Roots-30th Anniversary (1977)

FilmCritic.com 8 of 10
When you think of epic mini-series, what comes to mind? Rich Man, Poor Man? Shogun? More likely than not, it's Roots, the based-on-a-true story tale that spooled over 12 hours and six nights...The entire adventure, which gives us glimpses at (by my count) six generations of characters, spans some 100 years. The unfortunate downside is that some of those 100 years are less thrilling than others. Roots starts to bog down on disc three (of its new six-disc DVD collection), when young Kunta (LeVar Burton) is replaced by old Kunta (John Amos). Amos isn't nearly the actor that Burton is, and combined with an hour of "Kunta hangs at home," the series really starts to flag...By and large, the production is thrilling and full of emotion -- and genuinely informative (albeit, like all 1970s miniseries, considerably overwrought) about the history of slavery in America. - Christopher Null
 
Reel.com 8 of 10
Roots was the first mini-series to be aired on consecutive nights rather than a single episode per week, and at a time when there were few black actors in serious prime-time offerings, it featured a virtual Who's Who of African-American actors...Hard as it is to imagine, few Americans thought much about their ancestors prior to Roots, and the show sparked a national interest in genealogy that continues to this day...Louis Gossett Jr. really shines as slave-mentor Fiddler; as does Madge Sinclair as Bell, Kunte Kinte's wife; Ben Vereen as Kunta Kinte's grandson, Chicken George; and Olivia Cole as Mathilda, the slave who marries George. For contemporary viewers, part of the fun of watching the series is recognizing all the familiar faces in unfamiliar roles. - James Plath