<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Chronology </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Followed by </Th> <Td> Roots: The Next Generations </Td> </Tr> <P> Roots is an American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's 1976 novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family . The series first aired on ABC - TV in January 1977 . Roots received 37 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won nine . It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award . It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings for the finale, which still holds a record as the third highest rated episode for any type of television series, and the second most watched overall series finale in U.S. television history . It was produced on a budget of $6.6 million . The series introduced LeVar Burton in the role of Kunta Kinte . </P> <P> A sequel, Roots: The Next Generations, first aired in 1979, and a second sequel, Roots: The Gift, a Christmas TV movie, starring Burton and Louis Gossett Jr., first aired in 1988 . A related film, Alex Haley's Queen, is based on the life of Queen Jackson Haley, who was Alex Haley's paternal grandmother . </P>

When did the mini series roots come out