This was a great movie but the characters all had interesting view points. Mistress Bartram was the school teacher who was educated. She is thrown into an affair with the married (highly educated)man to Elizabeth Montgomery's character, who was uneducated. The mistress became pregnant. This was the real awakening for me. Because her lover was married she set out one night to the local tavern to pick up whoever she could so she could get married and have her baby. There were no educated men that were available so she married someone beneath her intelligence and that was the most horrible punishment anyone could pay. No way out. Elizabeth's character rose above and met the higher standards of her husband and worked to become educated. Dorrie Kavanaugh who was also a beautiful woman sadly died a few years after making this film. I will always remember her as having a style that no one has ever duplicated. She was graceful with culture and intelligence, a very beautiful woman.

Here is a wild one for you. I saw The Awakening Land almost accidentally when I was getting ready to go to college in 1978. It has been rattling around in my brain all these time, almost 30 years, as a singular example of excellent television. The story and the characters stuck in my mind as a paragon of excellent writing, the best I have seen in a TV script. It wasn't until this night that I learned that it was a three part miniseries. I never knew that. I only saw the one episode (I think the first) where Saird meets and marries the Solitary. Now I am going nuts trying to find where I can get the other two episodes on DVD. Looks like I can't. Guess I will get the books. spike

I remember seeing this remarkable production on British TV when I was a student in the early 1980's. I enjoyed it enormously, and was riveted to the screen for 3 successive Sundays. Out of all the American mini-series that have been broadcast over here, this is the only one that sticks in my mind. I've waited in vain all these years for it to be broadcast again, or better still, released on DVD. The casting, storyline, characterisation and acting were all superb. Not only is it THE American mini-series, but I would also rate it up alongside the best of the BBC classic dramas. I do hope that it can one day be released on DVD or even on video - I will be one of the first buyers.

The Awakening Land is right up there at the top of my list for best mini series, right behind The Thorn Birds and Centennial. The late Elizabeth Montgomery gives a tour d'force performance that I consider to be her best work.Of all the period pieces I've seen about the early settlers and trailblazers in young America, this one seems to give you a very accurate sense of what life was like for these brave souls who dared to venture out into the wilderness.You'll get no Hollywood fluff here. You won't see women traipsing around with their hair perfectly coiffed and in gowns that look like they just came off the runways of the top fashion houses in Paris. The women in this story literally wear sacks for dresses, have unkempt hair, dirty faces and live in shacks out in the wilds.What you do see are people struggling for food and fighting the elements in an untamed land as well as constantly fighting off predators, both man and beast alike just to survive.You see how these early settlers struggled to work their land and come together from their meager beginnings to grow and form towns. You share in their triumphs and their losses in order to make a better life for themselves.At the heart of this story is Elizabeth Montgomery as the courageous Sayward Luckett, who struggles not only to survive herself, but to take care of her sisters when her mother dies and her father takes off to go trailblazing on his own. With only her wits and her courage to keep her going, she not only survives, but becomes the true heroine of this story.Hal Holbrook and Jane Seymour give wonderful performances as well, but it is Montgomery's exquisite portrayal of the feisty pioneer woman that makes this such a pleasure to watch.I am shocked and surprised to find that The Awakening Land is not yet available on DVD. Hopefully it will be soon. But I strongly urge anyone who has not yet seen it to try and get a hold of it on VHS or check out your cable service to see if it's listed and watch it. It is one of the best and truly worth your time!