---
title: "Roots"
year: 1977
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/roots"
fi1m_score: 83
critics_reviews: 3
published: "2026-09-16T16:48:16.657171+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-16T16:48:56.695639+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Roots (1977)

Created by Alex Haley · 1h 30m · MPA NR · Drama

**Fi1m score: 83** · Critics: 3 of 6 reviews so far

*In a sentence:* Eight episodes, and the family names matter more than the famous ones

> *Roots* is demanding, affecting television, carried by LeVar Burton and an ensemble that makes the suffering personal. The storytelling sometimes presses harder than it needs to, but we warmly recommend it for the performances.

## Synopsis

The story follows Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton) within the wider history of an American family shaped by slavery. Binta (Cicely Tyson) and Fiddler (Louis Gossett Jr.) are among the people whose lives give that history a personal scale. Slavery puts personal freedom, family ties and the possibility of an ordinary life at stake. The drama keeps its attention on the people living through that system, connecting their experience of violence and degradation to the history of a country and the lives of those denied a say in it.

## Review

*Roots* is a forceful family drama about slavery, and its performances justify the considerable demands it makes. Alex Haley’s series asks us to attend to people whom an account of American history can reduce to labour, property or numbers. Its violence matters because those people have names and relationships, and because the actors make their suffering difficult to regard from a comfortable distance. The programme takes its responsibility seriously, sometimes too visibly, but it gives us people worth spending that time with.

LeVar Burton, as Kunta Kinte, is the strongest reason to watch. His performance makes the loss of freedom painful to contemplate without requiring us to think about the whole history of slavery every time we look at him. We were distressed by the violence and degradation because LeVar Burton had made Kunta Kinte matter to us as a person. That may sound like the basic requirement of this sort of drama, but it is difficult work, and the performance deserves the praise it has received.

Cicely Tyson as Binta and Louis Gossett Jr. as Fiddler give the series further human weight. The ensemble keeps individual people recognisable within a story whose subject could easily overwhelm them. There is room to respond to an actor, to become interested in a character, without every response being dictated by the programme’s historical importance. That is essential across a miniseries: agreement with what it says about slavery would be a thin reason to keep watching on its own.

The direction is shared by Marvin J. Chomsky, David Greene, John Erman and Gilbert Moses. Its emotional directness helps make the suffering comprehensible, and there is little danger of missing what the programme wants us to understand. The drawback is an occasional insistence that feels unnecessary when the actors have already done enough. We wanted more quiet in those passages, and more confidence that an audience could be affected without quite so much encouragement.

The editing, credited to Neil Travis, James T. Heckert and Peter Kirby, generally makes a substantial family story manageable. The weaker stretches feel prolonged by emphasis, with too much time spent reinforcing an effect already achieved. The music credited to Gerald Fried and Quincy Jones contributes to the emotional force, though it also shares that tendency to press a point. These reservations concern how insistently the drama directs our response; the violence itself belongs to the history it is confronting.

As a family saga, the series gives relationships enough importance to prevent survival becoming a simple matter of reaching the next episode. Caring about another person brings its own fears, and the acting makes those fears persuasive. The earnestness can be tiring, particularly when the storytelling becomes stiff with the duty to explain. Yet the people remain more interesting than the explanations, which is why the programme continues to work when its methods feel heavy-handed.

Set aside time for it, and allow for pauses instead of treating the episode count as a challenge. The violence and degradation make this demanding viewing even when the storytelling is at its most straightforward. LeVar Burton deserves better than half our attention.

*Fi1m score 83, published 16 September 2026.*

### Reviews we read (3)

- **Vulture**, Matt Zoller Seitz (90/100, inferred): The critic hails the 1977 miniseries as the most important scripted program in broadcast network history for its moral and political clarity on slavery and its impact on American identity. It notes some missteps and historical inaccuracies in the source material but praises its enduring ability to illuminate U.S. history. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2016/05/why-roots-was-so-important.html)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Morna Murphy (70/100, inferred): This searingly honest look at suppressed American history will have a strong social impact through its human dimension amid violence and degradation. The production features excellent performances from overlooked American actors and tasteful adaptation of the novel. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/roots-review-1977-tv-drama-1077045/)
- **Variety**, Variety Staff (70/100, inferred): The miniseries deserves attention and praise for its ambitious subject and innovative scheduling. It succeeds as fresh and innovative television through strong production values and standout performances, particularly from newcomer LeVar Burton and Edward Asner. [Read](https://variety.com/1977/tv/reviews/roots-1200423818/)

## Details

- **Created by:** Alex Haley
- **Creator:** Alex Haley
- **Director:** Marvin J. Chomsky, David Greene, John Erman, Gilbert Moses
- **Screenplay:** M. Charles Cohen, William Blinn, James Lee, Ernest Kinoy
- **Writer:** Alex Haley
- **Editor:** Neil Travis, James T. Heckert, Peter Kirby
- **Music:** Gerald Fried, Quincy Jones
- **Cast:** LeVar Burton as Kunta Kinte; Olivia Cole as Mathilda; Ben Vereen as Chicken George Moore; Cicely Tyson as Binta; Louis Gossett Jr. as Fiddler; Ji-Tu Cumbuka as Wrestler; Chuck Connors as Tom Moore; Carolyn Jones as Mrs. Moore
- **Runtime:** 1h 30m
- **Certificate (MPA):** NR
- **Release (the US):** 23 January 1977
- **Genres:** Drama

## Where to watch in the US

- Amazon Prime Video: buy, hd

*Checked 2026-09-16.*

Also available in: AT, GB, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series 1977: Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series (won)
- Peabody Awards 1977: Peabody Awards (won)
- Primetime Emmy Awards 1977: Outstanding Limited Miniseries (won); Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) (won)

## If you liked this

- *Sounder* (1972): Another family drama in which endurance matters because the people do.
- *Daughters of the Dust* (1991): Family memory and competing futures, told with more patience for uncertainty.
- *The Long Song* (2018): Slavery in Jamaica, with a sharp eye for the absurdities of power.
- *Black Girl* (1966): A shorter, harsher account of how domestic service can become captivity.
- *Small Axe* (2020): Black British lives given close attention across work, community, resistance and celebration.

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/roots