1976 and Beyond - RM,PM's Impact

I was there, and I remember this very well: The impact of RICH MAN, POOR MAN on the television and publishing industries was striking. Although preceded by QB VII, from Leon Uris's novel, RM,PM really launched the 'mini-series' era for commercial network television (THE FORSYTE SAGA had already launched it for public television several years previously), almost immediately resulting in NBC-TV's "Bestsellers" which brought us serialized film versions of popular novels such as CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS and ONCE AN EAGLE, and even though "Bestsellers" didn't last, the mini-series itself had a good ride for well over a decade before viewers tired of the format, with ROOTS, SHOGUN, CENTENNIAL, THE THORN BIRDS and WINDS OF WAR, to name only a few of the biggies. And "Operation Prime-Time" brought popular syndicated mini-series adapted from novels such as TESTIMONY OF TWO MEN, THE IMMIGRANTS, and THE BASTARD.

The impact on book publishing was also felt immediately - ironically, there were very few copies of RM,PM in bookstores at the time the series began - it was several years old by then and had already sold about a million copies in paperback - although movie tie-in editions of books had been around forever, no one seemed to make a connection at first between a mini-series and potential book sales - the few thousand copies on bookstore shelves were snapped up immediately by eager viewers, and the book's publisher, Dell Books, had to scramble to get more copies printed and into stores. Within a year something like 6 million additional copies were sold. Publishers learned from this example, and in the future their tie-in editions were well-represented in bookstores before the first episode of a mini-series was telecast.

RM,PM also renewed Irwin Shaw's popularity as a bestselling author.

"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified."