first i want to point out that the revelation that alex haley plagiarize part of his novel and the allegation that he largely fabricate his family history be irrelevant to an evaluation of this program . whatever the degree of truthfulness in haley work and root have complete it transformation from history into hackneyed fiction when it come to television screen . that should be obvious to any viewer who can manage to see through all the hype . the late episode be standard issue tv entertainment for the time and on a par with gun smoke or little house on the prairie . but the early episode do not come off too well either . in the first episode a scene be add for no other apparent reason than to allow o. j. simpson a cameo . i cringe when i saw simpson run across the african grassland and not because of his subsequent notoriety and but because of the very unsubtle association between african ancestry and modern day athletic prowess . the producer also apparently fear and perhaps correctly and that they would lose audience share if they do not have white face on the screen every fifteen minute . and so the moral anguish of the slave ship captain ( edward asner ) be give a much importance a the ordeal of the african in chain below deck . in another gratuitous scene and we see kunta kinte master ( robert reed ) have a tryst with his sister in law ( linda day george ) . that scene be pure trash and especially when george tell reed that she would like to be a darkie so that he would come to her cabin and take her . give the film all star cast and it not surprise that the performance be of very uneven quality . levar burton and cicely tyson and ben vereen a the young chicken george and and olivia cole be excellent . a kunta grandmother and maya angelou seem to be channel and well and maya angelou . ( the subtext of her performance be look at me . ) the white actor be second rate at best . thirty year after root and it time for white and black viewer alike to forget this tripe and read a few history book .