Centennial (miniseries) - Differences Between The Book and Miniseries

Differences Between The Book and Miniseries

Although Michener began his novel in prehistory, the series itself begins with elements from Chapter 4 of the book which is entitled The Many Coups of Lame Beaver. The novel devotes an entire section to Kurt Brumbaugh's development of Central Beet company however the miniseries makes only passing reference to it. The Wendell's use the badger game to blackmail the town pastor out of his house in the miniseries but in the book they get the house from a local businessman. In the miniseries, Morgan Wendell tried to cover-up his family's shady history, but in the book he spoke openly about the murder and his father's admiration of the sheriff. Paul Garrett is in his 50s and is Jim and Charlotte Lloyd's grandson in the miniseries but he in his early 40s in the novel and is Jim and Charlotte's great grandson. The miniseries skips a generation for the sake of simplicity. This skipped generation would have revealed that Paul Garrett is also a descendant of Maxwell & Lisette Mercy, Levi & Lucinda Zendt and John Skimmerhorn.

There is no election pitting Paul Garrett against Morgan Wendell in the novel. Wendell is elected Commissioner of Resources and Garrett reluctantly accepts his offer to be his principal deputy. The novel also portrays Morgan Wendell as a more reasonable and balanced man than what is depicted in the miniseries. It is he not Paul Garrett who makes the reference to Warren G. Harding as the anti-standard by which all politicians should be judged.