ROOTS
1 ABC aired this landmark series over eight consecutive nights in 1977, worried audiences wouldn’t embrace a grueling saga about the cruelties of slavery. The opposite occurred, breaking ratings records at the time as America became riveted to the multigenerational tale of kidnapped African slave Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton as a youth, John Amos as an adult) and his descendants, who never stopped yearning for freedom. (Tubi)
