Band of Brothers (2001)

Ten episodes following one company of paratroopers, Easy Company, from training in Georgia to the end of the war in Europe. It comes from Stephen E. Ambrose's book, which drew on interviews with the survivors, and that grounding shows in small details of rank, friendship and exhaustion rather than in speeches. The budget of about $125 million is on screen in every battle, yet the smart choice is structural: each episode generally centers on one man's experience, so the company feels like a set of people rather than a unit on a map. It is violent, but each hour works as its own chapter, which makes it easy to watch at an episode a night. It won seven Emmys, Outstanding Miniseries among them.