1 9 7 8 (USA)
3 x 120 minute episodes
This six-hour miniseries spanned over a decade in the lives of three women: Jenny (Laurie Heineman) the radical, throwing herself into every cause and looking to change the world; Tanya (Season Hubley), an artist who remembers how her father had been destroyed for speaking out in the 1950s and is looking for love; and Kate (Cristina Raines), a journalist struggling to retain her objectivity and looking out for herself.
In 1962, the three women meet and become friends while students at the University of California at Berkeley. The series follows them through the 60s and into the 70s, focussing on their careers and troubled personal lives.
Kate’s journalistic career flourishes and she begins a turbulent affair with off-beat actor Peter Lane (Stephen Macht); Jenny (unsurprisingly) marries political activist Joe Norman (Ben Masters) and gives birth to their son, and Tanya – now a success in the art world – begins an unhappy relationship with Mark Stewart (Michael Tolan) – a self-centred, married sculptor.
By the final episode, the three women – now divorced, separated and fiercely independent – try searching for meaning in their checkered existence by joining a commune run by old college friend Rob Kagan (Guy Boyd).
The three-part miniseries was adapted from the best-selling book by Sara Davidson.
Due to an error by a network technician when the miniseries was originally shown in the US, almost 17 minutes of the final episode went to air in place of the second episode on Monday 27 February. The NBC switchboard was flooded with calls and the proper episode was then broadcast in its entirety, with news and the Tonight Show delayed as a result.
Kate Evans
Cristina Raines
Tanya Berenson
Season Hubley
Jenny Reston
Laurie Heineman
Tom Feiffer
Theodore Bikel
Joe Norman
Ben Masters
Peter Lane
Stephen Macht
Hank Okrun
Gregg Henry
John Campbell
John Getz
Rob Kagan
Guy Boyd
Mark Stewart
Michael Tolan
Irene Evans
June Lockhart
Sol Berenson
Joshua Shelley
Judy Berenson
Judy Strangis
Dr Moe Sinden
David Wayne
Hilda
Kate Reid
Roxanne
Paula Wagner
Mrs Berenson
Peggy McCay
Timmy Reston
Richard Stanley
Marita Kagan
Maria Elena Cordero
Dave Goodwin
Robert Symonds
Bob O’Brian
James Blendick
Larry
Allan Kolman
Rosemary
Alice Hirson
Ed Thomas
Carl Franklin
George
Gary Swanson
Mike
Jon Lormer