--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Roots image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43165c7226d9cd77/69869f3535ba6f0447c0361d/t100_tv_roots1.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Aug 12, 2014 # _Roots_ by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Everett The most watched TV drama ever, _Roots_ reached the height of TV’s ability to spur social discussion by surveying the depths of America’s original sin. The show, viewed by over 100 million Americans, provided a surrogate family story for millions of African Americans whose histories were lost in the culture-obliterating diaspora, and confronted whites with the brutalities of slavery. How authentic _Roots_‘ history was remains open to question: scholars have cast doubt on Alex Haley’s novel (which he said was based on genealogical research into his own family); the miniseries itself tended toward melodrama. But it started an important conversation about race in America and spurred popular interest in long-neglected African American history. Whether _Roots_ offered the right answers or not, its power came from getting America to ask the right questions. [Get This TV Series](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005QW6Y/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103745/roots/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103745/roots/"},"headline":"Roots","datePublished":"2014-08-12T15:10:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:01:40.979Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103745/roots/","keywords":["History","war","drama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43165c7226d9cd77/69869f3535ba6f0447c0361d/t100_tv_roots1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43165c7226d9cd77/69869f3535ba6f0447c0361d/t100_tv_roots1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103745/roots/","name":"Roots"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Roots","description":"Whether Roots offered the right answers or not, its power came from getting America to ask the right questions.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/08h6M87X/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2007-09-04T22:14:27.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/08h6M87X.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103745/roots/","duration":"PT36S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103745/roots/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```