The Last Don (miniseries)

The Last Don, also known as Mario Puzo's The Last Don, is a 1997 American crime drama television miniseries directed by Graeme Clifford and written by Joyce Eliason, based on the 1996 novel The Last Don by Mario Puzo. It aired on CBS in three parts, on May 11, 13 and 14, 1997. It was followed by a sequel the next year, The Last Don II. It follows a fictional Mafia crime family, the Clericuzios, and their multigenerational struggle to hold onto power.

Reception
The series received mixed to negative reviews from critics. As another adaptation of a mafia novel by Mario Puzo, The Last Don received unfavorable comparisons to The Godfather film series. John J. O'Conner of the New York Times stated that the series was too willing to reuse aspects from The Godfather, calling it "too familiar." Ray Richmond of Variety had mixed feelings on the series, describing it as "a pretty decent trash wallow, if an overlong and often preposterous one," though he praised the performances of Joe Mantegna as mafia hitman Pippi De Lena. Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret News was more favorable, stating that "the story is intriguing, the cast is good (for the most part) and - if you have a strong stomach for violence and blood - it's relatively involving entertainment." Hal Boedeker of the Orlando Sentinel was very unfavorable, saying that the series "drags on for six numbing hours, dwells on unappealing mob figures and contains ludicrous performances." Jeffrey Goldberg of Slate called the series "derivative," stating that the writer and director "have taken every element of fantasy in Puzo’s fable and made it literal, and they manage, quite successfully, to telegraph each Puzo twist about two hours before it is set to occur."

Awards and nominations
The series received three nominations at the 49th Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Miniseries, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for Joe Mantegna as Pippi De Lena and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special Kirstie Alley as Rose Marie. The series also received a nomination at for Best Performance in a TV Movie / Pilot / Mini-Series: Supporting Young Actor at the 19th Youth in Film Awards for Tim Redwine as young Cross.

The Last Don was also nominated for a TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials.