From: Stephen MILES Lewis <elfis@io.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 08:21:35 -0500
Fwd Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1999 02:17:06 -0400
Subject: Spielberg Abduction Miniseries



Considering past discussions on Spielbergs original horror
concepts for E.T., thot my fellow listers would want to know
about this.

SMiles

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Move Over, Mulder, Here Comes Spielberg

Steven Spielberg's pulling a Mulder.

The filmmaker behind Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T.
is again tracking down little green men, executive producing a
massive $40 million, 20-hour miniseries about alien-abduction
for the Sci-Fi Channel.

Slated to be one of the biggest TV events ever, the project,
titled Taken, will chase UFOs from Roswell, New Mexico, in the
1940s up through Y2K, Daily Variety reports.

"Steven has always had an interest in this subject," says Barry
Diller, the chair of Sci-Fi Channel parent USA Networks, to the
trade. "This will be a big story with multiple characters,
protagonists and antagonists, and it'll span lots of decades."

No word yet on stars or a director, but Variety says Spielberg
will get things going this summer, hoping for a third quarter
showing next year.

The Sci-Fi Channel is planning on running Taken for two hours
per night over 10 consecutive days.

That makes the minseries one of the biggest TV events ever,
behind the 24-hour adaptation of James Michener's Centennial on
NBC in 1978. Herman Wouks' The Winds of War ran 18 hours on ABC
in 1983 and 1998's Emmy-winning From the Earth to the Moon
lasted 12 hours on HBO.