# What Was 'Not Roots'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 7, 2011, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479 "2011-09-07T08:19:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479/1 "2011-09-07T08:19:04Z")
In January of 1977 when the epic miniseries _Roots_ came out, I was only 8. But I remember the time well. It seems at the time, one of the competing networks was running something else, to draw viewers away from _Roots_–and that is what my parents and I watched. But I soon realized it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. The next day in school, no one watched “not _Roots_” (for lack of a better term)–everyone was watching _Roots_! My first question, I think, I already know the answer to, but I will ask it. Did anyone else here have the misfortune to be watching “not _Roots_” too? That having been asked, I have to also ask, **Does anyone remember what “not _Roots_” was?** I have since forgotten. Lastly, does anyone know how I could look up past television archives of shows so I can answer questions like this on my own. I did a Google search for past archives of shows. But I can’t seem to turn up what I am looking for. Thanks:). ---
**Author:** ![mattwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@mattwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mattwan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479/2 "2011-09-07T12:39:43Z")
I looked up the TV listings for that date in the New York Times, which unfortunately isn’t a free resource. Wikipedia has pages for each TV season’s regular schedule, but it doesn’t reflect special events like Roots. The listings only provide the titles of the shows aired by the other networks, so I’m not sure how helpful they’ll be. All times are Eastern. CBS: 9:00-10:00 Switch 10:00-11:00 Delvecchio NBC: 8:00-9:30 McMillan: Shirley Jones, Nina Foch, guests (I guess this was McMillan and Wife?) 9:30-11:00 McCloud: Hoyt Axton, L.Q. Jones, Nehemiah Pursoff, guests I have no idea what Switch was, but the other programming looks like the networks’ standard shows for those time slots. I’m guessing this doesn’t do much to help solve the mystery of “not Roots”. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479/3 "2011-09-07T12:42:31Z")
I can’t answer your question, however I did find this archive from Time [Feb 1979](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912386-1,00.html). They state > [@](#): > > Up to the last minute there were plenty of commercial spots for sale on Roots. ABC itself projected only a passable 28% to 31% share of the audience for the show; CBS and NBC concurred, scheduling only routine fare against it. Not for the first time, Television Row’s conventional wisdom was completely wrong. Apparently, even though Roots was amazingly popular, nobody thought it would be beforehand, and the competing networks didn’t schedule anything special opposite it. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479/4 "2011-09-07T13:51:33Z")
There are a lot of example of this, where no one realized that something was going to be huge before it happened. Just to pick one subject: The Beatles. My kids are astounded at the other guests on the Ed Sullivan show before the Beatles. And the run-of-the-mill acts. Heck, if Pete Best or Stu Sutcliffe knew how big things would get, wouldn’t they have stuck around\*? \*(ok, in Pete’s case “taken some drum lessons and showed up for gigs”) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479/5 "2011-09-07T16:13:37Z")
I didn’t watch **Roots**. I refuse to be caught up in a week-long miniseries. I have too much to do to invest the time. I doubt I watched anything that week, anyway; I was probably reading. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479/6 "2011-09-07T16:14:20Z")
_Stoor_, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479/7 "2011-09-07T16:44:15Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > _Stoor_, obviously. Ah, about a hobbit then. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479/8 "2011-09-07T16:50:00Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Ah, about a hobbit then. 🙂 What did I JUST SAY about puns? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479/9 "2011-09-07T16:55:14Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I didn’t watch **Roots**. I refuse to be caught up in a week-long miniseries. I have too much to do to invest the time. I doubt I watched anything that week, anyway; I was probably reading. If you were reading, I have a hard time understanding how you had “too much to do”. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479/10 "2011-09-07T16:58:22Z")
I think Switch may have been a mystery starring Robert Wagner. I am not absolutely sure about this. [and Eddie Albert](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1N37iDi9OY) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479/11 "2011-09-07T17:00:31Z")
> [@mattwan](#): > > I looked up the TV listings for that date in the New York Times, which unfortunately isn’t a free resource. Wikipedia has pages for each TV season’s regular schedule, but it doesn’t reflect special events like Roots. > > The listings only provide the titles of the shows aired by the other networks, so I’m not sure how helpful they’ll be. All times are Eastern. > > CBS: > 9:00-10:00 Switch > 10:00-11:00 Delvecchio > > NBC: > 8:00-9:30 McMillan: Shirley Jones, Nina Foch, guests (I guess this was McMillan and Wife?) > 9:30-11:00 McCloud: Hoyt Axton, L.Q. Jones, Nehemiah Pursoff, guests > > I have no idea what Switch was, but the other programming looks like the networks’ standard shows for those time slots. I’m guessing this doesn’t do much to help solve the mystery of “not Roots”. “Switch” was a detective series on CBS, starring Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479/12 "2011-09-08T20:16:50Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > What did I JUST SAY about puns? I guess you better punish him. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479/13 "2011-09-08T20:25:25Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > I guess you better punish him. In the Phoenician Style! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479/14 "2011-09-08T20:34:23Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > “Switch” was a detective series on CBS, starring Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner. And a [young Sharon Gless](http://www.peteranthonyholder.com/images/gless.jpg)(who looks remarkably like the current Sharon Gless- she’s aged really well for somebody who has aged realistically). I was just reading, completely unrelated to this, something by Stan Lee talking about his failures, one of which was the TV movie (intended to be a pilot) of Dr. Strange, of which he said > [@](#): > > "“I probably had the most input into that one. I’ve become good friends with the writer/producer Phil DeGuere. I was pleased with Dr. Strange and The [Incredible] Hulk. I think that Dr. Strange would have done much better than it did in the ratings except that it aired opposite _Roots_.” The movie premiered in September 1978. _Roots_ ran the first time in January 1977. I wonder if Lee had his dates wrong or if the rerun of _Roots_ was still big enough to sink the competition. (Either way I don’t buy it; in the first place I doubt there was a huge overlap between the core audiences Roots v. a superhero show and in the second I’m guessing network execs would take into account the _Roots_ juggernaut when considering the ratings of a TV movie.) Since Roots had so many then current TV stars and frequent episodic guest stars, I’m guessing at least a few were probably competing against themselves at least one of its nights. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-not-roots/595479/15 "2011-09-08T22:39:56Z")
I haven’t done this yet, but Google News lets you search a newspaper archive. You might be able to just find a paper on the dates Roots was running and find out what was running against it.