“Roots: Our Journeys Home” on CNN
CNN has discovered the appeal of feature programming, led by the inimitable Anthony Bourdain and his record ratings, a smart move on days when the news cycle isn’t dominated by a single breaking story.
Adding Lisa Ling’s “This is Life” to the Sunday lineup is an effort to spread the wealth.
Now comes featuring a number of CNN anchors and correspondents tracing family histories. Nightly segments run this week, culminating in a two-hour special next Monday, Oct. 20. Anderson Cooper and Michaela Pereira will host the show featuring 12 of the network’s hosts’ and anchors’ stories.
Bourdain’s Paraguayan roots, Pereira’s adoption journey, Cooper’s poorer side of the family (ie., not the Vanderbilts), Jake Tapper’s discovery that his ancestors fought on “the wrong side” in the American Revolution, Erin Burnett’s ties to a remote Scottish island, Don Lemon’s roots in the West African slave trade, Wolf Blitzer’s family in the WWII death camp at Auschwitz, Sanjay Gupta’s roots in India and Pakistan and more are explored through the week.
The tone can be a little schmaltzy, the feature a bit feature-y for the news network. But this is the evolution of a network in need of some juice.
