our participation of actors. starting off as guest stars, then we became supporting actors. who the hell are you any way? who am i? you will find out very soon. very soon. then we became lead actors we don t run, we stick together and we fight. get out of my house. drama is where all of the conflict happens. scandal is my favorite drama. how many times have i told you what you have to be. everything about it, the twist, the terms, the acting. twice as good. twice as good as them to get half of what they have. i love queen sugar. david makes man. i like the intimacy of that world that is being depicted. definitely new york undercover. you stupid, turn around. a positive role, a great thing to see someone who looks like you, a pivotal moment to figure out who i was. america drama almost doesn t, it doesn t exist without black people now. - that s right, hank plummer. you know, i can find him? - yeah, he s right here. it s me. - you know, for a
it was very powerful. cicely tyson had jane pitman, she was in roots she was sort of the first black dramatic actress to be in hollywood and in the eyes of the white community and the black community. so, jane pitman was a big deal when it came out. part of me want today to go to his grave. the tv landscape changed when the miniseries first appeared t. comes on in the 70s. it is a fuller expression than you can get in a one or two hour tv movie rich man, poor man might have bye-bye the first but when they think about it in the 70s they think of roots. it was the first of what we call appointment tv. it is hard for people today to understand how important roots was because it was the first time that you followed
And my character was big as the other ones. part of it is, what do people feel comfortable with doing. was write the humanity, i will bring the black part of it. so, it has been a journey. we have to get to the point where we have the privilege and the right as artists to play all kinds of characters. i smile because i know how far we have come. we have ways to go but i know how far we have come, that is exciting. do you think the lakers can win another title? you bet. basketball is the sport of the decade. you got the kids on the team now. the bus empire is taking off . they had their minute, now it is over.
Was going to perform i remember them doing a show called rich man, poor man they put it on the air and it tanked. the networks were in trouble. they tried to air it all before sweeps and so they, they created a phenomenal it was the key that turned the lock roots was not just a television event it was an event. an estimated 100 million people watched the finale of roots that is super bowl numbers roots part 8 was the third, three more of the series ranked in the top 25 of all- times it debuted eight episodes over eight nights, 37 emmy nominations. people kept tuning in and what was remarkable about it was that it provoked conversations. i? i remember watching it and
We would go to school and talk about it but there was a weird underlining racial part. we were not spending as much time with our white classmates because we were off and we were off because we did not learn this in school. one of the things about roots it was a book addedtation. like the women of bewster place. starring oprah winfrey. it was part of. when she got the rights to brewster place it had a track record and because oprah was big enough she could populate it with people with name recognition. i bet you have a new fella.