The WORST episodes of Finding Your Roots

Every episode of Finding Your Roots ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Finding Your Roots!

Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the 12th and latest series from the renowned cultural critic and Harvard scholar. In this 10-part series, Professor Gates continues the quest he begun in African American Lives 1 and 2 and Faces of America delving into the genealogy and genetics of an all new group of famous Americans. The series combines history and science in a fascinating exploration of race, family, and identity in today's America. Each hour features a different pair of celebrity guests, who are bound together by an intimate, sometimes hidden link, whether it be as old friends, through long-lost relatives, or even through a common ancestral past.

Last Updated: 12/7/2024Network: PBSStatus: Continuing
Where Did We Come From?
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0.00
0 votes

#1 - Where Did We Come From?

Season 8 - Episode 10 - Aired 4/19/2022

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. journeys with Erin Burnett, Amy Carlson and André Leon Talley, three guests from diverse backgrounds, as they meet the ancestors who laid the groundwork for their success.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Anchored to the Past
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0.00
0 votes

#2 - Anchored to the Past

Season 7 - Episode 14 - Aired 4/20/2021

Guests: Gretchen Carlson and Don Lemon. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. examines how journalists Gretchen Carlson and Don Lemon were able to overcome biases in their careers, drawing parallels to relatives who met profound challenges of their own.

On Broadway
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0.00
0 votes

#3 - On Broadway

Season 7 - Episode 15 - Aired 4/27/2021

Guests: Audra MacDonald and Mandy Patinkin. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. investigates the family histories of Broadway stars Audra MacDonald and Mandy Patinkin, discovering ancestors whose struggles laid the groundwork for their success.

Laughing on the Inside
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0.00
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#4 - Laughing on the Inside

Season 7 - Episode 16 - Aired 5/4/2021

Guests: Lewis Black and Roy Wood, Jr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. provides comedians Lewis Black and Roy Wood, Jr. with accounts of hardship in their family trees which may have led them to each find humor in adversity.

The New World
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0.00
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#5 - The New World

Season 7 - Episode 13 - Aired 4/13/2021

Guests: John Lithgow and Maria Hinojosa. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. traces ancestors of actor John Lithgow and journalist Maria Hinojosa who thrived in North America long before the birth of the United States.

Country Roots
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0.00
0 votes

#6 - Country Roots

Season 7 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/23/2021

Guests: Clint Black and Rosanne Cash. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uncovers the remarkably diverse backgrounds of country music icons Clint Black and Rosanne Cash.

Write My Name in the Book of Life
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0.00
0 votes

#7 - Write My Name in the Book of Life

Season 7 - Episode 11 - Aired 2/16/2021

Guests: Pharrell Williams and Kasi Lemmons. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps musician Pharrell Williams and filmmaker Kasi Lemmons uncover extraordinarily rare first-person accounts of their enslaved ancestors.

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star
6.20
5 votes

#8 - Anchormen

Season 9 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/28/2023

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Against All Odds
star
6.50
6 votes

#9 - Against All Odds

Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/26/2021

Guests: Andy Cohen and Nina Totenberg. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. introduces media personality Andy Cohen and radio journalist Nina Totenberg to ancestors who were determined to survive.

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Criminal Kind
star
6.50
2 votes

#10 - Criminal Kind

Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired 2/25/2020

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the roots of actor Laura Linney and journalists Lisa Ling and Soledad O’Brien—telling them stories of tricksters, scoundrels, and outright criminals, who nevertheless laid the groundwork for their success.

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Science Pioneers
star
6.75
4 votes

#11 - Science Pioneers

Season 6 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/4/2020

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. traces the family trees of Francis Collins, Shirley Ann Jackson, and Harold E. Varmus — three pioneering scientists who’ve made dramatic contributions to our understanding of the world, all the while knowing little about their own ancestry.

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Ancient Roots
star
6.80
5 votes

#12 - Ancient Roots

Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/18/2014

Tina Fey, George Stephanopoulos and David Sedaris, three quintessential voices in American life, descend from ancestors that were part of the wave of Greek immigrants that flooded America’s shores in the early decades of the 20th century.

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Secret Lives
star
6.83
6 votes

#13 - Secret Lives

Season 9 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/17/2023

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps comedians Carol Burnett and Niecy Nash decode scandals hidden within their roots, exposing secrets that their ancestors concealed and celebrating the virtue of accepting one’s relatives—whoever they may be.

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star
7.00
3 votes

#14 - The Brick Wall Falls

Season 10 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/13/2024

Guests: Danielle Brooks, Dionne Warwick. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps musician Dionne Warwick & actor Danielle Brooks break down barriers imposed by the slave system to learn the names of their ancestors who endured unimaginable ordeals—but emerged to forge families that thrived.

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Secrets & Lies
star
7.00
3 votes

#15 - Secrets & Lies

Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/28/2020

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps actors Sigourney Weaver, Justina Machado, and Amy Ryan unearth surprising revelations about their family histories, forever altering how they see themselves.

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The Eye of the Beholder
star
7.00
5 votes

#16 - The Eye of the Beholder

Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 4/2/2019

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. shares the family histories of director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, iconoclastic performance artist Marina Abramović and painter Kehinde Wiley. These visionary artists find their identities challenged—and affirmed.

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Funny Business
star
7.08
13 votes

#17 - Funny Business

Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/19/2017

Garrison Keillor, Amy Schumer and Aziz Ansari, three guests who have found fame mining their family stories for comedy learn about ancestors who overcame immense suffering.

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star
7.20
5 votes

#18 - In the Blood

Season 10 - Episode 9 - Aired 4/2/2024

Guest: Michael Douglas, Lena Dunham. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the roots of actor Michael Douglas & writer-director Lena Dunham. Both are the children of famous artists, but their family trees contain a cast of fascinating characters whose lives were forgotten—until now.

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Songs of the Past
star
7.25
4 votes

#19 - Songs of the Past

Season 8 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/22/2022

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. accompanies Broadway stars Leslie Odom, Jr. and Nathan Lane as they meet a cast of inspiring ancestors hidden in the branches of their family trees.

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Hard Times
star
7.27
11 votes

#20 - Hard Times

Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/26/2019

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the family stories of filmmaker Michael Moore and actors Laura Linney and Chloë Sevigny—three people whose distant ancestors overcame great hardships in ways that resonate with their lives today.

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Kevin Bacon - Kyra Sedgwick
star
7.32
22 votes

#21 - Kevin Bacon - Kyra Sedgwick

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/8/2012

What do Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick have in common? They are both famous actors and both descend from prominent American families that have been in this country since its inception. But they share something else, too: both had ancestors who were early opponents of slavery. Bacon's Quaker ancestors repudiated slavery long before the rest of the country, in 1780. And Sedgwick's ancestor Theodore Sedgwick argued the freedom case of Elizabeth Freeman, also known as "Mumbet," in 1781 -- which helped bring an end to slavery in Massachusetts. We reveal this fact - and many others - to Sedgwick and Bacon in this episode, and learn quite a bit about slavery in the North in the process.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
star
7.33
3 votes

#22 - Viewers Like You

Season 10 - Episode 10 - Aired 4/9/2024

Guests: Selected "Finding Your Roots" viewers. After a nationwide search, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. meets 3 everyday Americans who are haunted by deep family mysteries. Gates unravels these mysteries, allowing his guests to understand themselves—and their families-—as never before.

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The Pioneers
star
7.39
18 votes

#23 - The Pioneers

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/23/2016

Discover how Neil Patrick Harris, Gloria Steinem and Sandra Cisneros are connected to pioneers who broke new ground and paved the way for their modern day descendants to continue shaping our culture.

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And Still I Rise
star
7.40
5 votes

#24 - And Still I Rise

Season 9 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/21/2023

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. reveals the unexpected family trees of activist Angela Y. Davis and statesman Jeh Johnson, using DNA and long-lost records to redefine notions of the black experience—and challenge preconceptions of America’s past.

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No Irish Need Apply
star
7.40
5 votes

#25 - No Irish Need Apply

Season 7 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/2/2021

Guests: Jane Lynch and Jim Gaffigan. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the roots of actor Jane Lynch and comedian Jim Gaffigan, revealing the Irish American experience through their families.

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