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I am currently doing research for a new coffee table book about the miniseries Roots. In my quest to find out all I can on the subject, I visited the Museum of Television and Radio in New York City. I sat down to watch the original 1977 prints of Roots (with commercials) and was shocked at what I found out.....
-all reruns, video cassettes, and dvds present the series in 6 two hour parts, when the original ran in 4 one hour and 4 two hour episodes.
-all episodes have opening credits superimposed over footage..... This means that on three episodes, 3-5 MINUTES OF FOOTAGE HAS BEEN CUT FROM THE DVD.....HAS NOT BEEN SEEN SINCE 1977!!!!!!!!! The footage helps tell the story and I was amazed to find it....there are short scenes with George Hamilton (in Episode Five) and Ben Vereen (in Episode Seven) that are now missing....the footage hasn't been seen anywhere since the initial broadcast!
-all episodes have different end credits....this means that some people who only worked on an hour of the show are not given credit at all on the dvd...none of the dvd credits are original.
-also surprising, the original broadcast includes the "mural" opening found on the dvd, but instead of showing the title "ROOTS" spread across a black screen, it shows the actual cover of the book! This is followed by "An ABC NOVEL FOR TELEVISION"
...In short, now that I know this footage exists, I will be trying my best to get Warner Bros. to release it for the 30th Anniversary in 2007. I can't believe that the most popular series of all time has been cut up like this...and it isn't just a few missing credits....the entire 8 episodes have been re-arranged and adjusted to look like 6 episodes...Hopefully, I can get the footage restored.
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