This was an extended show, and served as a sort of "backdoor pilot" for Jerry Orbach's spin-off series, The Law and Harry McGraw (1987).
John Amos (Doc Penrose) and LeVar Burton (Dave Robinson) both previously played Kunta Kinte in Roots (1977) while Lynne Moody (Pam Collins) played Irene Harvey in both that miniseries and its sequel Roots: The Next Generations (1979).