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.

joylily514-1 This movie about disasters is itself a disaster. Do not waste your time watching it. If you do, prepare to laugh out loud at some of the script and "special effects". My husband and I started watching it and have only continued to see if it could get any worse. I will say there is one highlight. When the lady sings the old Gospel song on the barge, it is worth hearing. There are some things in this movie that are very big brotherish as one person already wrote and that these "predictions" have happened was the scary part. As it concerns global warming? BAH! It's another fad, just as the global cooling predictions of the 60's. The big difference this time is that there are people like Al Gore who stand to make millions on this scam.I can't say this more strongly, stay away from this movie, very far away!

cheshirekatus I remember watching this and recording it when I was 14. It was the first real hint of "global warming" in mainstream media that I remember. I now work in the climate change field, and every time we see a new natural disaster I am brought back to this movie. The one thing we all need to remember is that even though the press has dubbed the current climate change event "global warming", the climate will become cooler and wetter in some parts of the US, drier and hotter and others, and warmer and wetter in still others. Seasonal information doesn't give us any more information than the obvious, its really cold or really hot, or damn its dry this year. What gives us information is to look at the trends over the last 20, 100, 1000, 10000, and even million years.This movie is fair in acting and plot, but for 1993 it did take some good thinking to predict what natural disasters would be hitting the US in the next 20 years. I enjoy watching my old tape because of this, even if the movie is mediocre. Here are some of the more interesting plot lines: The year is 2005, and the plot follows a family on the gulf coast, before and after the aftermath of a category 5 hurricane. Previous to the hurricane, it is evident that there is a gas crisis, and fuel prices are so high that rationing has become the norm. There is some very interesting dialog between townsfolk and officials that claim the levees are up to par when the townsfolk know they are not. Needless to say the hurricane devastates the region. The family is forced to migrate north, and in the midst of this the father has to travel to California to find his son who is staying with the uncle. In California, water shortages are everywhere, and over 300 hundred fires are ravaging the state (which is happening now in northern Ca and last year happened with less fires in the southern Ca). The boy and his father have a falling out which leads the boy out to the southwest into water feuds and the immigration problems from Mexico. The mighty Colorado has dried up to a stream because of the over-contracting of water supplies to southern California. The plot then changes to more socio-political aspects of a non growth "green" town in New York state, and how the family will get across the border to Canada because the problems of the US has led them to close the borders much as we have between the US and Mexico.

HeartThatRidesTheWind I didn't see the original airing of this mini series but watched later about 3 years ago on USA. Seemed prophetic then and even more so now with huge fires here in SouthWest and Katrina in NOLA. I live in Arizona so I can speak more to the drought of SW. I had a 275,000 acre fire come within about 6 miles of me. Just a few days ago we had 20 fires start up in one day. I live in N central AZ and we have had less than an inch of rain from Oct of 2005 to mid July, date of this comment. Yes we have weather cycles but there are too many bad cycles all at once all over, I am from Maine originally and winters up there since I was a kid, have generally gotten warmer and less snow. this mini series is eerily coming true. I enjoyed it, lots of food for thought,acting is not great but adequate and suffice to keep you hooked. I was probably kept on board too by references to Acadia and Evangeline as my ancestors were Acadian and story of Evangeline has been in my heart since my childhood. I say watch it for first time and if you have seen it before get a refresher.