The '60s

By William Tynan

Take one fictional Ozzie-and-Harriet-like Irish-Catholic couple and their three teenagers. Put them through the crucible of the sexual and drug revolutions, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, women's lib, Watts and Woodstock. Then toss in newsreel footage of every conceivable major event that occurred during this tumultuous time. Now squeeze all this into a four-hour mini-series and try to tell a credible story. Ludicrous? Yet NBC pretty well manages the feat. Enacted by a solid cast and enhanced by a smartly used greatest-hits soundtrack, The '60s is clear-eyed, compassionate and surprisingly affecting. What it lacks in depth it makes up for in breadth.

--By William Tynan