Angels in America (2003)

Six one-hour chapters, first shown as two three-hour nights a week apart, so a two-evening plan works as well as a week. Tony Kushner adapted his own Pulitzer-winning play about AIDS in mid-1980s New York, and Mike Nichols directed a cast led by Al Pacino as Roy Cohn and Meryl Streep as Hannah Pitt. It is theatrical by design, with angels, visions and long arguments about politics and faith, so anyone wanting straight realism should know that going in. For everyone else it is a rare chance to see a landmark play performed at full strength. It won 11 Emmys in a single year, breaking the record for a miniseries that Roots had held.