# Lonesome Dove (miniseries)
**Lonesome Dove** is a four-part American Western miniseries broadcast on CBS from February 5 to 8, 1989, adapted from [Larry McMurtry](https://www.edgepedia.org/larry-mcmurtry)'s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name and directed by Simon Wincer. It follows two former Texas Rangers, Augustus "Gus" McCrae ([Robert Duvall](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-duvall)) and Woodrow F. Call ([Tommy Lee Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/tommy-lee-jones)), who lead a cattle drive from south Texas to the Montana Territory.[1](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/the-greatest-western-ive-ever-seen-isnt-a-movie-and-its-streaming-free-on-tubi) • [2](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/History/Total-Television-Programming-1948-1991-McNeil.pdf) The production won six Primetime Emmys from 18 nominations, a Peabody Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, and it was the highest-rated miniseries of the 1988–1989 season.[3](https://www.televisionacademy.com/shows/lonesome-dove) • [4](https://historynet.com/lonesome-dove-archive/) • [2](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/History/Total-Television-Programming-1948-1991-McNeil.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Broadcast | CBS, four parts, February 5–8, 1989[2](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/History/Total-Television-Programming-1948-1991-McNeil.pdf) |
| Source | Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, adapted by Bill Wittliff[1](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/the-greatest-western-ive-ever-seen-isnt-a-movie-and-its-streaming-free-on-tubi) • [4](https://historynet.com/lonesome-dove-archive/) |
| Length | 384 minutes across four parts (also described as about six hours)[4](https://historynet.com/lonesome-dove-archive/) • [1](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/the-greatest-western-ive-ever-seen-isnt-a-movie-and-its-streaming-free-on-tubi) |
| Lead cast | Robert Duvall (Gus McCrae), Tommy Lee Jones (Woodrow Call), Danny Glover, Diane Lane, Anjelica Huston, Robert Urich, Rick Schroder[4](https://historynet.com/lonesome-dove-archive/) |
| Emmy record | 18 nominations, 6 wins (some sources report 7 wins)[3](https://www.televisionacademy.com/shows/lonesome-dove) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096639/) |
| Other honors | Peabody Award; two Golden Globes, best miniseries and Duvall as best actor[6](https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/lonesome-dove/) • [4](https://historynet.com/lonesome-dove-archive/) |
| Ratings | Highest-rated miniseries of the 1988–1989 season and the highest-rated since *North and South* in 1985[2](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/History/Total-Television-Programming-1948-1991-McNeil.pdf) |
## Development
The project began with [Suzanne de Passe](https://www.edgepedia.org/suzanne-de-passe), president of Motown Productions. Shortly before the novel was published, she asked McMurtry whether he had any available manuscripts; he warned her she would not like the book because it was a Western. She read it, and in the spring of 1985 she optioned it for $50,000 after major studios across Hollywood had declined it. When the novel won the [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) for fiction the following spring, its value rose enough that Motown secured $16 million from CBS for the right to telecast the story. De Passe sold a 50 percent profit interest to Qintex Entertainment for a $1 million fee plus an agreement to fund the remaining $4 million of the $20 million production.[7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-02-19-ca-529-story.html) De Passe served as co-executive producer with Bill Wittliff, who wrote the screenplay.[7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-02-19-ca-529-story.html)
CBS green-lit production in 1988 and chose Simon Wincer, an Australian director who had recently made the well-received television miniseries *The Last Frontier* (1986) and *Bluegrass* (1988) for the network. Wincer described the undertaking as "the equivalent of making four films in 16 weeks."[8](https://www.cowboysindians.com/2014/02/lonesome-dove/) Duvall later recalled reading the novel in ten days and shooting the miniseries over sixteen weeks, calling it "one of the highlights of my life."[9](https://www.tvline.com/2106942/robert-duvall-hit-western-miniseries-lonesome-dove-revitalized-failing-genre/)
## Story and cast
The story centers on two retired Texas Rangers running a business in the border town of [Lonesome Dove](https://www.edgepedia.org/lonesome-dove). When an old comrade arrives with accounts of unspoiled grasslands in Montana, Call decides to drive a herd of cattle north to establish a ranch on what the film presents as a last open frontier. Along the route the outfit faces rustlers, river crossings, punishing weather, and violence.[1](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/the-greatest-western-ive-ever-seen-isnt-a-movie-and-its-streaming-free-on-tubi) • [10](https://web.mit.edu/thorburn/www/publications/Thorburn_ReadingofLonesomeDove.pdf)
The four episodes carried the drive through its stages: "Leaving" (February 5), "On the Trail" (February 6), "The Plains" (February 7), and "Return" (February 8), the last bringing the drive to Montana.[11](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/lonesome_dove/s01) • [12](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096639/episodes/) The supporting cast included [Diane Lane](https://www.edgepedia.org/diane-lane) as Lorena Wood, Robert Urich as Jake Spoon, Frederic Forrest as Blue Duck, Danny Glover as Joshua Deets, Anjelica Huston as Clara Allen, and Rick Schroder.[11](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/lonesome_dove/s01) • [4](https://historynet.com/lonesome-dove-archive/) Critics singled out the pairing of the talkative, warm Gus with the silent, businesslike Call; the Peabody citation credited the relationships between the characters, especially those played by Duvall and Jones, with capturing viewers' imagination and affection.[6](https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/lonesome-dove/)
## Reception and awards
The miniseries aired in early February 1989 to high ratings and critical acclaim. It was by far the top-rated miniseries of the 1988–1989 season and the highest-rated since *North and South* in 1985.[4](https://historynet.com/lonesome-dove-archive/) • [2](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/History/Total-Television-Programming-1948-1991-McNeil.pdf) The Los Angeles Times reported a week after the premiere that it had scored a coup for CBS as the highest-rated miniseries of the previous five years, at a time when the miniseries form was widely considered nearly dead after the lackluster ratings of ABC's *[War and Remembrance](https://www.edgepedia.org/war-and-remembrance-miniseries)*. The Peabody citation made the same point from the other direction: the program put the lie to the conventional wisdom that the television Western was a dead form and countered the belief that the miniseries was outmoded.[7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-02-19-ca-529-story.html) • [6](https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/lonesome-dove/)
**Emmy record.** The Television Academy lists 18 nominations and 6 wins for the 1989 [Primetime Emmy Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/primetime-emmy-awards). The wins went to casting (Lynn Kressel), sound mixing, sound editing, art direction, costume design (Van Broughton Ramsey), and music ([Basil Poledouris](https://www.edgepedia.org/basil-poledouris)). Duvall, Jones, Huston, Lane, Glover, and [Glenne Headly](https://www.edgepedia.org/glenne-headly) all received acting nominations, and Wincer was nominated for directing.[3](https://www.televisionacademy.com/shows/lonesome-dove) IMDb and some press accounts count seven Emmy wins in total.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096639/) • [1](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/the-greatest-western-ive-ever-seen-isnt-a-movie-and-its-streaming-free-on-tubi) At the Golden Globes the production won best miniseries and Duvall won best actor in a miniseries.[4](https://historynet.com/lonesome-dove-archive/) It also received a Writers Guild Award for Wittliff's adapted screenplay, a Bronze Wrangler from the Western Heritage Awards, and a 2000 induction into the Online Film & Television Association's Television Hall of Fame.[13](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096639/awards/) On Rotten Tomatoes the miniseries holds a 98 percent Tomatometer from 44 reviews and a 93 percent audience score.[14](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/lonesome_dove)
## Legacy and sequels
The miniseries is credited with helping revitalize the Western genre on television at a moment when the form seemed to be failing.[9](https://www.tvline.com/2106942/robert-duvall-hit-western-miniseries-lonesome-dove-revitalized-failing-genre/) Its popularity spawned a sequel, *Return to Lonesome Dove* (CBS, 1993), which in turn led to *Lonesome Dove: The Series* (1994–1996).[15](https://www.tvline.com/2282471/taylor-sheridan-favorite-western-story-best-tv-miniseries-lonesome-dove/) • [16](https://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.med.046.html) The later books of McMurtry's cycle were also adapted: *Comanche Moon*, a six-hour CBS prequel about the young Rangers, went into production in 2005 with Simon Wincer and producer Dyson Lovell returning in the roles they had held on the original.[17](https://www.paramountpressexpress.com/cbs-news-and-stations/releases/?view=12487) Duvall appeared only in the original; he later starred in the Western miniseries *Broken Trail*.[9](https://www.tvline.com/2106942/robert-duvall-hit-western-miniseries-lonesome-dove-revitalized-failing-genre/) More than three decades after broadcast, the production archive of props and costumes is preserved at [Texas State University](https://www.edgepedia.org/texas-state-university), and the miniseries remains available on streaming services.[4](https://historynet.com/lonesome-dove-archive/) • [14](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/lonesome_dove)
## References
1. [The greatest Western I've ever seen isn't a movie, Tom's Guide](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/the-greatest-western-ive-ever-seen-isnt-a-movie-and-its-streaming-free-on-tubi)
2. [Total Television Programming 1948–1991 (McNeil), World Radio History](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/History/Total-Television-Programming-1948-1991-McNeil.pdf)
3. [Lonesome Dove, Emmy Awards and Nominations, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/shows/lonesome-dove)
4. ['Lonesome Dove' Remains One of the Most Popular Westerns, HistoryNet](https://historynet.com/lonesome-dove-archive/)
5. [Lonesome Dove (TV Mini Series 1989), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096639/)
6. [Lonesome Dove, The Peabody Awards](https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/lonesome-dove/)
7. [How Motown Corraled 'Lonesome Dove', Los Angeles Times (February 19, 1989)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-02-19-ca-529-story.html)
8. [A Conversation With Lonesome Dove Director Simon Wincer, Cowboys & Indians Magazine](https://www.cowboysindians.com/2014/02/lonesome-dove/)
9. [Robert Duvall's Hit '80s Western Series Helped Revitalize The Then-Failing Genre, TVLine](https://www.tvline.com/2106942/robert-duvall-hit-western-miniseries-lonesome-dove-revitalized-failing-genre/)
10. [Thorburn, LONESOME DOVE (1993), MIT](https://web.mit.edu/thorburn/www/publications/Thorburn_ReadingofLonesomeDove.pdf)
11. [Miniseries – Lonesome Dove, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/lonesome_dove/s01)
12. [Lonesome Dove (1989) Episode list, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096639/episodes/)
13. [Lonesome Dove (1989) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096639/awards/)
14. [Lonesome Dove, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/lonesome_dove)
15. [Taylor Sheridan's Favorite Western Story Became One Of The Best Miniseries Of All Time, TVLine](https://www.tvline.com/2282471/taylor-sheridan-favorite-western-story-best-tv-miniseries-lonesome-dove/)
16. [Television Shows, Encyclopedia of the Great Plains](https://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.med.046.html)
17. [Comanche Moon production announcement, Paramount Press Express / CBS](https://www.paramountpressexpress.com/cbs-news-and-stations/releases/?view=12487)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Genre and subject-scripted series › Western television series*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license