SOURCE: Fishbein, Leslie. “Roots: Docudrama and the Interpretation of History.” In Why Docudrama? Fact-Fiction on Film and TV, edited by Alan Rosenthal, pp. 271-95. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1999.

In the following essay, Fishbein discusses the merits and shortcomings of the use of television drama as a medium for preserving history.

Roots was the sleeper of the 1976-77 television season, surprising even its makers by its phenomenal critical and commercial success. An unusual risk, ABC's production of Alex Haley's 885-page opus represented the first time that a network actually made a movie based on a major unpublished book.¹ While blacks had gained visibility on television during the 1970s, their presence had been confined largely to situation comedies and variety shows rather than drama—with the notable exception of CBS's much-touted success with The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974)—and Roots' makers had serious reservations about whether...