After Book 1 ends with the superbly done parting of George and Orry at the break of the war, this sequel series holds its own with impressive battle recreations and issues of the war from both the Union and Confederate sides. In 1986 North and South Book II followed to equal ratings and continued the entwined Hazzard and Main saga into the Civil War.

It’s easy to wax nostalgia about these romantic times-incredible costumes, even good old fashioned duels-but North and South does not gloss away from slavery and other risqué issues of both the 1850s and the 1980s-including domestic violence, abortion, and interracial marriage. As much as we root for Orry and George, the devilish military man Bent (Phillip Casanoff) and Orry’s scheming sister Ashton (Teri Garber) give the series a touch of ruthlessness. Each player has a lush storyline and there is no weak performer in the series. It’s tough to pack everything about North and South’s first mini series into a few sentences. Unfortunately George’s abolitionist sister Virgilia (Kirstie Alley) makes life difficult for the Mains. While Orry’s lover Madeline (Leslie Ann Down) is forced into an abusive marriage to Justin Lamonte (David Carradine), George marries Constance (Wendy Kilbourne) and continues his friendship with Orry through the grumbles of secession talk. Audiences joined The Hazzard family from Pennsylvania and The slave owning Mains from South Carolina and stayed with them from Orry Main (Patrick Swayze) and George Hazzard’s (James Read) meeting at West Point, through The Mexican American War and up to the firing upon Fort Sumter. North and South Still Essential Civil War ViewingĪh, hoop skirts mixed with big eighties hair and flair, over the top Southern accents and zealous romances! These staples of television miniseries can make North and South a tough pill for new audiences, but Books 1 and 2 of this 1985-86 series are still the major staple in Civil War dramatizations.Īdapted from the John Jakes novels North and South and Love and War, ABC premiered the star studded North and South to record ratings in 1985.

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