Television series

Roots

Name: Roots
Genre: Drama, History
Released: 1977
Cast: Robert Reed, Olivia Cole, John Amos, Madge Sinclair, Ben Vereen

Roots is the 1977 ABC miniseries, twelve hours tracing Alex Haley's ancestors from Kunta Kinte's capture in Gambia through generations of slavery to Reconstruction. It's appointment television turned cultural event, the moment a family's suffering and endurance dominated prime time. Watch it for the scale, the fury built into every performance. Slow in places, but its power is historical as much as dramatic.

TVMaze rating

8.0

If you liked this

12 Years a Slave2013

Solomon Northup's true account, filmed with unflinching clarity by Steve McQueen; it carries the same moral fury as Roots but compresses it into two hours of near-unbearable intimacy. Ejiofor's performance is devastating.

But Brutally graphic; the violence isn't stylised or softened, and some scenes are genuinely hard to sit through.

The Underground Railroad2021

Barry Jenkins turns Colson Whitehead's novel into something dreamlike and visually staggering, imagining the railroad as literal tracks beneath the earth. Ten episodes of gorgeous, painful, magical-realist storytelling.

But Deliberately slow and impressionistic; if you want plot momentum like Roots, the poetic pacing may frustrate you.

Glory1989

The first Black Union regiment's story, told with real urgency and a soundtrack that still gives chills. Denzel Washington won an Oscar for a reason.

But Focuses on white officer Robert Gould Shaw as much as the men he leads, which frustrates some viewers today.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Prince of Egypt1998

Both are stories of a people born into bondage and the long, costly path to freedom - Roots tells it as grinding historical fact, this tells the same shape as sacred myth, sung.

An animated musical about Moses freeing an enslaved people - same cry for freedom, same generational bondage, told in songs and DreamWorks animation rather than prestige drama.

But It's a kids' film at heart, with musical numbers where Roots has silence and dread; the tonal gap is real.

Amistad1997

Spielberg's courtroom drama about a real slave-ship revolt turns legal argument into gripping, high-stakes drama, with Djimon Hounsou commanding every scene he appears in, matching Roots' scale with real historical weight.

But The back half leans heavily into legal procedure, which can feel dry after the ship's visceral opening.

North and South1985no page yet

An epic multi-generational miniseries from the same era as Roots, tracing two families - one Southern, one Northern - through the Civil War. Big, soapy, unapologetically sweeping.

But Melodramatic and occasionally corny where Roots is grave; treats slavery as backdrop to a romance more than the main subject.

Beloved1998

Toni Morrison's ghost story about slavery's unhealed aftermath, anchored by Oprah Winfrey in a performance of astonishing rawness - haunting in the literal sense and every other sense too.

But Structurally strange and demanding - nonlinear, heavily symbolic, and sometimes disorienting rather than easy to simply follow along.

The Book of Negroes2015no page yet

A Canadian-produced miniseries following one woman's journey from capture in Africa through slavery, freedom, and the founding of Sierra Leone, anchored by an extraordinary performance from Aunjanue Ellis.

But Less widely seen than its quality deserves, so streaming availability can be patchy depending on region.

Underground2016no page yet

A faster, more thriller-paced take on the Underground Railroad, following enslaved people planning an escape. Genuine tension, terrific ensemble, modern soundtrack choices that shouldn't work but do.

But Pulpier and more plot-driven than Roots; some found the stylistic choices (anachronistic music) jarring against the subject matter.

Queen Sugar2016no page yet

Alex Haley's own follow-up, tracing another branch of his family through the generation after Roots, with a young Halle Berry giving an early, striking lead performance.

But Never reached the same cultural height as Roots and feels smaller in scale and ambition.

Band of Angels1957no page yet

This is what mainstream American film said about slavery before Roots forced the conversation - watching it shows exactly how much Roots changed by simply telling the story straight.

A studio-era Hollywood melodrama starring Clark Gable, made two full decades before Roots, tackling the very same plantation South but with none of its clarity, courage, or honesty.

But Its politics are muddled and dated at best, offensive at points; it treats slavery as backdrop to a doomed romance.

Mandingo1975no page yet

Same historical setting, opposite instinct - where Roots insists on dignity and testimony, this insists on spectacle and shock, and knowing both existed side by side says something about the era that made Roots necessary.

A lurid, notorious plantation melodrama released two years before Roots, wildly popular in its day and now a fascinating, uncomfortable artifact of how slavery could be sold as pulp entertainment.

But Deliberately exploitative and sensationalized; many find it grotesque rather than illuminating, and it hasn't aged into 'so bad it's good' territory for everyone.