History YMMV / Roots1977

* FirstInstallmentWins: The nearly unanimous opinion of critics and viewers regarding the two miniseries. While the second one is excellent in its own right, it's generally regarded as lesser than the first. The {{Interquel}} ''Roots: The Gift'' and the parallel MiniSeries ''Queen'' don't fare as well with critics.

** Tracey Gold played the young Missy Anne Reynolds in Part IV of the original miniseries.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: The horrors of slavery are shown so blatantly that the series can be a hard watch, especially when [[spoiler: it takes until Chicken George is an old man for anyone in the Kinte family to get free from slavery]]. Mind, [[TropesAreTools this isn't the show's fault]]; it's only being honest. It's just that the series works mostly as an educational tool than any kind of entertainment.

* FirstInstallmentWins: The nearly unanimous opinion of critics and viewers regarding the two miniseries. While the second one is excellent in its own right, it's generally regarded as lesser than the first. The {{Interquel}} ''Roots: The Gift'' and the parallel MiniSeries ''Queen'' don't fare as well with critics.

* FairForItsDay: Sam Harvey is generally a decent man. He clearly views his slaves as property and would prefer to keep them that way. However, he treats them as people and is not mean to them. He basically treats them as employees, rather than pack animals as some of the other masters do. When the slaves are freed after the war, he wants the former slaves to stay on and work for him, except he can't afford to pay them. He offers a sharecropping system to them, which they accept. (He is a rather poor businessman, as he neglects to have anything drawn up legally. This is horrible for the sharecroppers, as he loses his farm and the former slaves are stuck owing a ton that they can't afford to pay. This is taken advantage of by two racists, Senator Arthur J. Justin and Evan Brent, with a grudge against Tom, and by extension, the rest of the black sharecroppers.) As he is leaving the farm, he is referred to as "better than some" by his former slave Matilda, who tells her family and the rest of the ex-slaves to say goodbye and wish him well.

* FirstInstallmentWins: The nearly unanimous opinion of critics and viewers regarding the two miniseries. While the second one is excellent in its own right, it's generally regarded as lesser than the first. The midquel ''Roots: The Gift'' and the parallel MiniSeries ''Queen'' don't fare as well with critics.

* FirstInstallmentWins: The nearly unanimous opinion of critics and viewers regarding the two miniseries. While the second one is excellent in its own right, it's generally regarded as lesser than the first. ''Roots: The Gift'' and ''Queen'' don't fare as well with critics.

** 33 year old Leslie Uggams is embarrassingly hard to watch as the teenage Kizzy. Luckily, she improves significantly while playing her real age.

** Ernie Hudson played a Muslim in Part VII of ''The Next Generations''.

* MoralEventHorizon: Tom Moore crosses this the moment he appears onscreen when he rapes Kizzy. Strangely, he has a few PetTheDog moments afterwards.

** Philip Michael Thomas played Eddie in Part III of ''The Next Generations''.

* FairForItsDay: Sam Harvey is generally a decent man. He clearly views his slaves as property and would prefer to keep them that way. However, he treats them as people and is not mean to them. He basically treats them as employees, rather than pack animals as some of the other masters do. When the slaves are freed after the war, he wants the former slaves to stay on and work for him, except he can't afford to pay them. He offers a sharecropping system to them, which they accept. (He is a rather poor businessman, as he neglects to have anything drawn up legally. This is horrible for the sharecroppers, as he loses his farm and the former slaves are stuck owing a ton that they can't afford to pay. This is taken advantage of by some racists with a grudge against Tom, and by extension, the rest of the black sharecroppers.) As he is leaving the farm, he is referred to as "better than most of them".

* RetroactiveRecognition: The actors who weren't yet famous when they filmed this became so afterwards--Todd Bridges of ''Series/DifferentStrokes'', Debbie Morgan of ''Series/AllMyChildren'', Kristoff St. John of ''Series/TheYoungAndTheRestless'', etc.

* WhatAnIdiot: In the penultimate episode, one slave character discovers a thief in a food storage shed who messed the place up and runs off when discovered.\\
'''You'd expect''': "Virgil" to go to his masters and tell them about the thief to minimize the risk of being beaten when the thief runs off.\\
'''Instead''': Virgil nonchalantly tries to clean up the mess whereupon his masters come across the scene seconds later. They don't believe him when he tells them about the thief and he is promptly used as a punching bag by his handlers.

* MoralEventHorizon: Tom Moore crosses this the moment he appears onscreen when he rapes Kizzy. Strangely, he has a few PetTheDog moments afterwards

* FirstInstallmentWins: The nearly unanimous opinion of critics and viewers regarding the two miniseries. While the second one is excellent in its own right, it's generally regarded as lesser than the first.
** ''Roots: The Gift'' and ''Queen'' don't fare as well with critics.
* HilariousInHindsight: The sequel series being titled "The Next Generations" after the original introduced us to Creator/LevarBurton of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''.

* {{Narm}}: The telegraph employee enthusiastically yelling "IT'S WAR!" in an excruciatingly high-pitched voice.