Thursday, July 29, 2021

TMP Television Edition: Book Adaptations

When I think book adaptations, I think movies. And this is Thursday Movie Picks, after all. However, since it's the last Thursday of the month, this is the television edition. I had to put my thinking cap on. A few minutes passed. A few more passed. Finally, I came up with something that would meet the criteria set by our host, Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves. Here it goes.


Roots

(1977)

Based on the historical novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley

You had to be there to really understand how big this mini-series was. Slavery was always a part of the fabric of America, but it's horrors had never been confronted this boldly by the entire nation. For decades, pop culture softened the blow by depicting those in bondage as content, even willing to serve their human masters because that is their purpose in life. Slaves were thought of like kind pets happy to do the bidding of those who owned them. In other words, by the 1970s, much of White America had no inkling how harshly and, frankly, evil their ancestors behaved. This put that behavior on display. Many people, Black and White had seen any parts of the lives led by Blacks before they were enslaved. When it aired, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who wasn't watching. All of its 8 episodes are still among the 100 most watched shows in American history with the finale being 3rd on that list. Let's put it this way. Almost every night during its run, part of my homework was to watch that evening's installment of Roots so we could talk about it the next day. And I was in 2nd grade. And many students all over the country had the same assignment.  


Roots: The Next Generation

(1979)

Based on the historical novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley

Two years after the landmark Roots aired, we got a sequel, based on the last 7 chapters of the same book. Where the first one focused on the 18th century through the Civil War, this one starts of during the Southern Reconstruction era, shortly after the war, and winds its way to the 1960s following the descendants of Kunta Kinte, the original protagonist of the first mini-series. Much like its predecessor, The Next Generation was a huge success, and once again got the nation talking about its treatment of African-Americans. Yup, this was also assigned for homework.


Alex Haley's Queen

(1993)

Based on the historical novel Queen: The Story of an American Family by Alex Haley and David Stevens

When Alex Haley passed away, he wasn't quite finished with his latest book. Knowing this to be a possibility, he left instructions for it to be completed by David Stevens who obliged. The resulting work was adapted into a three-part miniseries entitled Alex Haley's Queen. It was based on the life of Haley's grandmother and had Halle Berry in the lead role, a biracial woman living through the last year of slavery and into the 20th century. Though not the earth-shattering mega success of the two Roots films, it was still watched by quite a few people and offered insight into a part of Black (and White) life not often explored on screen.



By now, you've seen that Alex Haley authored all of the books that these adaptations are based on. What you may not know is that Mr. Haley is one the greatest writers of the 20th century. On top of the impact of Roots, he has two other things that cement him as an American legend. Of course, Playboy magazine will always be known for pictures of nude women. The running joke among men who perused it on a regular basis was that they read it for the articles. However, there is some truth to this, thanks to Haley. He conducted the mag's first interview, with jazz great Miles Davis. He conducted quite a few more which were heralded as some of this country's finest journalism. His subjects include Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King Jr., Melvin Belli (Jack Ruby's defense attorney), Johnny Carson, and George Lincoln Rockwell. If you don't know who Rockwell is, he was the leader of the American Nazi Party in the 1960s, and Haley is undeniably Black.

Another of Haley's Playboy interviewees, Malcolm X, is a huge part of Haley's greatest success. Haley is the ghost writer behind The Autobiography of Malcolm X. It was created from a series of separate interviews and has been a perpetual best seller for 50 years. More importantly, it is consistently cited as one of America's most important books. 


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15 comments:

  1. I only saw a bit of Roots while it is funny that you mentioned Playboy magazine and the articles they had. Every now and then, you do find a few things worth reading but to be honest with you. I found a lot of those articles to be a fucking bore. Why would you want to put a bunch of dull interviews and articles of drivel to a nude magazine that caters to a lifestyle that is unrealistic to common people? That is the disconnect I often get from the magazine and it got worse as the years where it tried to appeal to this rich and expensive lifestyle that I have no interest in and will never gain anything if I could afford all of that shit. I think the only reason I would ever go to the Playboy mansion is to really just burn the whole place down as it really has no relevance to the world.

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    1. Tell us how you really feel about Playboy, lol.

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  2. Roots is such an essential viewing. I watched it in my 8th grade history class, it didn't even feel "dated." I never saw the sequel though, or Alex Haley's Queen.

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    1. The Next Generation is also excellent. Queen is good, but not on the same level.

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  3. I didn't watch Roots when it was originally broadcast, I think I missed the first couple of episodes and in those pre-DVR days that meant there was no way to catch up so I just moved on, but a couple of years ago I made a point to binge watch the entire series and it was extraordinarily good. As a little side note I am watching LeVar Burton guest host Jeopardy this week. He's doing well! I'm pulling for him to be chosen as the permanent host.

    I haven't however carved out the time to watch Roots: The Next Generation yet but I have every intention of doing so eventually.

    I watched Queen, to be honest more for the vast supporting cast than anything else. It was fine but I wasn't particularly thrilled with it. Perhaps had Angela Bassett, Alfre Woodard or Lynn Whitfield played the lead rather than Halle Berry (an actress I'm not very fond of) I would have been more invested.

    I knew Haley had written for Playboy and have read some of those interviews, not in the magazine though, and they are often provocative. I didn't however know that he ghosted Malcolm X's story.

    I also did a theme within the theme this week! All biographical adaptations starring Lee Remick, a huge favorite of mine. A major film star in the 60’s (The Days of Wine and Roses, Anatomy of a Murder) she moved between film (The Omen, The Europeans) and TV in the 70’s then focused almost exclusively on television in the 80’s becoming one of the queens of the miniseries genre until her 1991 death from cancer at only 55. She was Emmy nominated for this trio.

    Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (1974)-Seven-part miniseries adaptation of the Ralph G. Martin biography of the same name. Following the life of American heiress Jennie Jerome (Lee) from her first teenage meeting with British aristocrat Randolph Churchill, their often rocky marriage, her rise in political circles both as Randolph’s wife and later the strong influence she exerted over son Winston while living a colorful and complicated life of her own.

    Haywire (1980)-Based on eldest daughter Brooke’s memoir this two-part miniseries details the complex, troubled and dysfunctional marriage and home life of stage and film star Margaret Sullavan (Lee) and super-agent Leland Hayward (Jason Robards Jr.) and their three children. Powerfully told but not a happy tale-between the couple they had 9 marriages (ironically Leland’s last wife (of 5) was the ex-wife of Winston Churchill’s son.) Margaret Sullavan and her two younger children died by their own hand. Henry Fonda was Maggie Sullavan’s first husband and the pair (and their children) remained close throughout her life-actress Bridget Fonda is named in memory of youngest daughter Bridget Hayward who was romantically involved with Peter Fonda at the time of her death.

    Nutcracker: Money, Murder, Madness (1987)-Three-part miniseries adapted from Shana Alexander’s true crime book about Frances Schreuder (Lee), an amoral and rapacious New York socialite who manipulated and dominated her sons, ultimately pushing one into madness and the other to murder her own father, multi-millionaire industrialist Franklin Bradshaw, for financial gain.

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    1. Hope you get to see The Next Generation. It is also excellent. I agree Halle Berry is too weak an actress for the lead, but due to the nature of the character Bassett and Woodard could not play the role. Whitfield, on the other hand, is definitely a viable option, though she might have already been a bit too old by '93.

      Haley did some great interviews, no doubt. If I'm not mistaken, editions of The Autobiography of Malcolm X are now printed with "by Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley."

      You got me this week. Haven't seen any of your picks.

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  4. Love your choices and watched Toots when it came out and the Next Generation which was also very good. I missed Queen and would like to see it despite Halle Berry. Roots was explosive when it came on the screen and I crexit this mijivsrries for stopping the portrayal of the Sputh as noble folk who treated everyone well. Ughhh

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    1. Yes, this was quite the change from the portrayal of the South as shown in Gone With the Wind.

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    2. WTF happened when I wrote that last sentence??

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  5. Roots is a great pick. I remember watching it in history class in junior high. I haven't seen the others.

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    1. Thanks! If you have a chance, still watch The Next Generation.

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  6. I haven't seen any of these series and probably never will because I don't have the time, but I will definitely check out Haley's books.

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    1. Cool. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is a fairly short book, and very much worth it to see the evolution of that man.

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  7. I've only seen the first, but I like your theme!

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