'The Dovekeepers' Brings More History To TV

In this new TV landscape full of limited series and miniseries, it's impossible to tell how long a show will last, even on a major network. The 22-episode long season may become a thing of the past, and even the new CBS miniseries T he Dovekeepers will only air for two days. It will be airing over two consecutive nights, March 31 and April 1. It's always strange to me when networks air serious programming on the night of April Fool's Day, but since I'm not in second grade, I'll just have to stop thinking of April Fool's as a holiday and realize that April 1 is a totally valid day for historical dramas. Anyway, The Dovekeepers will be aired in two segments of two hours each, so this is like a midweek, old-fashioned movie with an uncommonly long intermission in the middle. The miniseries is an adaptation of Alice Hoffman's novel of the same name, which itself is based on Flavius Josephus' historical text, The War of the Jews.

A lot of historical melodramas have come to television in the past few years. For some reason, it's become popular to resurrect an old novel about biblical times or an ancient, contested version of a historical event. And if it's told from the point of view of women in a time when they were often ignored or overlooked? Then it's practically guaranteed to make it to the small screen. Here are a few recent miniseries that The Dovekeepers may bring to mind.

The Red Tent

Similarity To The Dovekeepers: 9/10

The Lifetime miniseries has a lot in common with The Dovekeepers. Adapted from Anita Diamant's novel, it tells the story of a group of tight-knit women living in a time that often oppressed and ignored their voices. And just like The Dovekeepers, it starred a group of talented TV actresses.

The Bible

Similarity To The Dovekeepers: 7/10

In addition to the ancient setting, The Bible and The Dovekeepers share a pair of co-creators. Roma Downey and Marc Burnett both produced The Bibleand developed The Dovekeepers.

A.D. The Bible Continues

Similarity To The Dovekeepers: 5/10

While like its predecessor, A.D. will also take place during biblical times (obviously), and, like The Dovekeepers, will be on a major broadcast network (in this case, NBC), instead of focusing on women, A.D. is centered on Jesus.

The Book Of Negroes

Similarity To The Dovekeepers: 2/10

Other than the female perspective on a historical event and the fact that they were adapted from books, these two are pretty different. The Dovekeepers and The Book of Negroes take place on different continents in different millennia.

The Jinx

Similarity To The Dovekeepers: 0/10

These two have literally nothing in common, but I'll always take a minute to discuss the craziness of The Jinx. Its compelling questions are what made this show an excellent piece of TV, and if The Dovekeepers is going to succeed, then it'll need to build tension, pacing, and atmosphere, just like the HBO miniseries.

Images: Kurt Arrigo/CBS; David Appleby/Lifetime; Joe Alblas/LightWorkers Media/NBC; Casey Crawford/History; BET; Marc Smerling/courtesy of HBO