The following except is from the CNN website.
(CNN) One of the biggest TV events of all time is being reimagined for new audiences.
“Roots,” the epic miniseries about an African-American slave and his descendants, had a staggering audience of over 100 million viewers back in 1977. Now A&E networks are remaking the miniseries, to air in 2016.
A&E, Lifetime and History (formerly the History Channel) announced Thursday that the three networks would simulcast a remake of the saga of Kunta Kinte, an African who was captured, shipped to America and sold into slavery to work on a Virginia plantation.
LeVar Burton, who portrayed Kinte in the original, will co-executive produce the new miniseries.
