Television: A Super Sequel to Haley's Comet

Roots: The Next Generations. ABC. In seven parts beginning Feb. 18

The first time around, no one saw it coming.

When the first episode of Roots aired on Jan. 23, 1977, there were no signs that a phenomenon was in the making. Not only had ABC'S mini-series been dismissed in advance by many TV critics, but it had already been rated as a long shot by the programmers and admen who run network television. Up to the last minute there were plenty of commercial spots for sale on Roots. ABC itself projected only a passable 28% to 31% share of the audience for the show; CBS and NBC concurred, scheduling only routine fare against it. Not for the first time, Television Row's conventional wisdom was completely wrong.

By the end of its seven-night run, Roots had piled up an average 66% audience share—some 130 million viewers —and become the most watched TV program ever. It also galvanized the country. Suddenly both the history of slavery and genealogy were national obsessions. Theaters and restaurants emptied out during the show; hundreds of colleges started Roots courses; the National Archives in Washington found itself flooded by citizens' requests for information about their ancestors. Writer Alex Haley, whose search for his African heritage had led to the book that led to Roots, became a folk hero. A TV smash hit became a cultural landmark.

Now, a scant two years later, ABC is attempting to make lightning strike twice — and now everyone is on the alert. When Roots: The Next Generations opens its seven-night run on Sunday, Feb. 18, both audiences and the TV industry will be judging the offspring against its towering parent. Expectations are running high. Commercial time has been sold out for weeks, at $210,000 to $260,000 a minute (compared with $120,000 to $150,000 for Roots 1). The series has already been sold to 20 countries. CBS and NBC will not be caught napping again; their fierce counterprogramming gambits have turned Roots 11 week into one of the most competitive ratings races in TV history. Should ABC be vanquished, the failure would be a colossal embarrassment: budgeted at $16.6 million and running 14 hours, Roots 11 is nearly three times as costly as and two hours longer than the original.

On the quality of the show itself, ABC has nothing to worry about. In almost every way — acting, direction, dramatic and historical sophistication — the sequel is superior. Like Roots I, Roots:

The Next Generations is not art or, for that matter, definitive history, but it is a show-biz tour de force. An exceedingly clever and affecting soap opera, Roots II manages to play on the most basic sentimental feelings about democratic ideals and familial love. When, in the final hours, the tale turns to Alex Haley's career, it also becomes an irresistible American success story. Taken as a whole, Roots 11 is a compendium of pop cul ture: it mixes elements of Gone With the Wind, Uncle Tom 's Cabin, March of Time newsreels, Horatio Alger sto ries and even Fiddler on the Roof.

The show has its lapses, but they are amusing rather than offensive. When Episode Six inexplicably dramatizes the young Haley's first visit to a brothel, it is time to take a break and send out for pizza. This too is a legitimate part of the fun of any fully satisfying TV viewing experience.