AN APPRECIATION : Haley Made History, Never Forgot His Roots

Alex Haley’s 1977 miniseries, “Roots,” not only gave America a lasting emotional experience about black history, it also revolutionized prime-time television storytelling with its book-like novelization of a gigantic story.

Haley, who died Monday, knew--like others connected with the 12-hour production--that even the huge success of “Roots” did not open future doors for black performers on TV as much as many hoped it would.

Nonetheless, the blossoming of the miniseries form as a result of “Roots” has continued for many years with memorable productions ranging from “The Winds of War” to “Shogun” to “Lonesome Dove.”

Before “Roots,” the novel-like, 1976 series “Rich Man, Poor Man” had also been a great success. “Roots,” however, was the turning point for miniseries.

But those who worked with Haley on “Roots” and knew him over the years spoke more on Monday of his qualities as a human being and dedicated writer.

“What made him a great man was that he was such a gentle man,” said David Wolper, executive producer of “Roots,” which earned nine Emmy Awards, more than any other miniseries. “From the day I met him in 1974 to the day of his death, he never changed. He treated the most famous people in the world the same as he treated anyone else.”

“Roots” was based on Haley’s remarkable, persistent search for his African ancestors.

“When I first met him,” said Stan Margulies, producer of the miniseries, “he was still so broke that he would occasionally interrupt writing ‘Roots’ to go out and lecture. Something drove him, and it was more than just telling a story.

“One of the things that Alex referred to often was what Malcolm X told him before his death--that ‘we’ll never know where we’re going until we know where we came from.’ ”

After “Roots” had its huge impact, said Margulies, “Alex and I talked about the fact that no one set out to change the face of television, just to tell a story.”

But as a story form, “Roots” did indeed change the face of the home medium, said Brandon Stoddard, now president of ABC Productions but, at the time of the miniseries, the network’s vice president for motion pictures and novels for television.

“Alex Haley and ‘Roots’ were a tremendously important part of American television history in general and ABC television history in particular, and both made massive cultural impact,” Stoddard said in a statement Monday. “Alex was a gentleman and a really strong creative force. He will be greatly missed.”

The lasting impact of “Roots” was proved again last month when cable TV’s Family Channel reran the entire show. It was the first national broadcast of the miniseries since ABC repeated it in 1978, and it increased the Family Channel’s audience by about 400%.

A Family Channel spokesman confirmed Monday that the cable network would rerun “Roots” yet again on March 29 and April 5--two Sundays--in six-hour blocks. Then, starting April 6 and continuing through April 11, the Family Channel will rerun the 1979 sequel to the miniseries, “Roots: The Next Generations.”

In addition, CBS said Monday that it is proceeding with a new, six-hour miniseries offshoot of “Roots” that reunited Haley and Wolper. With the working title of “Queen,” it centers, said CBS, on Haley’s “half-white, half-black paternal grandmother, the product of a plantation affair who was forced to seek her destiny in the post-Civil War South.”

Norman Lear, who, with Haley, co-produced the 1980-81 drama series “Palmerstown, U.S.A.,” about two youths--one black, the other white--growing up in a Southern town, said he and the author had discussed creating a weekly black family drama for television.

CBS spokeswoman Susan Tick said that the network is “absolutely going ahead” with “Queen” and that it is expected to begin production within two months.

“Haley was the source and inspiration for the story and the consultant,” said Tick. “He didn’t write the script. We think the show will serve as a particularly poignant legacy because (Haley’s grandmother) had a singular determination to see that her children were educated, and that included Haley’s father.”

Said Wolper: “ ‘Roots’ was his mother’s side of the family. ‘Queen’ is about his father’s side.”