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Roots
Genre	Period piece
Running time
Creator(s)	Alex Haley
Producer(s)	Stan Margulies
Starring	LeVar Burton Leslie Uggams Ben Vereen Brad Davis
Country of origin	United States
Original channel	ABC
Original run	January 23, 1977 – January 30, 1977
No. of episodes	8
Followed by	Roots: The Next Generations
IMDb profile
TV.com summary
All Movie Guide profile

Roots is a 1977 American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's work Roots: The Saga of an American Family, his critically acclaimed genealogical novel.

Roots was a ground-breaking event in U.S.A. television history, receiving 37 Emmy Award-nominations. It went on to win 9 Emmys, a Golden Globe, and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen Ratings (with the finale still standing as the 3rd highest rated U.S. program ever^[1], behind the series finale of M*A*S*H and the resolution to "Who Shot J.R.?" on Dallas) and captivated American television audiences, successfully crossing racial lines and piquing the interest of families in all ethnic groups.

The series and its 1979 sequel Roots: The Next Generations featured many African American actors at all levels of experience. The program introduced LeVar Burton in the role of Kunta Kinte. It also starred Louis Gossett Jr. as Fiddler. A second sequel, Roots: The Gift, was also produced as a Christmas movie and is widely considered inferior to the other two entries in the series, despite the fact that LeVar Burton and Louis Gossett Jr. star.

Roots and the book it was adapted from revived interest in oral and genealogical history among all segments of the population. It also spurred an interest in African or African sounding names; Kizzy (played by Leslie Uggams), for example, became popular for African-American baby girls. Even an entire generation later, famous black American comedian Dave Chappelle satirized the TV series in a popular sketch aired on his Chappelle's Show.

The series was directed by Marvin J. Chomsky, John Erman, David Greene and Gilbert Moses. It was produced by Stan Margulies; David L. Wolper was executive producer. The now-familiar score was composed by Gerald Fried and Quincy Jones.

Alex Haley narrates the last few minutes of the series, where photos of him appear along with other people who connect him as the 9th generation from Kunte Kinte's grandmother to him.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Differences between miniseries and book 3 Cast 4 DVD release 5 References 6 External links

In the Gambia, West Africa, in 1750, a baby boy, Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton) is born to Mandinka warrior Omoro Kinte (Thalmus Rasulala) and his wife Binta (Cicely Tyson). When their son reaches the age of 15, he and a group of other adolescent males take part in a tribal ceremony known as the "coming of manhood." After the ceremony, Kunta is considered to be a man, and a Mandikan warrior. However, white slave traders from Colonial America come to the Gambia and capture natives to be slaves. Kunta is among those captured. During the course of their forced journey, a group of slaves rebel, but fail to take over the ship. After months of travel to America, the ship lands in Annapolis, Maryland, where the captured Africans are sold as slaves. After being sold to different masters, Kunta Kinte is separated from his friend Fanta, and he is forced to take the slave name of Toby. An older slave named Fiddler is charged with teaching Toby the ways of being a slave, including learning English. In his desperate struggle to survive, he makes several attempts to escape. Eventually, he adapts to his harsh lifestyle, but only after having half his foot chopped off to keep him from attempting further escapes. Toby / Kunta Kinte learns the what it means to be a slave, but still remembers his Mandinkan roots and what it was to once be free.

There are numerous differences between the miniseries and novel that it is based on. The differences include:

• All the characters surnames are different. (Waller is changed to Reynolds, Lea is changed to Moore, and Murray is changed to Harvey.) Additionally, Murray's first name is not revealed in the book, whereas Harvey is given the first name Samuel in the miniseries.
• The Characters of Kairaba Kunte Kinte and Sireng his first wife are never referenced in the miniseries as in the book.
• The book records the early life and adolescence of Kunta Kinte while the miniseries covers only his birth and teenage years.
• The Character of Nyo Boto is a combination of the same character in the novel as well as Kunta's paternal grandmother Yaisa. Also Nyo Boto seems to be Kunta's maternal grandmother in the television adaption where as the novel portrays her as a family friend and someone who fills in the void of grandmother when Yaisa dies.
• Kunta has two more brothers besides Lamin, named Suwadu and Madi in the novel while he is only referred to have one in the television adaption.
• The character of Fanta is a widow at least twenty years older than Kunta in the novel while she is portrayed as closer to his age in the miniseries. She also plays a more crucial role in Kunta's journey whereas in the novel she has only one scene, and is never captured along with Kunta.
• Kunta's two half-uncles Janneh and Saloum Kinte are omitted entirely.
• The sub plot of Captain Thomas Davies and his crew was expanded. In the book they are never named.
• In the novel, Kunta is knocked unconscious when he is captured, but in the miniseries he is wide awake as he is taken into slavery on the ship.
• The captured men are chained nude to each other but they are clothed in the miniseries. However some of the women captured, most notably one who commits suicide in order to escape are topless.
• The woman who tries to escape seemingly dies by drowning but in the novel she is quickly attacked and killed by sharks.
• An entire scene of John Reynolds and his family is only in the miniseries. Also later scenes of Reynolds and his brother were made in order to link the story.
• Kunta escapes at least three times from the Reynolds plantation during his first year there. While the miniseries only shows one escape when he is young, and the other when he is older.
• The characters of Fiddler, Mrs. Reynolds, and William Reynolds have larger roles in the miniseries than in the book.
• In the book Kunta's foot is amputated after his third escape at the age of seventeen, but in the miniseries this occurs when he is twenty six.
• Kunta's process of counting the number of rains he has seen by placing pebbles in a gourd has been omitted.
• Bell and Kunta are married after some months when she cares for him, but in the novel it takes nearly twenty two years after she cares for him before they finally marry.
• The character of Missy Anne is given a unique backstory as the product of an adulterous affair between William Reynolds and his sister-in-law. In the book Reynolds is simply Missy Anne's adopting Uncle. Also Missy Anne is slightly older in the miniseries as opposed to the novel, and plays a much larger role.
• William Reynolds's backstory involving Bell's admiration toward him and Missy Anne has been omitted.
• Kizzy's childhood has been omitted from the miniseries.
• Bell's knowledge of reading and writing was shared by Kizzy in the book. Bell seems happy with her daughter's knowledge, but in the television adaption she is furious with Kizzy for learning how to read and write from Missy Anne.
• When Kizzy is sold to Tom Moore she befriends the cook Ms. Malizy and the two become good friends for years. In the miniseries the character's name is slightly changed to Melissa, and only appears in two scenes. Also several characters whom Kizzy befriends including Uncle Pompey and Sister Sarah have been omitted entirely, though Pompey is shown as the drummer plotting to escape to the north, Bodeyn Bodiako.
• In the novel, Mrs. Moore is a scatterbrained but somewhat understanding woman who shows benevolence at times. But in the television adaption, she is an aloof shrew who is very disturbed by her husband's adultery and has a quick temper.
• The romance between Kizzy and Sam Bennett, and her returning to the Reynolds plantation were she finds Kunta's grave was created for the miniseries.
• Matilda's father, a Reverend, is seen briefly, while in the book Matilda claims she never knew anything about her father except that his name was Virgil, and it was a reverend who formally owned her.
• Out of Matilda's eight children only Tom and Lewis and Julius remain in the miniseries.
• The plot regarding Nat Turner and his rebellion is dated as occurring in 1841 but in reality it happened a decade before.
• Chicken George leaves for England and does not return for twenty years whereas the novel portrays his stay as four years.
• The selling of Chicken George's family and his later return to the Moore plantation are only referenced but never shown. Additionally, the skills that Tom Harvey shows as a blacksmith at a young age and his eventual marriage to Irene Holt, are not shown.
• In the book Irene is pregnant when she first meets Chicken George but in the miniseries she already has at least four children as opposed to eight in the book.
• C. J. Barnes is changed to Evan Brent.
• In the novel, Tom is shoeing horses for Captain J. D. Cates, a former Alamance County sheriff. In the mini-series he is working for Evan Brent.
• Most of the plot from the eighth episode was created especially for the miniseries and was not derived from the book.
• In the film, Martha is with Ol' George Johnson when he arrives. In the novel he goes and fetches her after a time.
• Senator Arthur Johnson was created for the miniseries, as was the selling of Sam Harvey's property and the delayed freedom of the slaves.

Roots rocked the cultural landscape in the late '70s, creating a new wave of awareness of black history. That wave opened the door for its sequel, Roots: The Next Generations, even more of a star-studded event than the original, with stars like Olivia de Havilland, Henry Fonda, Marlon Brando, and James Earl Jones eager to partake in the tale. The sequel follows the rest of the saga of the family of author Alex Haley, from where Roots ended at the Civil War, up to the 1970s when Haley was researching and writing his earth-shattering family story.

While nothing can rival the power of the original Roots' unflinching look at the slave trade and slave life in the early years of this country, the sequel is still full of rich African American history, from Reconstruction, to Jim Crow, to the civil rights movement and the early rumblings of black power. Fonda and de Havilland are respectable in their period-piece roles, but the real power of this sequel is in the more immediate concerns of Haley and his own experience of prejudice while building a stellar reputation as a writer and journalist in the '60s and '70s. One of the most unsettling scenes takes place then, when Haley interviews the head of the American Nazi Party, played with chilling diffidence by Brando. (Brando won an Emmy for this performance.) Haley is also challenged by his fractious interview with Malcolm X (a gripping Al Freeman, Jr.). Jones launches his acting career playing Haley with nuance and heart, but with a humanizing set of his own demons.

The four-disc set includes all seven episodes plus a compelling documentary, Roots: The Next Generations - The Legacy Continues, with interviews with Jones, costar and episode director Georg Stanford Brown, and a still starry-eyed David L. Wolper, who understands the cultural impact of the two miniseries he helped bring to the screen. --A.T. Hurley

• Levar Burton - Kunta Kinte/Toby
• John Amos - Toby (adult)
• Cicely Tyson - Binta
• Thalmus Rasulala - Omoro
• Maya Angelou - Nyo Boto
• O.J. Simpson - Kadi Touray
• Moses Gunn - Kintango
• Hari Rhodes - Brima Cesay
• Ren Woods - Fanta
• Beverly Todd - Fanta (adult)
• Ernest Lee Thomas - Kailuba
• Edward Asner - Capt. Davies
• Ralph Waite - Third Mate Slater
• Louis Gossett Jr. - Fiddler
• Lorne Greene - John Reynolds
• Lynda Day George - Mrs. Reynolds
• Vic Morrow - Ames
• Paul Shenar - John Carrington
• Robert Reed - Dr. William Reynolds
• Madge Sinclair - Bell Reynolds
• Gary Collins - Grill
• Raymond St. Jacques - The Drummer
• Chuck Connors - Tom Moore
• Sandy Duncan - Missy Anne Reynolds
• Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs - Noah
• John Schuck - Ordell
• Leslie Uggams - Kizzy Reynolds
• Macdonald Carey - Squire James
• Olivia Cole - Mathilda
• Scatman Crothers - Mingo
• George Hamilton - Stephen Bennett
• Carolyn Jones - Mrs. Moore
• Ian McShane - Sir Eric Russell
• Lillian Randolph - Sister Sara
• Richard Roundtree - Sam Bennett
• Ben Vereen - Chicken George Moore
• Lloyd Bridges - Evan Brent
• Georg Stanford Brown - Tom Harvey
• Brad Davis - Ol' George Johnson
• Hilly Hicks - Lewis
• Doug McClure - Jemmy Brent
• Lynne Moody - Irene Harvey
• Burl Ives - Sen. Arthur Johnson
• Thayer David - Harlan
• Roxie Roker - Melissa
• Austin Stoker - Virgil
• John Quade - Sheriff Biggs
• Charles Cyphers - Drake
• Todd Bridges - Bud

Warner Home Video, which released a 25th-anniversary 7-disc DVD edition of the series in 2002, released a four-disc (three double-sided, one single-sided) 30th-anniversary set on May 22nd, 2007. Bonus features include a new audio commentary by LeVar Burton, Cicely Tyson and Ed Asner among other key cast members, "Remembering Roots" behind-the-scenes documentary, "Crossing Over: How Roots Captivated an Entire Nation" featurette, new interviews with key cast members and the DVD-ROM "Roots Family Tree" feature.

1. ^ Nielsen Media

• Encyclopedia of Television