88BAND OF BROTHERS

Aired: HBO, 2001

The television miniseries had traditionally gone to war, but Band of Brothers did so with a budget that reportedly stretched to $120 million. This had not a little to do with HBO's expansive branding ambitions after the twin successes of The Sopranos and Sex and the City. Executive producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks teamed up to make Band happen, working from the book by Stephen E. Ambrose, who had been a consultant on Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. The harrowing opening sequence of that film depicted the invasion of Normandy Beach on D-Day. The miniseries revisited D-Day but by air, instead of sea, as the members of Easy Company became the first Americans to parachute in behind enemy lines to repel German forces. The 10 installments gave viewers a lavish, personalized history lesson by following the men of Easy Company from their training to the liberation of the concentration camps.