Rich Man, Poor Man became a television miniseries during the 1976-1977 television season. It aired in eight parts for twelve hours of prime time. The numerous cast members included many veteran performers: Edward Asner, Ray Milland, Peter Strauss, Nick Nolte, and Susan Blakely. Shaw's narrative method — stringing together discrete, subtly related scenes — is easily adapted to television's steady rhythm of commercial-episode, commercial-episode. Rich Man, Poor Man was repeated as a regular series in the 1977-78 season, and its success prompted a Rich Man, Poor Man Part II, which carried the story of Gretchen and Rudolph past the point where the novel stopped. The television version prompted a renewed interest in Shaw's earlier books. Several novels were reprinted and his short stories were published in a collected edition.