(This post is part
of a series on the 14 Top TV Dramas You’ve Never Seen)
Number 9 in our countdown of The Top TV Dramas You’ve
Never Seen, is Roots. All
right, maybe you have seen this one. I watched it with my college journalism gang
when it was first broadcast. The show made television history for many reasons.
It was one of the first miniseries and ABC took a tremendous gamble by
pre-empting a week of prime time programming to show Roots every night. The
gamble paid off: the finale remains the third-highest rated U.S. television
program ever broadcast and Roots received 36 Emmy Award nominations, winning
nine. It spawned two sequels: the miniseries Roots: The Next Generations and a
Christmas movie, Roots: The Gift. It also launched an American obsession with
genealogy. The series was notable for tackling a controversial issue, slavery
and its associated racism, and was the first TV series to feature a
predominantly black cast, propelling several black actors to fame.
Roots is a generational saga, telling the story of the
African youth Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton) — who is captured by other Africans, sold to
slavers, and taken to America in chains — and his descendents. Kinte is sold to a plantation owner and, like a
caged lion, yearns for his lost freedom. He later marries a slave, Belle, and
fathers a daughter, Kizzie (Leslie Uggams). The girl is befriended by the daughter of the
plantation owner’s wife, who teaches her to read and write. Kizzie is sold to a
plantation in North Carolina and raped by its owner. She gives birth to a child who grows up to be known as “Chicken” George (Ben Vereen) because of his skill as a
cockfighter. The series ends with George telling his grandson about his own
grandfather, the African Kunta Kinte.
It’s a captivating story portrayed by a top-notch cast. My
only criticism is it presents a rather simplistic view of a complex period in
American history, leaving the impression all white people were vile and evil.
The whites are all rapists and sadists; there are no kind or humane slave
owners (even though half the nation’s population was composed of slave states)
and the blacks (with the exception of the Africans who sold Kunta Kinte into
slavery) are all portrayed as virtuous victims, befitting descendents of the
“noble savage”. After a few hours of viewing, you might well find yourself asking, as did
Abraham of Sodom and Gomorrah, if even 10 righteous (white) men existed in this
time and place. The noble savage motif was often used as a literary device to
convey the notion men are essentially good in a state of nature, such as the
African jungle (Kunta Kinte) or the western plains (American Indians) compared to
the corrupt men of the civilized world. It is, of course, an idealistic and romanticized
fiction. There have always been good and bad men in civilized cultures, just as
good and evil individuals have always existed in so-called uncivilized
societies. I’m sure there were black sadists and rapists and decent white
folks, but apparently not in Roots. Of course, the producers were going for
controversy and shock value at the time, and they achieved it.
Overall, Roots is an excellent drama, a compelling story,
and a showcase for many talented black actors who had few venues available in
the 1970s. Below,
you'll find links to the show's listings at the Internet Movie Database,
TV.com, an episode guide, a clip from the series hosted on YouTube, and a link
to purchase the DVDs on Amazon. In the clip I've selected, Kinte has been
captured after his escape. He still proudly clings to his name, Kunta Kinte,
the last relic of his former freedom. The plantation overseer whips him,
determined to break his spirit by forcing him to accept “Toby” as his slave
name.
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