Armistead Maupin's 'Tales of the City' on PBS

Gender bends effortlessly in this six-hour miniseries set in San Francisco and based on Armistead Maupin's bestseller (which initially appeared as a newspaper serial). PBS stations had the option of airing an edited version of the racy Peabody winner, which takes place in the (pre-AIDS) mid-1970s and follows a pot-growing landlady and her interesting tenants. It was followed by two sequels on Showtime, one in 1998 that was nominated for five Emmys and another in 2001 that earned one nomination.