Amerika (miniseries)

Amerika
Written by	Donald Wrye
Directed by	Donald Wrye
Starring	Kris Kristofferson Robert Urich Wendy Hughes Sam Neill Cindy Pickett Dorian Harewood Armin Mueller-Stahl Richard Bradford Ivan Dixon Marcel Hillaire Ford Rainey Graham Beckel Reiner Schöne Mariel Hemingway Christine Lahti
Theme music composer	Basil Poledouris
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	7
Production
Executive producer	Donald Wrye
Producers	John Lugar Richard L. O'Connor
Cinematography	Hiro Narita
Editors	Craig Bassett Raja Gosnell Dan Harville Jacque Elaine Toberen Martin Cohen Frank Mazzola Michael Ripps
Running time	870 minutes
Production company	ABC Circle Films
Budget	US $40 million (est.)
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	February 15 (1987-02-15) – February 22, 1987 (1987-02-22)
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Amerika is an American television miniseries that was broadcast in 1987 on ABC. The miniseries inspired a novelization entitled Amerika: The Triumph of the American Spirit. Amerika starred Kris Kristofferson, Mariel Hemingway, Sam Neill, Robert Urich, Christine Lahti, and a 17-year-old Lara Flynn Boyle in her first major role. Amerika was about life in the United States after a bloodless takeover engineered by the Soviet Union.^[1] Not wanting to depict the actual takeover, ABC Entertainment president, Brandon Stoddard, set the miniseries ten years after the event, focusing on the demoralized U.S. people a decade after the Soviet conquest. The intent, he later explained, was to explore the U.S. spirit under such conditions, not to portray the conflict of the Soviet coup.

Described in promotional materials as "the most ambitious American miniseries ever created", Amerika aired for 14+1⁄2 hours (including commercials) over seven nights (beginning February 15, 1987), and reportedly cost $40 million to produce. The miniseries was filmed in Ontario, Canada, in the Golden Horseshoe and southwestern Ontario cities of Toronto, London,^[2] and Hamilton,^[3] as well as various locations in Nebraska – most notably the small town of Tecumseh, which served as "Milford", the fictional setting for most of the series. Donald Wrye was the executive producer, director, and writer of Amerika, while composer Basil Poledouris scored the miniseries, ultimately recording (with the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra) eight hours of music – the equivalent of four feature films.^[1]