I watched the third night of Roots last night ....

[kwassa]

(it didn't conflict with an NBA playoff .... :^) )

It was very good, very well done on all levels. It was the Chicken George narrative, almost as self-contained two-hour movie in and of itself. Excellent acting all around, Rege-Jean Page was superb as Chicken George, as was Johnathan Rhys Meyers as Tom Lea, the slaveowner. It was all about their relationship. There was a whole subplot about class differences among the slave owners that was very interesting, as well, including a grueling duel sequence.

Did anyone else see this or other episodes?

It is interesting their are four directors for the four nights, two African-American, Thomas Carter and Mario Van Peebles, and two Australians, Bruce Beresford, and Phillip Noyce.

This episode was directed by Thomas Carter.

[yeoman6987]

1. I've watched all three

It's amazing how some were treated decent compared to others but when push comes to shove they were slaves. I felt horrible for tom's son when his dad put him in chain going home. Their relationship is complicated. I think Tom loves his son but f'ed up society at the time doesn't allow for it to show.

[demigoddess]

2. I've got them recorded but cannot bring myself to look at

them, I'm afraid they won't measure up. I loved the book Roots, and then the miniseries. Loved the actors involved. We were saying as we watched, that all these great actors would probably get tv series. But then it didn't happen. Then 3 years after the series was the most watched on tv, TV Guide wrote that the only reason white people watched the miniseries was because it was scheduled on every night of the week. Apparently, we were too stupid to turn the channel, not that it was great television and a good history lesson.

[PragmaticLiberal]

7. " I'm afraid they won't measure up."

I saw the entire series and personally, in some respects I liked it better than the original.

Particularly, 1-3.

[brewens]

3. I have the whole set including The Next Generation. Roots was quite an event when it

aired in the 70's. One of those shows that would practically shut your whole town down. No second chance back then. You either made sure to be in front of the tv for it, or would have to wait for it to be on again some day. I just wish I had read the book first, I still haven't.

I really enjoyed The Next Generation because I didn't get to see that when it originally aired. James Earl Jones playing Alex Haley interviewing George Lincoln Rockwell, head of the American Nazi Party, played by Marlon Brando, is one scene that floored me. If I'd ever heard Brando played that role I had forgotten. I wasn't prepared to see him in that episode.

[SwampG8r]

4. I have seen the first two episodes

I thought the first episode was epic
This version filled kintes character while i felt the original played flat and one dimensional. This version is allowing each character depth that wasnt in the original.
On a side note i once met alex haley in satellite beach florida. He was visiting his son who was race relations officer at patrick air force base. His son was good.friends with another officer.whose.wife.worked with me in a restaurant and haley his son the officer and his wife were.to meet for lunch. He came in the kitchen and introduced himself as.alex and we proceeded.to have a fine conversation about children family travel and books. That was when i realized he was.Alex.fucking haley and we spent about a half hour discussing malcolm x . we never talked roots but he was involved in a lawsuit about it at the time .
A very cordial.gentleman and a damn fine conversationalist.

[1StrongBlackMan]

5. We watched Episode 2 last night ...

I can only take watching it with a 2 week break in between, lest some random white person suffer.

Mrs. 1SBM agreed that Roots v 2.0 is much better.

[Kind of Blue]

6. To make money, I many times have to edit movie/tv scripts

to be captioned later by closed captionists.

I deliberately avoided watching Roots. But as luck has it, I got the script for the last episode and I groaned and thanked the stars it was only one episode.

I'm in freakin' tears right now. Just thinking of Roots and can't help but remember the story of one of my ancestors, taken as a boy and the overwhelming sorrow wells up. What happened to him? Did he survive? Did he thrive? The not knowing is brutal. His capture is legend in my family, passed down from one generation after another.

But the very last paragraph spoken by Laurence Fishburn, as Alex Haley, was too moving.

The truth can never be known. It can only be told in a story. There once was a boy who was taken from his family and carried halfway around the world. He lived to start a new family. And in his journey, he became a hero for a new nation. I hope my story honors him, brings peace and pride to us all.

Yes, it does bring a certain peace and enormous pride for all the diasporic families around the world. I am in awe of every last one of them

[Number23]

8. Huh?? Roots is on tv?? A new version?

[kwassa]

9. Yes.

More intense, too.