in the roles of the white slave owners and the villains. i'll be by to fetch you in the morning, captain. sleep well. it is difficult to explain in today's culture how unprecedented "roots" was. no one had ever seen the story of slavery before, told from the point of view of the africans. [ indistinct singing ] bianculli: it may be the first time that television allowed an embracing of black pride. then we's free. we's free, honey. one of the reasons that "roots" was so incredibly popular is not because abc had so much faith in it, but because abc didn't. burton: earlier miniseries were broadcast in weekly installments, and the abc executives determined that if "roots" were to fail, they could just be done with it in seven or eight nights. connelly: it was high risk, high reward. if it didn't work, you were out a lot of tv time, and not many people watching. man: the television premiere on eight consecutive nights