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Finding Your Roots

2012 – nowShow13 seasons127 episodesTV-PG

Documentary
74
GoodGoodWatch score
IMDb8.7

A deeply moving, nostalgic documentary series about history and a real life story.

Good for date night · family movie night · friends night

Skip it if you want something to laugh at

Where to watch

Fingerprint

Not for laughs, scares or brutality.

Shows with

Episodes

13 seasons · 127 episodes · best: S4E8 "Relatives We Never Knew We Had" 8.1

Episodes

7.8
7.6
7.8
7.9
7.8
7.7
7.9
7.7
7.9
7.9
7.6
6.2

Story

Noted Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has been helping people discover long-lost relatives hidden for generations within the branches of their family trees. Professor Gates utilizes a team of genealogists to reconstruct the paper trail left behind by our ancestors and the world’s leading geneticists to decode our DNA and help us travel thousands of years into the past to discover the origins of our earliest forebears.

Feels like

  • Genealogical Documentary
  • Celebrity Biographies
  • Historical Discovery
  • Emotional Reunion
  • Educational Television
  • Ancestral Mystery
  • Social History
  • Heartwarming
  • DNA Science
  • Intergenerational Connection

Cast

24 of 182 · most episodes first

Crew

Directors
Hazel Gurland-Pooler, Jesse Sweet, Phil Bertelsen
Written by
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Produced by
CeCe Moore, Kevin Burke

Everyone

Pick a department, or search for a name or a job (“editor”, “stunt”).

Facts

March 24, 2012 · April 14, 2026 · Still running

First aired
March 24, 2012
Latest episode
April 14, 2026
Status
Still running
Length
13 seasons · 127 episodes
Age rating
TV-PG
Genres
Documentary
Original language
English
Made in
United States
Available in
6 countries

Tropes

Viewers Like You, Tony Shalhoub, Danielle Brooks +9

  • Viewers Like You
  • Tony Shalhoub
  • Danielle Brooks
  • Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Tracy Morgan
  • Angela Davis
  • Regina King
  • Rubén Blades
  • Derek Jeter
  • David Chang
  • Ted Danson
  • Amy Schumer

12 of 106 tropes. From TV Tropes.

Q&A

7 questions, like "Where can I stream Finding Your Roots?"

Questions about Finding Your Roots

Quick answers from GoodWatch data.

Where can I stream Finding Your Roots?

The RokuHooplaPBSPluto TVPlexPBS LivingPBS DocumentariesKQED

In the United States, Finding Your Roots streams on PBS, PBS Living, PBS Documentaries, Thirteen, and WETA+, and it is free with ads on The Roku, Hoopla, Pluto TV, Plex, and KQED. You can rent or buy it from Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, and Fandango At Home. It also streams in 5 other countries.

Is Finding Your Roots worth watching?

74
GoodGoodWatch score

Mostly, it's well received, with a GoodWatch score of 74 (IMDb 8.7). Season 12 is the weak spot, with an IMDb average of 6.2 against 7.9 for the best season.

Which season of Finding Your Roots is best?

Seasons 4, 7, and 9, with an IMDb average of 7.9. Season 12 is the weakest at 6.2. The highest-rated episode is Relatives We Never Knew We Had (season 4, episode 8) at 8.1, and the lowest is Great Migrations (season 12, episode 2) at 5.5.

Is Finding Your Roots okay for kids?

TV-PG

Yes: it's rated TV-PG in the United States, and the viewing guide lists it for kids.

How long does it take to watch Finding Your Roots?

127 h

About 127 hours: 127 episodes in 13 seasons of about 60 minutes each since 2012, and it's still in production.

Will I feel good after watching Finding Your Roots?

BleakHopeful

Yes, it's an uplifting series: the title analysis rates it 8 of 10 for hopefulness and 7 for wholesome.

Is Finding Your Roots plot-driven or character-driven?

CharactersPlot

Mostly character-driven: it leans on pathos (9 of 10) and character depth (8 of 10) more than on its plot.