No one believes that "Roots," a new interpretation of Alex Haley's blockbuster novel airing next week, will get the attention the 1977 version did. Then again, expectations weren't too high the first time around.
ABC, whose pride and joy at the time was the 1950s-set sitcom "Happy Days," was so skeptical of the sprawling history lesson about American slavery that it elected to "burn off" the entire story over eight consecutive nights in January, today's equivalent of banishing a new show to Saturday evenings.
By the final evening, roughly 85 percent of all TV viewers in the United States had watched at least part of the series — and television executives fully embraced the concept of the miniseries, setting the stage for such blockbusters as "Shogun," "The Thorn Birds" and "The Winds of War."
More important, the phenomenon sparked spirited discussion in living rooms across the country, inspiring teenagers to explore black culture and struggles beyond the Evans household on "Good Times."
Mark Wolper, 16 at the time, had a particularly advantageous seat — his father, David Wolper, was the series' executive producer and its main champion from Day 1. The two would go on to work together on the 1988 sequel "Roots: The Gift" and 1993's "Queen," another miniseries based on an Alex Haley book, this one starring Halle Berry.
Wolper was approached many times, before and after his father's death in 2010, to take a stab at a remake. He refused.
"Even without the father-son shadow issues, I can't think of a more daunting, frightening thing to do," Wolper said by phone.
A couple of years ago, he decided it was time for his own 16-year-old son to experience some family history, almost forcing him to sit through all 9½ hours of his grandfather's most heralded project. Junior wasn't impressed.