Thoughts on This Series

So I just finished watching Roots for apparently the second time. When it aired in January 1977, it was an incredible event which drew 85% of the audience in American television owning homes and I'm told also ran in other countries. Alas, I was not included that all important first time around. I was at a boarding school which had a strict rule of no TV on school nights. They wouldn't even make an exception for the most influential drama series of all time. The dorm girls only got to see the episodes which aired on Friday and Saturday nights. Someone also had a radio which picked up the sound from a local TV station and I heard part of an episode that way. I knew I had seen parts of it when it reran but I was never sure I saw the entire thing beginning to end. I remember watching with Mom and specific remarks she made. I can't find any information on when this rerun would have been and my best guess is around 1981. I decided to check out the DVD set just to make sure. Oddly, the original was in eight parts and the DVD only six so I guess they combined some parts as it all seems to be there. As I watched, I remembered enough to convince me I must have seen the whole thing on that viewing over forty years ago. I remember reading an article about what great propaganda Roots was. They managed to cast many of TV's most beloved dads--Ralph Waite (John Walton from The Waltons), Lorne Greene (Ben Cartwright from Bonanza), Robert Reed (Mike Brady from The Brady Bunch), Chuck Connors (Lucas McCain from The Rifleman and the very first actor I saw when we got a TV), not to mention Ed Asner, Lloyd Bridges, and Burl Ives--and have every one of them play the most evil villains of slave traders, slave owners, and all around bad guys. Ed Asner was the only one who displayed any signs of a conscience. Even sweet little Sandy Duncan turned evil. There were sympathetic white characters, but very few and not played by major stars. There were also a few unsympathetic black characters but they were not major players. Anyhow, outstanding television drama which should be watched for its historical significance if nothing else.