Impact of the television mini-series Amerika

Moderator
Repository
DigitalGeorgetown
Person Interviewed
Adams, William C.
Mankiewicz, Frank F.
Abstract
Examines the effects of the television miniseries Amerika, which portrayed life in the United States as it would be under a Soviet dictatorship.
Description
In 1987 the television network ABC broadcast a miniseries called Amerika (a Russianized name for the United States). The miniseries, which takes place in the U.S. ten years after a bloodless takeover by the Soviet Union, was intended to give Americans a sense of what life might be like under Soviet domination. Millions of people tuned in to watch the broadcast, and the content of the miniseries stirred controversy within the United States and abroad. The UN protested its portrayal in the series, and the leaders of the Soviet Union objected to the program so strongly that they threatened to shut down the Moscow Bureau of ABC news. In the United States, critics from the left claimed that the miniseries fostered a Cold War mentality and heightened tensions between the two superpowers, while conservative critics argued that the series put far too human a face on the evils of Soviet Communism. In this episode, host Peter Krogh is joined by journalist and political advisor Frank Mankiewicz and William Adams, professor of public policy and public administration at George Washington University, to discuss the impact of the miniseries.
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Date
1987
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Subject
Location
Russia; Former Soviet Union;
Publisher
WETA-TV (Television station : Washington, D.C.)
 
Blackwell Corporation (Washington D.C.)
 
Georgetown University. School of Foreign Service
 
South Carolina Educational Television Network
 
Extent
28 min.
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