Good Omens is one of my favorite novels. I bought it the day it was released in the US in hardcover, and have probably read it a half-dozen times in the three decades since. (It’s probably my favorite thing that Neil Gaiman has ever written, and in my top five favorite Terry Pratchett works.) But despite the rumblings about possible film adaptations going back all the way to the beginning, I never had much confidence that it could be successfully adapted into a different medium. Thankfully, I was wrong. Very wrong, as it turns out. Because the six-part miniseries that was released on Amazon Prime the week before last satisfied in every conceivable way. The scripts by Neil Gaiman captured the tone and wit of the novel perfectly, and the direction by Douglas Mackinnon never missed a step. The score by David Arnold was note perfect, and the animated opening titles were fantastic. Everyone in the cast turned in stellar performances, but in particular Michael Sheen and David Tennant as the angel and demon who have hung around on Earth so long that they’ve gone native. I would happily watch another full season of those two characters just hanging out, sharing meals and bottles of wine, reminiscing about the old days.
