Word: shows
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...success of Roots 1, the show's creators have resisted the urge to become pompous and preachy in Roots...
...mammoth undertaking. "Each show is like a period movie made in 18 days," explains John Erman, who directed three episodes. The sets are lavish and the money was intelligently spent. Interiors have accurate period furnishings and products. Such minor locations as a 1930s gas station, where young Alex is barred from the men's room, are as full of vivid details as the Dust Bowl sets in Bonnie and Clyde. At a cost of $1.8 million, ABC built the town of Henning, Tenn., where Haley's family settled at the end of Roots 1, and updated its streets...
...guys, and there were no white good guys. In Roots 11 we're concerned with the hangover of slavery, the scars. There's less hitting the audience over the head. It's no longer 'Wow, look what we did to those people!' Now the show is about connecting with the emotional problems of Alex Haley's family...
...they started exploring the possibilities: Haley began dictating family recollections into a tape recorder to expand the 40-page modern section of his book. Once Haley had spilled 1,000 pages of memories, Television Writer Ernest Kinoy (The Defenders, Playhouse 90) got to work on a "bible" for the show. Kinoy turned in a 350-page outline, and ABC gave the go-ahead for the production...
Once again Roots' producers recruited a largely black crew for the show, as well as some black directors (Actor Georg Stanford Brown, Yale Drama School's newly appointed dean, Lloyd Richards). A conscious and highly successful effort was made to upgrade the level of acting, black and white. "The first time we were going to give you every reason to watch he show by loading the cast with TV stars," says Stoddard. "This time we put a greater emphasis on performance." Once the actors arrived on the set, they worked hard and fast. Harewood, 28, an actor...