Amerika: 1987 TV Mini Series

Amerika arrived in February 1987, a seven-part ABC TV mini series focused on the former USA 10 years after the USSR successfully invaded and defeated the Americans. Starring Robert Urich, Kris Kristofferson, Cindy Pickett, Sam Neill, Christine Lahti, Wendy Hughes and Armin Mueller-Stahl, the story explores the troubled world of Americans in defeat and a nervous Soviet leadership afraid of an uprising.

I enjoyed Amerika when it was originally broadcast, and it still lives on YouTube without a home video release since a VHS set now long out of print. With Russia now an established threat to US sovereignty via election tampering and the collusion of President Donald Trump with Vladimir Putin, it seems the story remains relevant if still somewhat unlikely. At the very least, it’s topical.

Perhaps Shout Factory, Kino Lorber, Arrow Video or Mill Creek could pick it up for an HD release. In that spirit, here are marketing materials from 1987, tie-ins, and original design work to get the idea going.

Posters

Poster from 1987.

Poster by me.

Ads

Full-page colour magazine ad featuring the cast.

Newspaper ad featuring Kris Kristofferson.

Newspaper ad featuring Cindy Pickett.

TV Guide, February 14–20, 1987. US and Canadian editions.

Re-created network promo.

World Premiere

Creator Donald Wrye and ABC President of Entertainment Brandon Stoddard attended the world premiere of Amerika at the Stuart Theatre in Lincoln, Nebraska. The first two episodes were shown. Nebraskans for Peace handed out leaflets outside. Photo from Broadcasting, February 2, 1987.

Novelisation

The novelisation was written by Brauna E Pouns, adapting Donald Wrye’s original screenplay.

VHS Home Video

The mini-series was released on VHS in 1995 by Anchor Bay Entertainment. It has been out of print since. In 1994, Handleman Company bought Starmaker and merged it with Video Treasures to create Anchor Bay. Both Starmaker and Anchor Bay logos are on the box, but only Starmaker’s appears at the beginning of the tapes.

Design Ideas for an HD Release

The first one uses the poster artwork, and the rest are designs I came up with using various images.