I saw it when originally aired. 8 days of a dramatization of Alex Haley’s novel. It came to mind this week as Levar Burton was on Rob Lowe’s podcast talking about his career. A week before airing, Burton’s manager introduced Rob to a man who was about to become the most famous man in the world.
The refusal of Kunta Kinte to initially acknowledge his English name in spite of the whipping was heartbreaking. Fiddler played by Louis Gossett Jr. was real. The cast was stellar.
Did you watch for all 8 nights? It still holds up and I think better than the 2016 version though this scene is far more brutal.
Burton also said in the first season of ST:TNG, his lack of vision wearing the hair retention device over his eyes caused him to bump into a lot of things.