There's an easy answer to this: "Noble House" isn't a movie at all.

The first two books in James Clavell's Asian Saga series were produced as films, albeit more than two decades apart ("King Rat" was released in 1965, while "Tai-Pan" was released in 1986). But the next two books in the series were made as TV miniseries instead. "Shogun" aired in 1980, while "Noble House" aired in 1988.

"Noble House" aired in 90-minute episodes over four consecutive nights, which means it runs six hours in total. This also means Starz is not going to air it, just as it's not going to air the five-hour "Shogun" adaptation.

Miniseries rarely get rerun on television. They fall between the two models of TV programming: syndicated series and two-hour movies. Syndicated series usually air in the same out-of-prime time-slot every day, seemingly indefinitely (that's the reason only long-running shows get syndicated). Movies, on the other hand, are dropped in to fit two-hour holes in the schedule.

A six-hour miniseries can do neither of these things. Miniseries are generally marketed as so-called appointment television, a marketing term that refers to the sort of program people plan in advance to watch. However, specialty cable channels like Starz (with the exception of its original programming) exist to produce the opposite -- old movies are on the air so that you can stumble upon them. These channels don't expect viewers to make appointments for that kind of TV. They also don't expect people to make six-hour appointments.

So, until someone comes up with a miniseries channel (speaking of which, why hasn't anyone done that yet?), we're unlikely to see "Noble House," or "Shogun" for that matter, on television.

That's too bad, because Clavell's Asian Saga novels are considered historical-fiction classics, and the miniseries were quite well received. Both received multiple award nominations, and featured major stars -- "Shogun" starred Richard Chamberlain and "Noble House" starred Pierce Brosnan.

Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided.