Today in TV History: HBO Aired ‘Angels in America,’ the Greatest TV Program Ever

Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone. 

IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: December 7, 2003

PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: Angels in America, “Millennium Approaches.” [Watch on HBO GO, HBO Now or Amazon Prime Video]

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: HBO gets a lot of crap for the elitist overtones of “It’s Not TV, It’s HBO.” And in many ways that crap is deserved. It is pretty snooty to not only hold your programming above the lowly standards of television but to say it out loud in front of everybody. While the rest of cable was busy being the change it wanted to see on the television landscape, HBO was throwing shade on the very idea of quality TV by saying that they were so good, they ceased to be TV.

And yet in the case of something like Angels in America, that tag line couldn’t be more correct. The miniseries — aired in three-hour installments over the course of consecutive Sundays — was not only a creation of peak artistry, but it was also something that could not have existed anywhere else but HBO at the time. Adapted by Tony Kushner from his own Pulitzer Prize-winning play, and directed by the incomparable Mike Nichols, Angels in America is, in its own too-vast-to-fully-summarize-briefly way, a story set in New York during the AIDS crisis, about two men with AIDS in particular, Prior Walter (Justin Kirk) a young gay man living with his partner Louis (Ben Shenkman); and Roy Cohn (Al Pacino), the infamous McCarthy-hearings lawyer, conservative pitbull, and closeted homosexual. This is in no way even a partial view of the scope of the film (which plays like a miniseries but is cinematic in nearly every other way), which encompasses historical fiction, religion, migration, infidelity, camp, drama, comedy, Prospect Park, and Antartica in its vastness.

Also impressive in its vastness, and another credit to HBO, was the cast. Pacino shared top billing with Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson, two veterans of Nichols’ films. Streep had made Silkwood, Heartburn, and Postcards from the Edge with him, while having already worked with Nichols on Primary Colors, had just paired with the director on Wit, another highly acclaimed stage adaptation for HBO.

It’s the second tier of actors where Angels in America truly shines, though. Mary-Louise Parker and Jeffrey Wright both won Emmys for their performances as Harper and Belize, respectively. Heretofore unknowns Patrick Wilson and Justin Kirk got their big breaks. Theater veteran Ben Shenkman gives a phenomenal performance in the often thankless role of Louis. HBO vets like James Cromwell (Six Feet Under) and Robin Weigert (this was just prior to Deadwood) rounded out the cast.

If you haven’t yet, stop listening to my feeble attempts to explain what it’s about and go watch it immediately. If you already have, consider making a YouTube playlist of the best scenes, which are available, though unembeddable, on YouTube. Personally, my top five are:

• Meryl Streep as the rabbi giving the eulogy at the very beginning. Transcends the stunty nature of the casting with that footage of early 20th century immigrants. Immediately puts the film into historical perspective and prepares the audience to think bigger picture.
• Roy Cohn’s “Was it legal?” monologue. Pacino certainly can’t be accused of playing this role small, but I’ve always thought the enormity of the performance fit the character. Not to mention that theatricality is more than welcome in this movie.
• Belize describes heaven to a dying Roy Cohn. Jeffrey Wright’s voice is a resonant, melodious miracle.
• Harper’s scene with the animated Mormon Mother. “The magic of the theater … or something.” Robin Weigert gets one scene, and hoo boy does she nail it.
• Harper’s “night flight to San Francisco” monologue. Mary-Louise Parker has been brilliant in a lot of things, but never moreso than in this.

And that’s not even getting into the fourth-wall-busting ending, or Prior’s righteous rant in heaven, or Thomas Newman’s miraculous score (one of his very best). It’s just a titanic piece of television, and without HBO, I’m not sure when or if we’d have ever gotten it.

[You can watch Angels in America on HBO GO.]