Roots is an American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's 1976 novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. The series first aired on ABC in January 1977. Roots received 37 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings for the finale, which still holds a record as the third-highest-rated episode for any type of television series, and the second-most watched overall series finale in U.S. television history. It was produced on a budget of $6.6 million.
A sequel, Roots: The Next Generations, first aired in 1979, and a second sequel, Roots: The Gift, a Christmas television film, starring Burton and Louis Gossett Jr., first aired in 1988. A related film, Alex Haley's Queen, is based on the life of Queen Jackson Haley, who was Alex Haley's paternal grandmother.
In 2016, a remake of the original miniseries, with the same name, was commissioned by the History channel and screened by the channel on Memorial Day.
Cast and characters[]
- LeVar Burton – young Kunta Kinte
- Olivia Cole – Matilda
- Louis Gossett Jr. – Fiddler
- Ben Vereen – Chicken George Moore
- Vic Morrow – Ames
- John Amos – older Kunta Kinte
- Ji-Tu Cumbuka – Wrestler
- Ed Asner – Capt. Davies (credited as Edward Asner)
- Lynda Day George – Mrs. Reynolds
- Robert Reed – Dr. William Reynolds
- Madge Sinclair – Bell Reynolds
- Chuck Connors – Tom Moore
- Sandy Duncan – Missy Anne Reynolds
- Carolyn Jones – Mrs. Moore
- Lloyd Bridges – Evan Brent
- Georg Stanford Brown – Tom Harvey
- Brad Davis – Ol' George Johnson
- Lane Binkley – Martha Johnson
- Hilly Hicks – Lewis
- Lynne Moody – Irene Harvey
- Austin Stoker – Virgil
- Ralph Waite – Third mate Slater
- Cicely Tyson – Binta
- Thalmus Rasulala – Omoro
- Moses Gunn – Kintango
- Hari Rhodes – Brima Cesay
- Ernest Lee Thomas – Kailuba
- Lorne Greene – John Reynolds
- Scatman Crothers – Mingo
- George Hamilton – Stephen Bennett
- Lillian Randolph – Sister Sara
- Roxie Roker – Malizy
- Richard Roundtree – Sam Bennett
- Thayer David – Harlan
- Tanya Boyd – Genelva
- John Quade – Sheriff Biggs
- Maya Angelou – Nyo Boto
- O. J. Simpson – Kadi Touray
- Beverly Todd – Older Fanta
- Paul Shenar – John Carrington
- Gary Collins – Grill
- Richard Farnsworth – Trumbull
- Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs – Noah
- John Schuck – Ordell
- Macdonald Carey – Squire James
- Ian McShane – Sir Eric Russell
- Doug McClure – Jemmy Brent
- Burl Ives – Sen. Arthur Justin
- Richard McKenzie - Sam Harvey
- Sally Kemp - Lila Harvey
- William C. Watson - Gardner
- Charles Cyphers – Drake
- Macon McCalman – Poston
- Brion James – Slaver
- Tracey Gold – Young Missy Reynolds
- Todd Bridges – Bud
- Ross Chapman – Sergeant Williams
- Grand L. Bush – Captured runaway slave
International broadcast[]
| Country | Network | Local title |
|---|---|---|
| United States | ABC, BET, TV One, Bounce TV, Sundance TV | Roots |
| Australia | The 0-10 Network | |
| Germany | Deutsches Fernsehen | |
| Turkey | TRT 1 | |
| United Kingdom | BBC1, True Entertainment | |
| Brazil | Rede Globo, SBT | Raízes |
| Portugal | RTP-1, SIC Sempre Gold | |
| Finland | MTV | Juuret |
| France | Antenne 2, La Cinq | Racines |
| Israel | Israeli Television | שורשים |
| Italy | Rete 2 | Radici |
| Japan | TV Asahi, BS-TBS, Super! Drama TV | ルーツ |
| Norway | NRK | Røtter |
| Poland | TVP1, TVP2 | Korzenie |
| Sweden | SVT | Rötter |
| Uruguay | Tele12 | Raíces |
| Yugoslavia | JRT | Корени |