Chiefs (TV Miniseries) - Reception

Reception

John J. O'Connor of the New York Times said Chiefs was "an ambitious yet flawed project that overall, works powerfully well." Director London has "a keen sense of what the sweeping saga entails, though there are weaknesses." He criticised the ending of the miniseries for not following the novel's ending, but noted that the performances of Davis (Sonny Butts), Sorvino (Skeeter), Carradine (Foxy Funderburke), and Glover (Marshall Peters) were outstanding. Among the flaws is a whipping scene in which a young white man is flogged, supposedly for having sexual intercourse with a black woman. The scriptwriters have that backwards. In the Old South, a young white man was free to gain experience with a willing black girl. What terrified the Old South was a black man having sex with a white woman. This historical inaccuracy may have been included because the white man is the implied victim of homosexual rape at the hands of Foxy Funderburke (Carradine), and the thought of a white man and a black man engaging in homosexual sex would have been equally repugnant to the sensibilities of the Old South.

The miniseries was nominated for three Emmy Awards:

• "Outstanding Art Direction for a Limited Series or a Special" – Production designer Charles C. Bennett and Set designer Victor Kempster (for Part 2)
• "Outstanding Limited Series" – Executive producer Martin Manulis, supervising producer Jerry London, and producer John E. Quill
• "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special" – Keith Carradine

It was nominated for an Eddie Award in the "Best Edited Episode from a Television Mini-Series" for Eric Albertson, John J. Dumas, and Armond Lebowitz.

Its success resulted in the paperback version of the novel, Chiefs, entering the New York Times Best Seller list.