He mentioned the Color of Magic twice, so I felt like he was trying to promote it.
I actually read the Color of Magic to get a taste for Terry Pratchett's Discworld stuff, and I did not like it. Given, it was the first one, and I'm sure he's improved over the years, but it totally soured me on the idea of reading anything else by him, and there's plenty of other stuff I'd rather be reading anyway.
Anyway, as little as I liked the book, I loathed the made-for-television thingy, which combines the first two books. I'll never understand why Samwise Gamgee would slum it in such an obvious pile of dung.