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Finding the roots
of Morgan Freeman

PBS's 'African American Lives' traces blood lines

By Diego Vasquez
Feb 13, 2008

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There are many TV specials highlighting Black History Month each February, most celebrating African Americans’ contributions to politics, sports, science and a multitude of pop culture areas.

But PBS’s two-part “African American Lives,” which wraps up tonight with a two-hour episode at 9 p.m., does those specials one better. It employs DNA experts, genealogical research, slave ship records, oral family history and more to trace the roots of prominent black performers, scholars and athletes, revealing often surprising results and sometimes bringing the participants to tears.

The special is a follow-up to a similar one that aired in 2006 and included a segment on Oprah Winfrey, which then spurred last year’s Black History Month sequel, “Oprah’s Roots.”

On tonight’s episode, host and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. traces the lineage of Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman, whose great-grandmother was a slave, and theologian Peter Gomes, whose ancestors were given their freedom by a group of Quaker families in Virginia in the late 1700s.

The original series was successful enough to warrant two sequels, but what’s perhaps most important for PBS is that its shows deliver buzz and media attention, increasing awareness of public broadcast programming and thus the number of potential donors, especially with a large chunk of the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting chopped in President Bush’s 2009 federal budget proposal.

A look at this week’s top TV draws
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 p.m.	ESPN	“College Basketball” (S)	Good ACC game between Maryland and Duke.
8 p.m.	CW	“ America’s Next Top Model” (R)	The second half of a rundown of the series’ most memorable moments.
8 p.m.	Fox	“American Idol” (R)	Twelve females and 12 males are selected for the final 24.
9 p.m.	Fox	“Moment of Truth” (G)	Ratings have fallen each week but it’s still killing the competition.
9 p.m.	ESPN	“NBA Basketball” (S)	Shaq and his new team, the Suns, take on the Warriors in Oakland.
10 p.m.	NBC	“Law & Order” (D)	A protestor at an immigration rally is killed, and the police may be to blame.
10 p.m.	MTV	“Real World/Road Rules Challenge” (R)	A female alliance is formed, but these things are rarely successful.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 a.m.	NBC	“Today” (N)	Ryan Reynolds and Jane Fonda both make appearances.
8 p.m.	CBS	“Survivor” (R)	With Johnny Fairplay already out, who’ll be next?
8 p.m.	Fox	“NAACP Image Awards” (A)	D.L. Hughley hosts the 39th annual event.
9 p.m.	ABC	“Lost” (D)	Locke continues to hold a hostage, so Kate and Sayid search for him.
9 p.m.	NBC	“Celebrity Apprentice” (R)	The contestants try to run a horse and carriage business in Central Park.
10 p.m.	ABC	“Eli Stone” (D)	Before helping a National Guard soldier in a custody battle, Eli has visions of World War II.
10 p.m.	NBC	“Lipstick Jungle” (D)	Wendy finds out that a not-so-nice novel is being written about her.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 p.m.	ESPN	“NBA All-Star Celebrity Game” (S)	All-Star Weekend festivities kick off with an exhibition celebrity game in New Orleans.
8 p.m.	NBC	“1 vs. 100” (G)	Oscar the Grouch and a few Playboy bunnies are among the mobsters.
9 p.m.	CBS	“Celine Dion: That’s Just the Woman in Me” (A)	Celine performs a concert in Los Angeles.
9 p.m.	NBC	“ Las Vegas” (D)	In tonight’s two-hour episode the casino is held up and staffers held hostage.
9 p.m.	USA	“Monk” (D)	In the first of a two-part season finale, Monk is accused of murder.
10 p.m.	Discovery	“Fight Quest” (R)	Jimmy and Doug go to Rio de Janeiro to learn Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16
Time	Network	Program	Description
2 p.m.	NBC	“Ironman Triathlon” (S)	Athletes swim 2.4 miles and bike 112 miles before running a full 26.2-mile marathon.
3 p.m.	CBS	“PGA Golf” (S)	Third-round coverage of the Northern Trust Open.
8 p.m.	ABC	“Miracle” (M)	If you need some inspiration, check out the story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team.
8 p.m.	Fox	“Cops” (R)	Edition No. 11 of the “Cops” Bad Girls series.
8:30 p.m.	TNT	“NBA All-Star Saturday Night” (S)	Various events including the three-point shootout and slam dunk contest.
11 p.m.	Fox	“Mad TV” (C)	The crew pokes fun of the BBC and the show “Women’s Murder Club.”
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17
Time	Network	Program	Description
2 p.m.	Fox	“NASCAR Racing” (S)	The 50th running of sport’s biggest race, the Daytona 500.
3 p.m.	CBS	“PGA Golf” (S)	Final round of the Northern Trust Open, won last year by Charles Howell III.
3:30 p.m.	NBC	“NHL Hockey” (S)	Two of the league’s best teams, the Red Wings and Stars, battle in Dallas.
8 p.m.	Fox	“The Simpsons” (C)	Valentine’s Day episode could be highly rated following the Daytona 500.
9 p.m.	NBC	“Knight Rider” (M)	New TV movie based on the classic show, but KITT’s now a Mustang. What’s up with that?
10 p.m.	CBS	“Dexter” (D)	The Showtime program makes its broadcast debut. Thanks, striking writers!
10:30 p.m.	E!	“Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood” (R)	Snoop and his wife look into some new business opportunities.
A = awards show or special, C = comedy, D = drama, DD = daytime drama, G = game show, K = kids, M = movie, N = news/documentary, R = reality, S = sports, T = talk/variety show.