Roots (TV miniseries)

1977 American TV miniseries

Roots is an American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's 1976 book Roots: The Saga of an American Family. It was first shown on ABC in 1977. It was shown over eight nights, from January 23 to January 30, 1977. It was followed by two sequels: Roots: The Next Generations, which was shown on ABC in 1979, and Roots: The Gift, a Christmas television movie which was shown on ABC in 1988. It got 37 Emmy Award nominations and won nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award.[2]

Roots
GenreHistorical novel-based
Drama
Directed byMarvin J. Chomsky
John Erman
David Green
Gilbert Moses
Produced byStan Margulies
Written byAlex Haley
Screenplay byAlex Haley
James Lee
StarringJohn Amos
Ben Vereen
LeVar Burton
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Leslie Uggams
Vic Morrow
Ralph Waite
Olivia Cole
Music byGerald Fried
Quincy Jones (episode 1)
BudgetUS $6.6 million[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Original channelABC
Original runJanuary 23, 1977 – January 30, 1977
Running time570 minutes
No. of episodes8 (re-edited to 6 for video)
Followed byRoots: The Next Generations

The miniseries is about several generations of an African-American slave family. It shows their daily lives, where they are forced into labor, rape, and the sale and separation of their own family.

References

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  1. "New Roots series expected to yield big bucks for ABC". Ottawa Citizen. February 20, 1979. p. 54. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
  2. Awards for "Roots"

Other websites

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