Roots in 2016 vs. 1977: How History's Miniseries Will Change Kunta Kinte's Story For A New Audience..........

With so many dissatisfying remakes of films and series, it's understandable to question why Hollywood continues to create them. However, Roots is an exception to that. Not only do the people behind the remake feel that their version is more relevant than ever, but that differences between Roots and the original miniseries will make the updated version more accurate than it was when it first aired in 1977. Roots is based on the novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley. While A+E Networks' version, which will air simultaneously on History, Lifetime, and A&E, will have some changes from the 40-year-old original, still expect to learn about the sprawling history of Kunta Kinte and his family when it premieres on Monday, May 30. The 1977 miniseries Roots was a landmark piece of television that was watched by more than 50 percent of all American homes with TVs, according to Nielsen. To help put that number into perspective, Vulture compared how the most-watched show on cable in 2016, the AMC's The Walking Dead, was viewed by under 8 percent of homes. With great viewership when it first aired and its impactful legacy with colleges teaching Roots classes and high school students watching the series in school (like I did), a remake seems unnecessary. However, as The Hollywood Reporter wrote, the original series can be considered dated, with producer LeVar Burton (who starred as Kunta Kinte in the original) stating that producer Mark Wolper (whose father produced the original) told him that he tried to show the series to his own 16-year-old son and it did not resonate with him. And thus, a remake was born, complete with the modern touch that Questlove (serendipitously of the band The Roots) supervised the music.