Pioneers of Television (2008–…): Season 3, Episode 4 - Miniseries - full transcript

I was sitting there in tears
in my living room watching it.

We learned the truth
about America.

White actors were willing

to break each other's legs
to be in the show.

I mean, these novels were just
the best stuff ever.

I do love you, Meggie.
I always will.

And I found myself in the
biggest melodrama of all time.

The saga of an American family.

Now, you listen to old Fiddler

if you wants to keep alive.

You in America now.



But I think the responsibility
of television

is to lift up its audience,
intellectually,

spiritually, and emotionally.

They captured
audiences like nothing before.

"Rich Man, Poor Man," "Roots,"
"Thorn Birds."

Look at the size
of those audiences.

They poured huge amounts of
money into them.

The material was sensational.

"Roots" hit the mark.
It did more than entertain.

It served as a vehicle for

enlightenment and empowerment.

They brought our
favorite characters

from the page to the screen.

He was a man that knew
who he was.



He knew his name,
he knew his culture.

I tell you, Fiddler, sometimes
it seem like

being alone and being free,

they're all the same
for a slave.

You don't be free.

You be dead.

I felt it incumbent that I must
be in that show.

Can you capture or buy
170 healthy blacks

and deliver them to the hold
of the Lord Ligonier?

It had a profound effect on me,

the reception
to "The Thorn Birds."

You can marry me.
You love me.

But I love God more.

It was probably not
the right project for me.

They opened our eyes
to a new way of seeing.

They hit the side of America

that you don't get in
the history books in school.

Did it shock a lot of people?
I'm sure it did.

I felt, "This is it, this is as
good as it's going to get."

It's the absolute best use
of music pictures and sound

that we can achieve.

Together, they created
the most popular stories

ever told on the small screen
through an art form

called the miniseries.

They are the Pioneers

of Television.

Nome, Alaska, January 1977.

The normally raucous town bar
turns quiet at 7 P.M.

as the channel changes to ABC.

Nome, Alaska... and
the bar was packed every night.

And silent... I mean,
everybody was watching.

Simultaneously, the same story

was playing out in Key West,
Florida,

and all points in between.

America was fixated on
the most popular drama

the nation had ever seen,

a TV
miniseries called "Roots."

Restaurants and bars
were saying,

"We have the big screen
television.

Come here, have your dinner
and you can watch 'Roots. ""

Theaters emptied out,

meetings were rescheduled.

Even Las Vegas seemed vacant.

They closed the casinos in Vegas
when "Roots" aired,

nobody was on the street.

Casinos were empty because
people were watching "Roots."

And that is something.

As those eight nights unfolded
and the audience grew

and then it was
the national conversation.

Over the eight
consecutive nights,

"Roots" attracted more viewers
than any previous TV drama.

It's unlikely any
television series will again

have the impact that "Roots" had
in 1977.

Ha ha! Look at this baby.

Aww!
Aww!
Aww!

What do you call him?

We call him Baby Boy.

And we'll go on calling him that

until his father decides
on a name for him

eight days from today.

"Roots" wasn't just
a popular program,

it was a cultural landmark,

a phenomenon that transformed

Americans' understanding
of slavery.

"Roots" is the story
of Alex Haley's family,

beginning with his great, great,
great, great grandfather,

who was captured in Africa and
brought to America as a slave.

The miniseries follows
the family's saga

through a hundred years
of slavery...

and finally to freedom.

And Alex, when he talked
about these characters

and what he knew about them,

literally, you were on the edge
of your seat.

Every time, it was absolutely
riveting.

Absolutely riveting.
He was a master storyteller.

When "Roots" was first
greenlit by ABC,

African-American actors saw
a unique opportunity

to play roles of substance.

The actors were terribly excited
to be part of it,

because we'd never had anything
like this before to be part of.

The toughest role
to cast was Kunta Kinte.

The whole miniseries hinged
on finding an actor

who was believable,
physical... and young.

First time I was
in front of a camera

was the screen test,
March 27th, 1976.

We're not children.

We're very close to being
men, Yoboto.

Close to being men.
Ha! Close to being men.

Go tend your billygoat!

I was a sophomore in theater
school at USC.

I didn't know about acting
for the camera.

Despite his lack of experience,

LeVar Burton won the role of
Kunta Kinte.

Early in the production,
he faced

one of the more challenging
scene...

Kunta's capture in Africa.

Those indelible images of Kunta
jumping and flailing

in slow motion.

I just kept going.

And the sand and the sweat
and the sun,

I just kept going, kept jumping,

kept trying to get
out of these chains.

The sequence, as it's cut
together, is just brilliant

because, in sort of a montage
of imagery,

you see this
wild stallion being subdued.

And it's beautiful
and terrifying

all at the same time.

When you look at the trajectory
of the life of this character,

that's a very pivotal moment,
that capture.

Because his life is forever
changed.

The next section in
the miniseries,

aboard the slave ship,

was the most difficult
for LeVar Burton to play

and for audiences to watch.

This was the first time America
witnessed, on film,

the true horrors
of the slave ships.

It was five to six
months of every day

living in the bowels of a ship,
in your own filth,

day after day after day
for six months.

ABC worried that
the cruelty was too horrific,

the story too one-sided,
and so a sympathetic

white character was added,
a ship's captain,

who was disturbed by
the slave trade

but went along begrudgingly,
played by Ed Asner.

Someone who took the job...
The dirty, filthy job.

But he was going to try
to make it clean...

I.e., in airing out his
slaves while they were at sea,

hosing them down,

limiting the crowdedness
in the slave quarters.

That type of thing.

While Ed Asner played

a somewhat sympathetic
character,

many other roles required
white actors

to portray
cold-hearted callousness.

ABC was fearful that
the onscreen cruelty

might turn away audiences,
so the network insisted

that the more ruthless roles
were played

by some of TV's most
likable white actors...

Sandy Duncan,
Lorne Green, Chuck Connors,

and Robert Reed.

Vic Morrow was so uncomfortable

playing the famous
whipping scene,

he begged forgiveness
of his fellow actors.

He apologized.
He says, "I'm sorry."

I said, "What do you feel
sorry for?"

"I'm sorry.
I'm apologizing in advance."

I said, "What do you mean?"

"I'm going to have to really
do the scene fully.

It's the whipping scene."

I said, "Oh, I get ya..."
and I didn't know what he meant.

Take him up.

The scene,

among the most indelible
in the miniseries,

had to be shot twice
because it was so difficult

for actor LeVar Burton.

When it came time to put
it on film, it was daunting.

And I just could not relax
enough to be "in" the scene.

I was in the consciousness of,

"Wow, this isn't
comfortable to me at all!"

What's your name?

Kunta.

Kunta Kinte.

A week later,
LeVar Burton was able

to make it through the scene...

But now ABC had a new problem.

The portrayal was so realistic,

the brutality so intense,

there was concern it might
spark racial unrest.

So what ABC thought that they
would do was they brought

the actors who played the two
characters in that scene.

Welcome to "Good Morning,
America."

The actor who played Kunta

and the actor who played
the overseer,

Vic Morrow and LeVar Burton,
they brought them together

to sit on that couch
with David Hartman

to prove that there was
no animosity between us two,

and of course, there wasn't.

Thinking back on it now,
I think that that was

probably a very responsible
thing for the network

to have at least attempted
to do.

Following the whipping scene,

Louis Gossett Jr's Fiddler
character

attempts to comfort Kunta Kinte.

I think of all
of the moments in the series,

that's my favorite.

It's all Fiddler.

And Lou is absolutely
transcendent in that moment.

The compassion that

just comes pouring
out of that man.

The whipping scene is over

and I have the last line,
and the last line was,

"What you care what that
white man calls you?"

What you care what that
white man calls you?

"Toby.

Kunta. Kunta Kinte.

That be your name,
that's what you'll always be."

And that was the last line
of the scene.

Make you say Toby.

What you care?

You know who you be.

Kunta.

That's who you'll always be.

And I looked down at LeVar.

I kept putting ice water on
his wrist, I said,

"There's going to be a
better day, you understand me?

There is going to be
another day."

There's gonna be another day.

The last line wasn't
in the script...

it flowed out
of Louis Gossett Jr.

In that emotional moment.

It's a powerful, powerful moment

on a lot of levels
for a lot of reasons.

Another day, when there's no
more lynching,

another day when we're equal.

There's going to be another day
when we have our first

black president, there's going
to be another day.

The line was right

for Kunta Kinte
in the 18th century...

but it also had resonance for
actor Louis Gossett Jr.

In the 20th.

A hit on Broadway in 1953,
Louis Gossett Jr.

Hadn't faced the full force
of racial prejudice

until he came to
Hollywood in the mid-1960s.

The first time he drove a car in
Beverly Hills,

it took all afternoon
to go just two miles

because of repeated
traffic stops.

Four and a half hours of sitting
by curbs,

checking me out because I
answered to the description.

No, I didn't... They just
had never seen

a black man out that way in
Los Angeles in 1966.

Abandoning the new car,

Gossett began walking through
Beverly Hills.

Within 20 minutes, I was
handcuffed to a tree,

for 3 hours.

A "better day" did
eventually come

for Louis Gossett Jr.

In 1982, he won just
the third Oscar

awarded to an African-American

for his part in
"An Officer and a Gentleman."

And for his role as Fiddler
in "Roots,"

Louis Gossett Jr. won an Emmy.

MAN, LAUGHING: Yeah!

Like
Louis Gossett Jr.,

LeVar Burton didn't experience
the full effects of racism

until he was a young man.

One night, while "Roots"
was filming in Georgia,

Burton went out to a local bar
and danced with a white woman.

Alex Haley, took him aside.

Alex came to me

and he pulled my coat tail
and he said, you know...

and I'd never had any
experience in the South...

And he said,

"Let me just remind you

that even though this is 1976,

that there are still
prevailing attitudes

in certain parts of this country

where that kind of behavior is
not looked favorably upon.

As "Roots" moved into

the second and third night
of the broadcast,

it was already having a profound
impact on how Americans

understood the nation's
racial history.

As the story moved
forward in time,

John Amos played the
older Kunta Kinte.

The only time I get to be free
is when I run away.

I tell ya, Fiddler,
sometime it seem like...

being alone and being free,

they're all the same
for a slave.

You don't be free.

You be dead.

Then I'd be free.

I didn't care,
after I did "Roots,"

if I ever worked again in life.

That is, in the industry.

Because I felt like,
"This is it,

this is as good as
it's going to get."

Just before filming
his first scenes,

John Amos was overcome
with emotion.

And those millions that had died
on the ships

on the way over here as slaves,

they were speaking to me in so
many voices...

It was not my imagination...
That I was just overwhelmed.

And I began to...

I became agitated.
I was speaking in tongues.

They tell me I was yelling
and screaming

and flip flopping on the ground.

These were my ancestors
speaking to me,

saying, "Now you will be
our voice.

You will speak,
and if they want to know

what the African spirit
is about,

you stay resolute,
you stay strong.

Show them, you will not break,
as we did not break.

You will not break,
Kunta Kinte."

And that's what I carried
throughout

the rest of the project.

I am Kunta Kinte,

son of Omoro and Binta Kinte!

A fighting man from
the village of Jufureh!

I'm gonna do better
than learn to walk.

I gonna learn to run!

John Amos always took
his craft seriously,

starting out as a standup
comedian in New York.

He came to Los Angeles
as a writer...

and landed acting roles like

Gordy the Weatherman on
the "Mary Tyler Moore show."

Everywhere I go, people yell,
"Gordy, when's Ted coming back?"

Yeah.
They do? Where?
Everywhere.

How many yell that?

650.

I mean, men or what?
Women, too?
Women, too.

Young women?
Yeah.

Would you say that
women yell more often...

Nobody yelled it, Ted.
Nobody yelled nothing.

But even a recurring
role on a network TV show

didn't inoculate John Amos from
racial violence

when he ventured
into the wrong neighborhood.

The San Fernando Valley Police
pulled up,

pulled me out of the car,

choked me to the point
of unconsciousness,

took me to the police station,

in cuffs and manacles...
Where the warrant officer

asked for my autograph while I
was being booked.

The actress who played
Kunta's daughter, Kizzy,

was Leslie Uggams.

I became Kizzy.
And there was something about...

I knew her.
Somehow, I knew her.

I mean, I wore her skin.

And so, all those experiences
that she was going through,

I just zoned into it.

"Roots" wasn't Uggams'

first breakthrough
on television.

In 1970, she became the
first African-American woman

to host a network variety show.

Before that, she was a regular
on Mitch Miller's TV show.

There are many good singers,

but not often in your life will

a new voice make
your skin tingle.

Leslie Uggams has
that kind of voice.

At 17, she can look forward

to lifting a couple
of generations

of listeners right
outta their seats!

♪ I'm just a little sparrow
in the nest of the Lord ♪

Large sections of
America never saw these shows,

because many TV stations
would not air a program

with an African-American singer.

The network and the sponsors
were giving Mitch some heat

about me being on the show

because the show was blacked out
in the South.

They wouldn't accept the show
because I was on it.

In one of "Roots""
most emotional scenes,

slave owners sell Kizzy,

meaning she will never see
her parents again.

The scene had special power
because it reflected

a bitter truth for thousands
of families.

KIZZY, SOBBING: Please!

Yah!

Mama! Mama!

It's just so hurtful.
So...

I can't even
express it in words.

So that day, when we shot that,

I just lived that.

You are never going to see

your mother and father again.

Everything that you know,
everything that you had

in your relationship with
your parents,

is never going to
be that way again.

Leslie Uggams' most
challenging scene

came in the fifth episode,
when her character was raped

by the slaveowner, played
by Chuck Connors.

That was a hard scene
for me to do.

She wasn't a victim.

That's the main thing
about Kizzy was,

she was never a victim.

Of all the things that happen
to her, she found a way

to use it and... "I'm not going
to be victimized."

I bought you, you're
my property now.

Cost a fair price.

Enough for a payment
on a cotton gin,

you overseer said.

Well, Kizzy, I'm gonna get
my money's worth right now.

Now, Kizzy, I'd rather not
hurt you,

but I ain't got no time
to play...

That was the hardest part,
and that scene did not just show

that she's being
violently raped.

So you see in those
eyes, not only hate,

but she's gonna use this,
she's gonna use this.

Like all
the relationships in "Roots,"

Kizzy's story reflected
the real life events

of Alex Haley's family.

As a result of the rape, Haley's
great great great grandmother,

Kizzy, gave birth to Haley's
great great grandfather,

known as "Chicken George,"

played in "Roots" by Ben Vereen.

I feel like, if I'm only
remembered for Chicken George,

great.
I've done my job.

Ben Vereen wasn't
the obvious choice for the role,

because he wasn't an actor,
he was a song-and-dance man.

Listen, Carol.

♪ Someday you'll wish
upon a star ♪

♪ And wake up where
the clouds ♪

♪ Are far behind you ♪

♪ Where troubles melt
like lemon drops ♪

♪ Away above
the chimneytops ♪

♪ That's
where I'll find you ♪

When Ben Vereen originally tried

to land the role of
Chicken George, he was rebuffed.

He said, "Ben, they're looking
for actors."

He said, "You're
a song-and-dance, man.

They're not gonna...
just forget about it."

Vereen didn't give up
and eventually won the part,

creating one of the miniseries'

most memorable characters.

He done the worst thing that
a man can do to me...

He took away all my hopes!

What about Tildy
and the children?

They ain't got no hopes as long
as Master Moore's alive.

Man ain't worth a chicken,
he ain't alive.

Mama, get outta my way!

Don't do it, George!
It'll be worse than it is!

Killing Master Tom Moore, that's
no more than killing a dog.

No, dammit, no!

He's your daddy!

Like the other
actors in "Roots,"

Ben Vereen had experienced his
share of racial prejudice...

especially the time he visited
the South as a boy

and tried to enter
an all-white theater.

His friend pulled him back.

He said, "Don't you ever
do that."

I said, "What?"
He said, "They'll kill you, man.

We're not even supposed to be up
on the sidewalk."

He said, "Don't even
look at a white person."

Chicken George's family included

his son Tom and
daughter-in-law Irene...

played by Georg Stanford Brown
and Lynne Moody.

The word was out.

There was this
show called "Roots" being cast

and it was hiring all of these
black actors and actresses.

And everybody could get a shot
almost at it.

So there was this excitement
because this had

never happened before
in my time.

All the performers and the crew,

we all knew that we were
involved in something important.

And that we were
very special to be part of it.

Tom!

What is it, honey?

Man wants his horse shoed, Tom.

Well, he's gonna have
to get back.

I'm powerful busy.

I don't know, Tom,

he don't look like
the "gettin' back" kind.

Daddy?

My daddy!

Tom's storyline
flowed into the years

after the Civil War,

recounting how the end of
slavery was just the first step

on the long road to equality.

A full hundred years later,
actor Georg Stanford Brown

still faced
government-sanctioned racism.

I was married in 1966.

It was still against the law
for me to do so.

I married a white woman.

It was still against the law,
this is 1966.

So...

we might be far removed from
that now,

but it was a lot closer when
"Roots" first came on the scene.

When I was in high school,
they had a note going around

saying there will be an assembly
for all the black students

and they announced there would
be no mixed dating at the prom,

unless we had
a note from each parent.

Tom and Irene

ultimately experienced freedom

and "Roots" ends on a note
of hope.

But Kunta Kinte,

he never forget
where he come from.

He never forget Africa.

When the "Roots"
storyline concludes

in the late 1860s,
equality seems in reach.

But when the miniseries
ended its run in 1977,

African-American actors faced
a playing field

that was still not level.

Roles for African-Americans
remained scarce.

We thought, hey, hey, hey, we're
here, we've arrived,

they've seen how fabulous we
are, and we're all

going to
be working on different things.

And it just didn't happen.

So many great write-ups in all
these different newspapers,

but absolutely nothing else.

No jobs.

So I didn't
expect that would happen.

While "Roots" may not
have had a significant impact

on TV casting directors,

it did have a profound
effect on the audience.

"Roots" wasn't
just a show about history,

it was a historical event
itself,

helping shift public opinion

by telling the truth about
the African-American experience.

Somebody finally told the truth,

and television is such
a powerful medium,

such a powerful medium.

For them to tell an honest truth
like "Roots," it's history.

Before "Roots,"
discussions of slavery

were limited to a paragraph
or two in dry textbooks.

In those days, there was nothing
called "Black History Month"

or "Black History Studies."

There was... when I was going
to school...

It was a paragraph, "You were
a slave and Lincoln freed you."

In a paragraph, it was like...

it was like, we were slaves.

We came from Africa and
we spoke some umba-jumba.

It wasn't even
a language that we spoke,

you know, umba-jumba.

And so as a kid I didn't
want to be African.

Roots helped changed all that,

serving as a new kind of
textbook,

educating a nation, vividly,
emotionally,

leaving a lasting impact.

It was a lesson for everybody.

It gave us a sense of pride.

There were a lot of babies
being born named Kunta

and a lot of girls being
born named Kizzy.

So that showed how proud it was

to be African-American.

There was no way of getting
around the fact

that this was material that had
never been presented before,

on a mass scale
to an American audience.

What was accomplished through

those eight nights of
television,

it's the absolute best use

of moving pictures and sound
that we can achieve.

"Roots" remains

the most-watched
miniseries of all time,

but it wasn't the first.

A year earlier, ABC launched
the genre

with "Rich Man, Poor Man,"

starring three
largely unknown actors...

Peter Strauss, Susan Blakely,
and Nick Nolte.

Well, Julie Prescott.
Long time, no see.

Yes, it has been
a long time, hasn't it?

Uh-huh.

Listen, why don't we all go
to Delmonico's and have a drink?

Come on, girls, let's go.
What do you say?

Peter Strauss and Nick Nolte

played characters
who roughly approximated

their own personalities.

Strauss was
a precise, disciplined actor,

while Nolte liked to improvise
in the moment.

You must be crazy,
what'd you do that for?

You really want to know?

Yes! Why?

Beats the hell outta me.

I was so meticulous... every
line had a specific reading,

and I had notes in my script

and it had to be done
a certain way.

And Nick would just try to
throw me off all the time.

One early scene

perfectly illustrates
their differing styles.

He just decided,

"What can I do within the frame

that will make him crazy?"
and he was just sitting there

off-camera looking at me,
winking, and I'm going,

"Oh, something is coming
and I'm not going to like it."

The script called for
Nick Nolte's character

to wake up Peter Strauss.

But in the moment, Nolte took it
a step further.

And sure enough,

I saw him put his finger
in his mouth

and he tried to
enable that finger to sustain

as much spittle as possible
on it.

And I saw it coming towards me
and it went right in the ear.

Shove over!

And it was great.

That was fun, and it achieved
the result it had to achieve.

Long movie.

Yeah.

It was

a double feature.

Where have you been, anyway?

I wouldn't want to
destroy your illusions.

Oh, I don't have any.
Not about you.

Oh, you wound me, brother,

because I've always
hero-worshipped you.

Based on the book
of the same name,

"Rich Man, Poor Man"
is the tale of two brothers,

Rudy and Tom Jordache,

their friendship, competition,

and very different paths
through life.

Wait, what the hell are you
doing here, Rudy?

Do you think I'm a charity case?

You just take that partnership
and shove it!

Just like Pop, it's him
and Uncle Harold all over again.

There's not a brain
in your head!

But I can still knock you on
your butt any day of the week!

That's some answer.

Women fell in love with
Rudy Jordache, the character.

So it's interesting.

Women, I think,
fell in love with him.

But, I think, when you read
the book, that you tend to...

your heart goes more out,
of course, to Tom

because he has all
these tragedies.

Hi, Pa.

I bought you out of this
in case you're interested.

$3,000.

I hope she was worth it.

I'm gonna pay you back,
Pa, every cent.

I don't want it.

That $3,000 pays all my debts.

This is the last time
I ever want to see

or hear from you.

When I walk out that door,
that's the last of us,

forever.

You get it?

I got it.

The woman
in the middle is Julie,

played by Susan Blakely.

My memories are almost like
I lived that.

I feel like I lived it.

I want to tell you something.

You don't have to tell me
anything, Rudy.

I want to.

I said it to you
a long time ago.

And it's as true now
as it ever was.

I've loved you ever since
I can remember almost.

I've never really considered
any kind of life for me

that didn't include you in it.

When the miniseries began,

Susan Blakely was the better
known of the three main actors,

thanks to a
successful modeling career.

She'd dabbled in acting

but hadn't yet
landed a breakthrough role.

And it was just too good of
an opportunity to pass.

And I didn't know what
a miniseries was,

never heard of any.

Blakely's role was a composite

of two very different characters
in the book,

which meant she played a wide
emotional range

in "Rich Man, Poor Man."

Playing depressed, by the way,
is difficult.

Talk about having to slow
it down.

But there was a part of me
every day

that just wanted my character
to shape up, you know.

You've had enough to drink.

There is no such thing
as enough to drink.

I'm gonna take you to bed.

You won't be the first.

If I play my cards right,
you won't be the last either.

Rudy Jordache was
played by Peter Strauss,

who began his acting career
in elementary school.

One day a teacher

came up to me and said,
"Do you want to be in a play?"

And, I've never been in a play.

I don't think I'd ever seen
a play.

The moment he first set foot

on the grade school stage,
Peter Strauss's future was set.

There is this place
which is magic.

And some people...
for me, I was home.

This is home.

This is where I want to be
the rest of my life.

I had no qualms. Age 12.
That was it.

Peter Strauss had just
a few small roles on his resume

when "Rich Man, Poor Man"
was cast.

ABC worried
that the three main actors

didn't have the name recognition
to carry a major project.

So the supporting roles
on the miniseries were peppered

with more-famous stars,
like Ray Milland,

Van Johnson, Dorothy McGuire,

and Ed Asner
who played Axel Jordache,

father of Tom and Rudy.

I didn't think I was right
for the role.

I had read the book.

An unsympathetic
character in the book,

Axel Jordache was softened
in the screenplay,

especially in his relationship
with his wayward son, Tom.

Ed Asner took the role.

They had me going to the
high school to talk about...

In the book it's Rudy.

In the screenplay it became Tom.

Have you ever been to school?

In another country.

In what other country?

Was it considered proper
for a student

to draw a picture
of his teacher nude

in the classroom?

Oh!

Is this supposed to be you?

Yes, it is.

Yes, yes, yes.

I see the resemblance.

Do teachers pose nude in

the high schools these days?

I can see no further point
in this conversation.

The French teacher is a bitch
and she calls me names.

And I would call her a name.

If you didn't strut around
with your boobs hanging out

and you tail wiggling
in a tight skirt

like some cheap
two-dollar chippy,

young boys wouldn't be tempted
to draw pictures like that!

Besides which, I think
he's flattered you.

You...

I know all about you!

I don't go for
talk like that, you slut.

But it showed that I was ready
to fight for Tom

even in high school.

I just want to thank you.

What for?

For what you said.

You don't owe me a damn thing.

He was just a hardworking
immigrant

trying to make it in America.

And had two sons to raise,
and sons are not easy.

One reason the series succeeded

was a storyline that offered two
different heroes,

appealing to a
broad range of viewers.

For example, Europeans preferred
the strait-laced Rudy.

Americans liked
the rough and tumble Tom.

The American hero

is the traditional blond, tough

bar-room brawler.

And the European hero

is someone who works
through a family

and for financial gain
and reward and family honor.

Whereas, Americans have cowboys
as heroes.

They're sweaty,
they're a little dirty,

they're a little tougher.

Nice, nice!

1, 2, 3...

In America,
and around the world,

"Rich Man, Poor Man" attracted
huge audiences...

single-handedly paving the way

for an entirely new genre...
The novel for television...

the miniseries.

There is not a day

that someone doesn't come up
to me and say,

"Hey, 'Rich Man, Poor Man, '
I loved that show."

I've done things
the next morning

no one remembers what I did
the night before.

And yet it is astonishing that
people will still stop me

and talk
about "Rich Man, Poor Man."

After the enormous success

of "Rich Man, Poor Man"
and "Roots,"

miniseries producers
began scooping up

popular novels with abandon.

Including a best seller
by Colleen McCullough

called "The Thorn Birds."

For the key role of Meggie,
the producers chose a newcomer,

Rachel Ward.

Although it would be her
big break,

Ward was wary of the role.

To her, the dialogue
seemed stilted,

the storyline too melodramatic.

I can't!

Goodbye, my Meggie.

It's hard... it's difficult
to say lines like,

"Go on then to that God of yours

but you'll come back to me

because I'm the one
who loves you."

I mean I defy, you know,

Cate Blanchett
to pull that one off.

Go on, then, go on to
that God of yours,

but you'll come back to me

because I'm the one
who loves you.

Everything was very overwritten
and overdramatic.

It was basically almost
impossible language

to make naturalistic.

Despite her concerns,

Rachel Ward took the role
of Meggie.

Audiences loved her, rewarding
"The Thorn Birds"

with some of the biggest
ratings in television history.

But Rachel Ward was
bludgeoned by the critics,

a wound that still stings
decades later.

I got some terrible reviews,

and I wonder if critics know how
much pain they inflict.

Of the primary actors,

7 out of 8 received
Emmy nominations.

Only Rachel Ward was left out.

I took it very, very personally.

I felt embarrassed
and humiliated.

I can remember where I was
and the exact words

of both the Newsweek critic
and the New York Times critic

with such vividness,
that it will...

It had such a profound effect
on me,

the criticism for my character.

I left Hollywood after that...
That was enough for me.

I didn't really need
to go through that again.

I'm sure there will be many
people listening to this now

and going, "What
the hell!"

You know: huge miniseries,
incredibly popular,

dream job for any actor.

And there you go,
isn't that ironic?

It was just a devastating
experience for me.

One I actually don't really
think

I've entirely come to
terms with.

For Rachel Ward,
the criticism was offset

by one silver lining.

It was on the set of
"The Thorn Birds"

that she met her future husband,
actor Bryan Brown.

God, you are beautiful.

How many times you been in love?

Only once.

Whoever he was, he was
a fool to let you go.

I was a typical Australian
young man.

I mean, I noticed good
looking girls.

I wasn't an idiot, you know.

The one positive that
I took away

from "The Thorn Birds"

and can take away from
"The Thorn Birds"

is that I did find
the love of my life.

On screen, Meggie's true love

wasn't Bryan Brown's character,

it was Father Ralph,

played by Richard Chamberlain.

Meggie, I need no reminder
of you.

Not now, not ever.

I carry you within me.
You know that.

The forbidden love

between Meggie and
Father Ralph resonated deeply

with audiences...

Oh, you've come back!

Made authentic by the genuine
chemistry between Rachel Ward

and Richard Chamberlain.

Meggie, don't cry.

We clicked together and we had
a kind of mutual trust.

You know, there was an awful lot
of kissing

and fooling around and stuff
in it,

and you've got to trust
the person you're acting with

and she was just wonderful.

Forgive me.

No.

Damn you.

No more!

Meggie!

Even today,

"The Thorn Birds" stands as
the most widely watched romance

in television history.

I do still have people coming up
and saying

how much they loved
"The Thorn Birds"

and how much they loved Meggie.

Father Ralph loved Meggie,

but he also loved the church,
which set up

the central conflict of
"The Thorn Birds."

In the screenplay, the character
was portrayed as something

of an opportunist, a scoundrel.

But Richard Chamberlain saw
Father Ralph differently.

I thought he'd be
much more interesting

if he really did have a true
vocation in the church,

if he really did want the power,

and if he really did love Meggie
with all his heart.

By the time he was cast

in "The Thorn Birds,"
Richard Chamberlain

already had twenty years of
television experience.

In 1980, Chamberlain desperately
wanted to land the lead role

in the high-profile
miniseries "Shogun."

But author James Clavell wanted
Sean Connery for the part.

Chamberlain had dinner with
the author and made his case.

I had meetings with Clavell
and finally convinced him...

By lowering my voice
and wearing lots of t-shirts

under my clothes so I'd look
bigger

and more Sean Connery-ish.

I finally convinced
him to hire me.

After the success of "Shogun,"
Richard Chamberlain

didn't have to work as hard

to land the role of Father Ralph
in "The Thorn Birds."

Because of the huge success of
both projects,

he was later dubbed
the "king of the miniseries."

I did some really
great miniseries,

and if they wanted to call me
king that's fine with me.

I had had the incredible good
fortune of being in

some of the best
miniseries ever.

In the early scenes
of "The Thorn Birds,"

Richard Chamberlain played
opposite Barbara Stanwyck,

one of the last roles of
the actress's storied career.

Known throughout Hollywood as
the consummate professional,

Stanwyck never forgot her
lines... except once.

We had the scene where Ralph
has been working

out in the fields of Drogheda,

and comes in and he's drenched,
a huge rainstorm.

He takes off his clothes on
the veranda, thinks he's alone.

And when he was stark naked,
she comes out.

And they have
this wonderful scene

where she touches his shoulders.

You are the most beautiful
man I have ever seen,

Ralph de Bricassart.

But, of course,
you already know that.

Curious how you view
us mortals with contempt

for admiring that beauty.

And he tries to remain aloof.

I thought it was my soul
you were after, Mary.

It is.

Because at my age, officially,

I'm supposed to be beyond
the drives of my body.

But she went up in her lines.

And everybody was like
totally amazed.

And she said...

"It's been so long since I've
stood next to a naked man."

And it was just sweet,
you know, so sweet.

Although "The Thorn Birds"

was set in Australia,

there was just one
Australian actor in the cast.

I like playing Australians.

It's instinctive about
how I behave.

And I behave different to
Americans, even though we have

a lot of things in common,
we're different.

What was great was this was
a big Australian melodrama.

The Americans told it,
and told it in

whatever way they wanted to,
which is their right.

On that point,
Colleen McCullough disagreed.

The author of "The Thorn
Birds" was unhappy

with nearly every
production decision.

She didn't like the casting

of Richard Chamberlain
or Rachel Ward,

she objected to the
screenwriter and director,

and she called the production
"instant vomit."

I think Colleen was talking
through a hole in her head.

She wrote a big melodrama...
What did she want it to be?

I do remember she also had a go
at me, and my casting of it.

So I'm not...

So there you go.

I thought the book was very well
served by the miniseries.

Colleen McCullough
didn't think so.

But I thought, oh,
she should have been so lucky

to have this extraordinarily
good cast, et cetera,

and a wonderful script.

I guess, writers think they've
got babies on their hands,

but you know, she got paid
an enormous a lot of money;

sold a lot more books,
she should be bloody grateful.

Colleen McCullough's objections

didn't faze the viewing audience

and "The Thorn Birds"
still ranks

among the most-watched dramas
of all time.

People responded to it because

those people became real
for them on screen,

and they wanted to watch what
happened to them every night.

It's a theme common
to all the best miniseries...

Beloved characters
who survive epic sagas

that play out over decades.

The 70's was a period where

we told great stories
on television.

I thank Alex Haley every day
in my heart

for making me a part of history.

No complaints here.

As I look back, it's been
an incredible journey.

That was an opportunity that
very few actors ever get.

I guess it was hugely popular

so in some respects
we got it right.

It has enriched my life greatly.

And I can only hope that it's
also enriched

so many other people's.

I think the responsibility
of television is to lift up

its audience intellectually,
spiritually and emotionally.

I was hoping for
greater awareness,

that people would dig deeper
into our history.

We learned the truth
about America.

It was an extraordinary event,

and television prided itself
on event programming.

Not everybody in...

I'm gonna cry now.

In life gets their absolute
wishes answered.

You know, it doesn't happen
to that many people.

I'm so grateful for it.

Together,
they captured our imagination

and created a whole new
art form...

The television miniseries.

They are
the "Pioneers of Television."

"We hold these truths to be self-evident,

that all men are created equal.

They are endowed with certain inalienable
rights.

Among these rights are life,

liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

All of that is gorgeous.
It's written beautifully.

Those men wrote it in blood.

But what is written and the way we are

should be together rather than separate.

That's the aspiration of the average
American.

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