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People always talk about various “Golden Ages” of entertainment, whether it be movies or television. 1939 is always cited as an amazing year for movies, while the 1950s is often seen as television’s “Golden Age.” Jumping ahead in time, you can look at 1977 as another “Golden Age” with Annie Hall, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Smokey and the Bandit, The Spy Who Loved Me, Saturday Night Fever, Suspiria, Eraserhead, The Goodbye Girl, High Anxiety and, of course, Star Wars hitting the big screen.
Television in 1977 perhaps wasn’t all that golden with only a handful of memorable series premiering including Three’s Company, Eight Is Enough, Quark, Soap, CHiPs, Lou Grant and The Love Boat coming to the small screen, and viewers getting one last season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. But that year also saw the January 23 debut of what would quickly become a cultural milestone, and one of the most culturally significant programs of all time — Roots.
Roots was an eight-part television event that ABC really didn’t want to broadcast for fear of not making their money back from advertisers. Who, they thought, would want to tune in to see not only the dramatization of one man’s family heritage, but also deal with our “National Shame,” slavery? The answer: about 41 million viewers for the first night, and 140 million viewers total over the eight-night broadcast (in the days of just three networks and no DVRs or other alternate viewing methods). The mini-series earned 37 Emmy Award nominations, winning nine, as well as winning the Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Drama, and a Peabody Award.
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Roots was born out of the book by Alex Haley, chronicling his family history back to Africa in the mid-1700s where his ancestor Kunta Kinte, just fifteen years old, was captured by American slavers and brought back to the colonies where he would be sold to the highest bidder. The series followed Kunta Kinte’s life as he grew (first played by newcomer LeVar Burton and then John Amos), had a family, and the followed the family members after Kunta Kinte’s death, through the Civil War, and on to freedom.
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The mini-series featured a who’s who of black actors, the likes of which had never been seen on television all in one production like this before. The mini-series introduced the world to LeVar Burton, and featured Olivia Cole, Louis GOssett, Jr., Ben Vereen, John Amos, Leslie Uggams, Georg Stanford Brown, Lynne Moody, Cicely Tyson, Moses Gunn, Ernest Lee Thomas, Scatman Crothers, Roxie Roker, Richard Roundtree, Maya Angelou, O.J. Simpson, Madge Sinclaire, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, and Todd Bridges.
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The cast also included many more guest stars, and you had to tune in just to see who might pop up, including Vic Morrow, Edward Asner, Lynda Day George, Robert Reed, Chuck Connors, Sandy Duncan, Carolyn Jones, Lloyd Bridges, Brad Davis, Tracy Gold, Ralph Waite, Lorne Greene, George Hamilton, Thayer David, Gary Collins, John Schuck, Macdonald Carey, Ian McShane, Doug McClure, Burl Ives, and Yvonne De Carlo. Most of them only appeared in one or two episodes, but it was still amazing to see all of these actors in one place.
In the years leading up to the broadcast, the country had gone through a tough time where race relations were concerned, and seeing this pretty realistic depiction of how the African people were captured, the horrific conditions on the ships as they sailed back across the Atlantic, ripped from their families, having their language and heritage stripped from them, and the atrocities they faced in a life of servitude was like ripping a Band-Aid off of a wound that had never truly healed, but that no one ever wanted to address either. But instead of inciting more racial tension, Roots allowed people to start a dialog, to acknowledge the crimes committed in the name of commerce, to allow a healing to begin. Unfortunately, we seem to be taking too many steps backward in today’s political climate, but that makes this new 40th anniversary Blu-ray release of the mini-series even more urgent (History recently aired a remake, but this version is so ingrained in our culture, it’s hard to imagine anyone doing it better). There are definitely people out there who could not care less about this family saga, but then those are the people who should probably be watching.
Warner Bros. Television
The new 40th anniversary Blu-ray is a wonder to behold. For a TV program from 1977 to look this good is simply amazing. The 1080p image is free from any scratches, dust or wear and tear (as it was shot on film), looking better probably than it did even in 1977. The mono soundtrack is also clear, with nary a hiss or pop to be heard, keeping everything front and center, but the dialog is never obscured by music or sound effects.
The three-disk set includes all eight episodes, plus a bounty of extras. Bonus material includes a generous helping of vintage material (from the 2007 30th anniversary DVD release) including “Crossing Over: How Roots Captivated an Entire Nation,” “Connecting With the Past,” “The Struggle to Make Roots,” “LeVar Burton: Original Screen Test,” “Alex Haley Interview by David Frost,” “Roots: One Year Later.” There is also a Digital HD copy of the mini-series included.
The real meat of the bonus material are two featurettes running nearly 30-minutes each. The first, “Roots: The American Story Continues” features commentary from Whoopi Goldberg, James Earl Jones, Blair Underwood, Debbie Allen, Tavis Smiley, Shonda Rhimes and Reverend Al Sharpton explaining how Roots impacted not only their lives, but the world around them. Dr. Rex Ellis of the Smithsonian Institution shares how the story chronicled by Alex Haley lives on in Washington’s new Museum of African American History and Culture; and Christopher Haley recalls his uncle Alex, whose legacy he continues as a slavery historian. It’s a very informative and moving piece.
The second featurette, “The Cast Looks Back,” includes LeVar Burton, John Amos, Louis Gossett Jr., Ben Vereen, Cicely Tyson, Ed Asner, Sandy Duncan, Georg Stanford Brown and Lynne Moody sharing their personal stories of working on the mini-series, the deep bonds everyone in the cast developed, and how the show changed and affected their lives, even to this day. It’s great to have this record of some of the principle cast members relate what Roots has meant to them.
Forty years later, Roots still endures and still remains a powerful viewing experience to this day. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has done an exemplary job of preserving this groundbreaking, important piece of television and cultural history for generations to come. If there is a “must have” Blu-ray release this year, this is it.
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