BET aired Roots today :)

[alphanguy74]

The original 1977 ABC intro promo:

Please register in order to view this content

[SFK]

Lonette is also in another great miniseries, The Women of Brewster Place. Perhaps you've heard me mention it? She and Paula Kelly play a lesbian couple and they have some of the most powerful scenes in the piece.

So I'm watching Roots now, have been off and on all day. SO DAMN GOOD. What a hell of a soap this would have made, stretching out the stories for years. Such a great cast and I get so sad when a character passes away and we no longer see the great actor.

[SFK]

The Kizzy/Missy Anne stuff was great and I'm sorry that I missed them as kids (Missy Gold). Their final scene was so satisfying, though I wish Kizzy hadn't stopped at the spit and yanked her out of that carriage and mollywhopped her. Leslie Uggams is so radiant and strong. And Sandy Duncan's voice is just out of this world, it rings like a bell. Would have been perfect for cartoons. "You're not my little nigger baby doll anymore! "

I had no idea Brad Davis was so short.

[alphanguy74]

Oh gosh... is that the one where the baby tries to kill a cockroach crawling into an electric outlet with scissors and gets eletrocuted and dies? I remember Oprah and the other women tearing down that brick wall in the rainstorm. There was some stellar acting in that.

[ChitHappens]

That is correct!

Yes, I remember now. It was something I had blocked out until now. Sigh...

Watching again! Absolutely epic, and some of the strongest acting ever!

[xtr]

I actually had never seen Roots before. I had just never got around to watching it. But I watched some of it yesterday and a lot of it today and it is stellar. Very good miniseries and a lot of very talented actors. A lot of great black actors and some pretty good actors that had starred in Westerns (Chuck Connors, Lorne Green, etc.) There is not a character from Kunta Kinte's family that I don't care about/sympathizie with/root for. I care about him, his wife, Kizzie, Chicken George, his wife (Matlida), Tom, his wife Irene (Lynne Moody is lovely) etc... It's nice to see how each episode gives you another character to root for. It's sad when one passes away, but it's nice to see how their children/family members from another generation continue on.

I remember watching Queen but that was a long time ago. I will probably try and catch what I can of that tomorrow.

[SFK]

Baby Serena, that was SO sad. The scene where Mattie rocks Ciele back to life after the death of the baby is so touching.

God bless the many famous white actors in Roots who played their parts so unappologetically.

BTW. Robert Reed and Sandy Duncan looked straight out of Dark Shadows.

[Eric83]

Exactly how I feel. Tom's was actually the one I was most interested in. In The Next Generation mini series, it was so sad to see him go try and vote for the very first time and then they told him he had to read a passage as one of the requirements. It was so sad seeing him struggle to read

Wasn't Debbi Morgan in The Next Generations? I think she played Tom's daughter, she wanted to marry someone but he wouldn't let her because the boy was too light-skinned.

[xtr]

My dad was telling me today how a lot of those white actors at that time, really wanted to be apart of Roots. They really did play their parts well and believably. I thought that Chuck Connors in particular was very convincing in his role as Chicken George's father Tom. It's interesting to see watch the characters these actors played in Roots. I usually watch a lot of them on their old Western TV shows. My dad has always loved Western movies and tv shows, and I've gotten into them as well.

[xtr]

I'm not sure if Debbi Morgan was in the Next Generations. I actually haven't seen that mini series yet either, but I will try and catch at least some of it on Christmas Day. It wouldn't surprise me if she was in it though. They did have a whole lot of good black actors in the mini series. In addition to some of the black actors already mentioned, I also spotted Todd Bridges as one of Tom's children, Maya Angelou as Kunta Kinte's grandmother and also I think the actor that played Raj's dad on "What's Happening". ( I think he might have been Kunta's dad?)

[Eric83]

Yeah Debbi was in it, I just checked.

[SFK]

Is Queen coming on tomorrow? I remember when that came out but I never watched it. In what world did Halle pass??

Does anyone remember the TV movie "The Liberators"? It was a Disney Sunday night movie about the underground railroad. It was really good but I haven't seen it since it aired in '87.

Yes, Thalmus Rasula was in it.

Chuck Connors' character was pretty darn despicable. I don't know how he and Leslie Uggams made a Ben Vereen, though.

[ChitHappens]

Sigh...there was some superior acting. Robert Reed especially! When his character talked about the slaves and how they were treated by bounty hunters, he had in his corner. Then he'd follow up a compassionate statement with how a broken slave would harm the economy. He was dead serious. I thought he did such a wonderful job with not liking the savagery while reminding the slaves they were property. I have to admit that his line to Fiddler about how his brother paid his debt with subpar slaves gave me a bit of a chuckle. It was heinous but RR's delivery was really on poiint. Lorne Greene and Chuck Connors were great as well. Exceptional cast!

[SFK]

Debbi is also in Mandingo (nude, too).

[Eric83]

Queen comes on December 26.

I always did question Ben Vereen being casted a bi-racial person.

And LMAO about Halle. When I saw it for the first on Lifetime about 10 years ago, it was so clear she was had African American in her with makeup to lighten her skin. Like I said earlier Lonette McKee should've played her, but it is what it is.