Matthew Kresal Miniseries have a tendency to come and go, especially those of yesteryear. Until a friend of mine mentioned this on a Facebook comment a couple of weeks ago, I had never heard of the 1993 CBS miniseries The Fire Next Time let alone seen it. Having been intrigued by its premise and seeing some familiar names in the cast, it seemed worthwhile to seek it out. The premise of The Fire Next Time is intriguing given that it was first broadcast nearly twenty-five years ago as I write these words. Set in 2017, the series focuses on the Morgan family led by Drew (the ever reliable Craig T. Nelson) and his estranged wife Suzanne (Bonnie Bedelia) living on the Louisiana gulf coast with mother nature going crazy thanks to climate change. As a result, parts of it were to be quite prophetic ranging from a Katrina like hurricane, immigration issues on the Mexican border, wildfires in California, droughts across the country, businessmen profiting off tragedies, and even something similar to proposed carbon taxes. The three hours or so that this runs for include something neat pieces of world building with details being thrown in here and there on the over all world situation and things within the United States. The production is largely solid as well. Craig T. Nelson is his ever reliable self as the head of the family, perfectly suited to the role as a man fighting to keep his business running and family together in a world going mad. Bonnie Bedelia does well as his wife and the rest of the cast does well with the material they're handed with Richard Farnsworth as Drew's ailing father coming across the best. The supporting cast is large with characters coming and going though there are some standouts including Jurgen Prochnow as Drew's former business partner Larry Richter, Charles Haid as the unscrupulous Uncle Buddy, Sal Lopez as a Mexican migrant, and a young Paul Rudd in a supporting role. The production values are strong all things considered including a version of 2017 that isn't our own but plausible under the circumstances laid out, the occasional nice directorial flourish from Tom McLoughlin and a score from Laurence Rosenthal centered around a memorable theme. All of which helps the miniseries.Because despite everything in its favor, The Fire Next Time often tends to be more melodramatic than anything else. Despite the prophetic nature of its plot and some nice pieces of world-building, the script from James S. Henerson never quite lives up to its promise. Henerson more often than not gives into clichés to bring the story to life which rather undermines the strong ideas and solid production values. It also doesn't help that the good first half eventually gives way to a wheel-spinning second half that is devoid of drama for the most part. Indeed, if this had been a single ninety minute TV movie based on the first half it would have been considerably better but instead it is a three hour miniseries that is too long for its own good.What can be said for The Fire Next Time then? It is a surprisingly prophetic miniseries that filled with solid performances and production values but which suffers from a clichéd script that never manages to create a gripping drama despite all those things. Perhaps it is a curiosity from a bygone age but as a curiosity it's worth a watch.

antnita It's September 2006, and I'm sitting here watching this film with chill bumps. The Santa Anas are blowing outside spreading the "Day Fire" which has been raging for nearly three weeks, just as the scene on the movie shows fires in the LA area that have gone on and on, burning more than 50,000 acres. Creeped out by the similarities, I continued to watch the film. As a hurricane is headed towards the bayou area where the core family lives, the townspeople are in a meeting to find out what the government is going to do to help them. "Why are you waiting 24 hours before this hits to do anything?" one lady shouts at the officials. Then scenes of people trying to evacuate at the last minute, and the tragedy that ensues, brings up memories of last year's Katrina disaster. I'm sure when this film came out, it was seen as cheesy apocalyptic sci-fi. But turn on the news, folks, and take another look. I think this film did an excellent job of saying "what if?"

MattButts A recent poster commented that "it's 2005 and nothing has come to pass like predicted in this film." That's hardly true anymore. The beginning shows a major hurricane decimating the city of New Orleans (my original home town, necessitating its evacuation. This, as we all know, has come to pass with the advent of Hurricane "Katrina." And the images we are seeing come out of the gulf coast on the news are far more horrific than anything in this movie.Aside from this prophecy now come true and then some, the movie was otherwise a little too Orwellian for my tastes. I should also note that the recent hurricane activity is not necessary global warming. There's a cycle to these things. We saw hurricane activity of this magnitude in the 1940s, the 1960s (Camille), the 1990s (Andrew) and in this decade (Charley and Katrina).

zaur-2 10 only because of Bonnie Bedila's assets on display. I caught this on the lifetime movie network earlier this week and it's 2005 and nothing has come to pass like predicted in this film. However, this movie does have 2 or should I say 4 redeeming qualities, mainly in the form of the mother and daughter. Bonnie Bedelia who plays the mom shows off her boobs in almost every scene and in a surprise in one scene you can see right into her nightshirt when she bends down and see full boobage. A real surprise for a TV. And it's a most impressive pair. The daughter is really hot too, although I'm sad to see her career has gone the daytime TV route and not the mainstream movie Ashley Judd nude scene or the playboy made cable TV route. Anyhow, watch this for the two hot women and just ignore the dumb story about how bad America is because of crap.