Starts good

Well, sort of good, then it's all downhill to an almost impossible to watch preachy ending that is full of nonsense. Lifted in the middle by some fine work by Dennis Weaver and Brian Keith.

Full of historical errors, and often bizarre silliness, for example calling the Russian German Potato King, and a whole raft of other ethnic groups, 'Anglos'.

I doubt there has ever been, or ever shall be again, a single production with so many Snidely Whiplash caricatures.

And apparently 2 World Wars and the Civil War went unnoticed in Colorado. (Tho the latter did get a mention in Texas.)

As for the conclusion, that cattle ranching is the environmentally preferable option....well, that's a real head shaker. Even in the early days of the ecology movement that was a daft proposition. Today it looks outright insane.

Killing the American eagle for money...does allegory get any more leaden than this? It does if you finish the 20 hour epic with an eagle coming to rest silhouetted against a setting sun.

I enjoyed this series, both at the time of release and this last few weeks revisited. There is a lot to like about the journey of these characters thru the epochs. It has a grand sweep and some engaging personalities. But pushing for a 9 on imdb and people calling it the best mini series ever made? Wow. Those people must be in some kind of patriotic fog.