Hatfields and McCoys blast away in mini-series, an iconic feud come to cable

Cable’s History is pulling out all the stops for this lapidary retelling of one of our country’s most renowned internecine struggles.Hatfields & McCoys gets a fulsome miniseries treatment (showing over three consecutive nights, beginning Memorial Day), star power (Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton play the antagonistic patriarchs), and an unprecedented promotional campaign (on TV, at cineplexes, even at the Floyd Mayweather–Miguel Cotto fight earlier this month). All this for some violent hillbillies who simply could not get along. Because down in their neck of the Appalachians, there really wasn’t much to squabble over except pride. The challenge for History is to give this nasty family feud an epic spin. The result plays out like The Godfather with squirrel rifles.