The
miniseries The Thorn Birds, based on Colleen McCullough's
1977 best selling novel, was broadcast on ABC for 10 hours between
27 and 30 March 1983. Set primarily on Drogheda, a fictional sheep
station in the Australian outback, the melodrama focused on the
multi-generational Cleary family, and spanned the years 1920-1962.
At
the outset, the family--patriarch Paddy Cleary (Richard Kiley),
his wife, Fiona (Jean Simmons), and children--moved from New Zealand
to Australia to help run Drogheda, owned by Paddy's wealthy sister,
Mary Carson (Barbara Stanwyck). Over the years, numerous deaths
and disasters--fire, a drowning, a goring by a wild boar-- were
to befall the family.
While the saga recounted the story of the entire Cleary clan, it
focused primarily on the lone Cleary daughter, Meggie (Rachel Ward)
and her relationship with Father Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain).
Although they met when she was just a child, Meggie grew up to fall
in love with the handsome, young Catholic priest who had been banished
to the outback for a previous disobedience. Father Ralph was torn
between his own love for Meggie, his love for God, and his ambition
to rise in the Catholic hierarchy. Spurred on by the spiteful Mary
Carson--who was herself attracted to the priest--Father Ralph was
forced to choose between his own advancement in the church and his
love for Meggie. He chose the former, and soon found himself at
the Vatican. As Father Ralph rose quickly through the hierarchy
of the Catholic church (eventually becoming a Cardinal), Meggie
married a sheep shearer named Luke O'Neill (Bryan Brown), bore a
daughter (played as an adult by Mare Winningham), and ended up working
as a maid in Queensland.
Years
later, de Bricassart returned to Australia and to Meggie, who eventually
left her husband. In the controversial third episode, the two consummated
their relationship in what Newsweek's Harry F. Waters called
"the most erotic love scene ever to ignite the home screen," but
de Bricassart still was unable to give up the church. Unbeknownst
to him, Meggie gave birth to his son (played as an adult by Philip
Anglim), who in an ironic twist of fate himself became a priest
before dying in a drowning accident. As in McCullough's novel, the
key underlying message of this miniseries was that each generation
is doomed to repeat the missteps and failures of the previous generation.
While
winning the 1983 Golden Globe award for Best MiniSeries, The
Thorn Birds was not without its controversy. The subject matter--a
priest breaking his vow of celibacy--was contestable enough, but
the fact that ABC chose to broadcast the program beginning on Palm
Sunday and running through Holy Week, raised the ire of the United
States Catholic Conference. In response, McDonald's Corporation
initially requested that its franchisees not advertise during the
broadcasts. In the end, however, the company simply advised its
franchisees to advertise only before Father Ralph and Meggie consummated
their relationship.
Despite
its controversial subject matter (or perhaps because of it), The
Thorn Birds garnered an average 41 rating and 59 share over
the course of its four-night run, making it then the second highest
rated miniseries ever, second only to Roots (1977). Its controversial
third episode, in which Meggie and Father Ralph consummated their
relationship, was at the time the fourth highest rated network entertainment
show of all time (preceded only by the final episode of M*A*S*H,
the "Who Shot JR?" episode of Dallas, and the eighth episode
of Roots.) In the end, an estimated 110 million-140 million
viewers saw all or some of the miniseries. TV Guide, in fact,
has listed The Thorn Birds as one of the top 20 programs
of the 1980s.
Produced
for an estimated $21 million, The Thorn Birds appeared during
the heyday of the network television miniseries, from the late 1970s
to the mid-1980s, when the form was seen as "the salvation of commercial
television." In this context The Thorn Birds stood out for
both its controversial qualities and its success. Like Roots
and The Winds of War before it, The Thorn Birds exemplified
the miniseries genre--family sagas spanning multiple generations,
featuring large, big-name casts, and laden with tales of love, sex,
tragedy, and transcendence that kept the audience coming back night
after night. In 1996 ABC broadcast a sequel to The Thorn Birds
in which Father Ralph and Meggie are again untied, and again struggle
with their passion and their consciences. Though widely promoted,
the program received far less attention from both critics and audiences.
-Sharon
A. Mazzarella
Bawer,
Bruce. "Grand Allusions Sacred and Profane." Emmy Magazine
(Los Angeles), March/April 1982.
Morris,
Gwen. "An Australian Ingredient in American Soaps: The Thorn Birds
by Colleen McCullough." Journal of Popular Culture (Bowling
Green, Ohio), Spring 1991.
Waters,
Harry F. "Sex and Sin in the Outback." Newsweek (New York),
28 March 1983.
