19: 1970s Malaise

<em>Roots</em> was a marked departure from typical American television fare, particularly in light of its content and its overwhelmingly black cast, and ABC executives expressed concerns about the program’s potential appeal to a white audience. So as a cautionary measure, they chose to air the program on consecutive evenings rather than once weekly. In doing so, they inaugurated the special miniseries format that would dominate network television in the following decades.

And when the finale aired on January 30, 1977, an estimated 80 million viewers tuned in to watch, making it what was then the most viewed program in American television history.

All told, over 130 million people– nearly half of the population of the United States at the time– saw least one episode of <em>Roots</em> in 1977.

Not since the publication of <em>Uncle Tom’s Cabin</em> in 1852 had a popular melodrama about slavery had such an impact on the cultural landscape.

Why have we not been able to get together as a nation to resolve our serious energy problem?

The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our Nation.<br> The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.