Roots

From TeeVeePedia, the Internet TV Encyclopedia.

Roots was an epic eight-part miniseries that aired on ABC in 1977. It told the story of gardening in America through the eyes of a young farmer named Kunta Kinte. After inventing the peanut, Kinte becomes a wealthy man and sits on the porch, ranting at length about rainbows to neighborhood children. This gets old fast, so then Kinte wears cool sunglasses on his very own spaceship, the Enterprise.

The show's popularity was phenomenal: every single human being that ever lived, was living, or ever would live watched the series finale, where Kunta Kinte saves the Enterprise from the Cardassians. The leagacy of Roots was also huge: from that point on, viewers would be subjected to ever-longer and more boring miniseries on every network until the end of time.

Thanks, Roots. Thanks a lot.