The story of Alex Haley's ancestors is a powerful one, and he turned it into a very fine (if partly plagiarized) book. The 1977 miniseries, on the other hand, is an example of television's "dumbing down" process. It's relentlessly obvious, cheesy and cliched. The writing is dishonest when not just inept. Scene after scene is played to the rafters. African-Americans in particular deserved better.
You want specifics? Chicken George (Ben Vereen) was born after his mother was raped by his master. In the book he's aware from childhood that their master is also his father, which is exactly what you'd expect. Here, however, we're asked to believe that this is a Big Secret he doesn't know because his mother didn't tell him. (Does he think it was a virgin birth?) That's so she can finally tell him when he's grown up with children of his own, and give the episode a cheap emotional climax. This is a familiar TV cliche.
The conclusion is particularly laughable. Formula requires "empowerment," so they have an unbelievable scene where the ex-slaves tie the Evil Klansman to a tree before leaving town. First they point a gun at him, then his henchmen come out and get the drop on them, then other blacks get the drop on the henchmen. (This happened on GET SMART once, but the laughs were intentional there.)
True, there are fine performances by actors like Louis Gossett and Vereen, but the white cast is mostly at sea. (As the slave ship's Ineffectual Christian Liberal Conscience, the normally able Edward Asner gives one of the 10 worst performances in TV history.) As for production values, ABC spent more on ROOTS than on any past TV movie, but you'd never know it: it looks very cheap.
In sum, the miniseries ROOTS (like the miniseries HOLOCAUST) was "politically correct" before we knew the term.
You want specifics? Chicken George (Ben Vereen) was born after his mother was raped by his master. In the book he's aware from childhood that their master is also his father, which is exactly what you'd expect. Here, however, we're asked to believe that this is a Big Secret he doesn't know because his mother didn't tell him. (Does he think it was a virgin birth?) That's so she can finally tell him when he's grown up with children of his own, and give the episode a cheap emotional climax. This is a familiar TV cliche.
The conclusion is particularly laughable. Formula requires "empowerment," so they have an unbelievable scene where the ex-slaves tie the Evil Klansman to a tree before leaving town. First they point a gun at him, then his henchmen come out and get the drop on them, then other blacks get the drop on the henchmen. (This happened on GET SMART once, but the laughs were intentional there.)
True, there are fine performances by actors like Louis Gossett and Vereen, but the white cast is mostly at sea. (As the slave ship's Ineffectual Christian Liberal Conscience, the normally able Edward Asner gives one of the 10 worst performances in TV history.) As for production values, ABC spent more on ROOTS than on any past TV movie, but you'd never know it: it looks very cheap.
In sum, the miniseries ROOTS (like the miniseries HOLOCAUST) was "politically correct" before we knew the term.
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