stiff challenge from ''[[Series/TheFactsOfLife The Facts of Life Down Under]]''), viewers got bored with the rather dense political drama and deliberate pacing, and the ratings dwindled with each new episode. While not a complete failure, ''Amerika'' was one of the last of the heavily promoted "epic" miniseries of the American broadcast networks.

Cold War pop-culture history website [[http://www.conelrad.com/mutatedtelevision/mutv_other.html CONELRAD]] states that it "extended the Cold War by roughly twelve hours".

[[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture It's 1997]]. Toward the end of TheEighties, the Soviet Union invaded the United States and has retained shaky but firm control of their former superpower rival, with the aid of a compliant and effective UsefulNotes/UnitedNations. The next step is to dissolve the US government and Balkanize the country into several puppet republics. The story focuses on one of them, called Heartland, centered around Omaha. The main characters are Devin Milford (Creator/KrisKristofferson), a former Senator and presidential candidate who was jailed as a dissident after the invasion and has just been released; Peter Bradford (Creator/RobertUrich) a government official who cooperates with the Soviets with the pragmatic goal of helping his constituents, but who gradually becomes TheQuisling; and Andrei Denisov (Creator/SamNeill), the KGB colonel overseeing the Heartland area.

[[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture It's 1997]]. Toward the end of TheEighties, the Soviet Union invaded the United States and has retained shaky but firm control of their former superpower rival, with the aid of a compliant and effective UsefulNotes/UnitedNations. The next step is to dissolve the US government and Balkanize the country into several puppet republics. The story focuses on one of them, called Heartland, centered around Omaha. The main characters are Devin Milford (Creator/KrisKristofferson), a former Senator and presidential candidate who was jailed as a dissident after the invasion and has just been released; Peter Bradford (Creator/RobertUrich) a government official whose cooperation with the Soviets gradually turns him into TheQuisling; and Andrei Denisov (Creator/SamNeill), the KGB colonel overseeing the Heartland area.

* AllThereInTheManual: The miniseries itself is very vague on how the Soviet invasion took place. The novelization spells it out: the Soviets detonated some nuclear warheads in the ionosphere that caused an electromagnetic pulse that basically disabled all modern technology, including communications and weapons devices, leaving the US unable to mount a defense. Since this was prior to the modern Internet, and most would know only the TV version, it raises a problem and kind of ups the strawman status of this piece. To the viewer, who may only see the lack of tech and maybe think the conquering Soviets just forbid and shut it down for control, taunts about Americans giving up without a fight make it almost seem like the Soviets just kind of wandered in. America is obviously livable, so there was no nuclear war. So, to the viewer, it seems like not only did the Americans surrender without resisting, it looks a lot like they gave in without any attack at all.
* BlackHelicopter: The UN peacekeeping forces help patrol the country with the use of some intimidating-looking choppers. It's been suggested that this miniseries influenced the concept of UN black helicopters among conspiracy theorists.

With a reported $40 million budget (putting it on par with the most expensive feature films of its era), the 14-hour miniseries was much-hyped by ABC as both a spectacle and an important refresher course on American values. Naturally, the very politically-charged premise proved to be a firestorm of controversy, with the United Nations and the USSR lodging official protests, while in America it was accused of the toeing the ideological line of the UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan administration, with fears that it would lead to a renewed RedScare. Getting phenomenal ratings on its first night, viewers got bored with the rather dense political drama and deliberate pacing, and the ratings dwindled with each new episode. While not a complete failure, ''Amerika'' was one of the last of the heavily promoted "epic" miniseries of the American broadcast networks.

* AllThereInTheManual: The backstory about the EMP is never really brought up in the TV version, only the novelization. Since this was prior to the modern Internet, and most would know only the TV version, it raises a problem and kind of ups the strawman status of this piece. To the viewer, who may only see the lack of tech and maybe think the conquering Soviets just forbid and shut it down for control, taunts about Americans giving up without a fight make it almost seem like the Soviets just kind of wandered in. America is obviously livable, so there was no nuclear war. So, to the viewer, it seems like not only did the Americans surrender without resisting, it looks a lot like they gave in without any attack at all.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: It's mentioned in passing that UsefulNotes/{{Alaska}} has never completely submitted to Soviet rule, and apparently local militias have been able to sustain a long resistance campaign against the Red Army, which honestly sounds like a much more compelling story than the ho-hum happenings in Omaha.