Richard Dreyfuss stars in "Madoff"

It looks like 2016 is the year of televised Bernie Madoff dramas. Well, that might be overstating things a little, but there are two star-spangled productions about America’s biggest fraudster coming down the pipe, and ABC has beaten HBO in the race to air. The network’s four-hour miniseries, inspired by the book “The Madoff Chronicles,” by Brian Ross of ABC News, examines the rise and fall of one of history's most famed con artists and how his scamming and lies affected those close to him. Catch the two-night broadcast of "Madoff" when it airs Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 3 and 4, on ABC.

Unless you slept through 2009, you probably have at least a rough idea as to who Bernie Madoff is. The former stockbroker, investment adviser and financier founded the Wall Street firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities in 1960 and served as its chairman for nearly 50 years, during which he carried out a Ponzi scheme that is widely considered to be the biggest financial fraud in U.S. history.

Madoff bilked thousands of high-profile clients -- the list includes director Steven Spielberg, celebrity couple Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax and author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel -- out of an estimated $65 billion. On March 12, 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies, including securities fraud, money laundering, perjury and making false filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He’s currently serving the maximum allowed prison sentence of 150 years.

ABC's miniseries chronicles the life, rise and fall of Madoff, who started his company with a paltry $5,000 that he'd saved working as a lifeguard and sprinkler installer. He would go on to be worth more than $126 million, owning four homes and a 55-foot yacht, before finally being brought down at the age of 71.

Starring in the miniseries is celebrated screen veteran Richard Dreyfuss, the semi-retired Oscar winner who made a name for himself in such films as “American Graffiti” (1973), “Jaws” (1975) and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977), and has since enjoyed an impressive and diverse career, appearing in more than 50 films, as well as on television and on stage.

The actor is well versed in Madoff’s story, and has his own thoughts about the man who lived in the same Queens neighborhood where he himself grew up. In a Smithsonian interview, he discusses his belief that Madoff is a sociopath who wasn’t driven by evil intents but simply didn’t consider his victims.

“My dad once told me, ‘There’s three types of people. Moral people know the difference between right and wrong and do right. Immoral people know right and wrong and choose to do wrong. Amoral people don’t know the difference,’” Dreyfuss said. “So maybe you can say Madoff is amoral. In the same way people who robbed banks didn’t say, ‘I’m taking money from the blacksmith.’ They just took the money. And [Madoff] was really good at it.”

Richard Dreyfuss and Blythe Danner as seen in "Madoff"

Dreyfuss brings these musings and more to the role, portraying a much different kind of villain than we often see in fiction, but “Madoff” isn’t just about the eponymous Bernie. The miniseries also looks at how his crimes affected those in his inner circle -- particularly his family, many of whom were heavily involved in the firm, and therefore rose and fell right alongside him.

In the role of Madoff’s wife and director of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, Ruth, is another Hollywood A-lister: Emmy winner Blythe Danner (“Meet the Parents,” 2000). The Madoff sons -- who turned their father in to the authorities -- are played by Danny Deferrari (“The Longest Week,” 2014) and Tom Lipinski (“Labor Day,” 2013). Not only did they suffer the shame and disgrace that was tacked on to the Madoff name, but both sons’ lives were tragically cut short, one dying of lymphoma in 2014 and the other committing suicide two years to the day after his father’s arrest.

Peter Scolari (“Newhart”) plays Madoff’s brother, Peter, senior managing director and chief compliance officer at the firm. Peter allowed himself to get wrapped up in the scam, falsifying the company’s accounts, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Beyond the Madoff family, the miniseries also shines a light on others who were involved in the scheme. Emmy winner Charles Grodin (“Beethoven,” 1992) plays entrepreneur and philanthropist Carl Shapiro, a friend of Madoff’s and one of his biggest financial backers, who is said to have invested with him going as far back as the '60s. His philanthropic foundation lost roughly $145 million in the Ponzi scheme.

Comedian Lewis Black (“The Daily Show”) steps into the role of Ezra Merkin, a.k.a. The Rabbi, who made a killing investing with Madoff before steering many wealthy Jewish clients -- Wiesel among them -- towards Madoff and his firm.

Every good story has its villain, and there's a lot to explore in a man who pulled the wool over everyone's eyes for nearly half a century undetected. Bernie Madoff's story isn't a happy one, but it's certainly compelling. Don't miss the two-night miniseries "Madoff" when it airs Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 3 and 4, on ABC.