Fresh off success of 'Hatfield & McCoys' and 'The Bible,' A&E-owned cable channel tackles iconic 1977 mini-series based on Alex Haley's book
History is remaking history.
Thirty six years after "Roots" changed television and helped steer the course of racial discourse in the United States, the A&E-owned cable channel is working on a remake of the iconic miniseries.
History bought the television rights for the project from Mark Woloper, son of David Wolper, the original producer on the ABCmini-series, and the estate of author Alex Haley, who wrote the book, "Roots: The Saga of An American Family," according to Deadline.com.
The original miniseries, which starred LaVar Burton as the slave Kunta Kinte, was a national phenomenon when it aired over eight nights in January 1977.
The final episode is still the third most watched telecast of all time -- it attracted an estimated 100 million viewers, according to Nielsen.
"My initial reaction was, Why?'," Burton told New York Magazine when rumors first surfaced recently about a potential remake.
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SOURCE: New York Daily News
Ethan Sacks
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