The BEST episodes of American Experience season 28

Every episode of American Experience season 28, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of American Experience season 28!

Presents an absorbing look at the personalities, events and resources that have had a profound impact on the shaping of America's past and present.

Last Updated: 3/26/2024Network: PBSStatus: Continuing
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The Boys of '36
star
10.00
29 votes

#1 - The Boys of '36

Season 28 - Episode 10 - Aired 8/2/2016

A group of working-class boys from the University of Washington, in the United States, surprise a nation when they capture the gold medal in rowing at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin.

Directors: Margaret Grossi
Watch Now:Amazon
Walt Disney (2)
star
9.15
46 votes

#2 - Walt Disney (2)

Season 28 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/15/2015

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE offers an unprecedented look at the life and legacy of one of America’s most enduring and influential storytellers in Walt Disney, a new two-part, four-hour film premiering Monday and Tuesday, September 14-15, 2015, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET on PBS

Watch Now:Amazon
Walt Disney (1)
star
8.98
52 votes

#3 - Walt Disney (1)

Season 28 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/14/2015

In 1966, the year Walt Disney died, 240 million people saw a Disney movie, 100 million tuned in to a Disney television program, 80 million bought Disney merchandise, and close to seven million visited Disneyland. Few creative figures before or since have held such a long-lasting place in American life and popular culture.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Perfect Crime
star
8.41
22 votes

#4 - The Perfect Crime

Season 28 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/9/2016

The shocking story of Richard Leopold and Nathan Loeb, two wealthy college students who murdered a 14-year-old boy in 1924 to prove they were smart enough to get away with it. Their trial, with famed defense attorney Clarence Darrow and Cook County Prosecutor Robert Crowe, set off a national debate about morality and capital punishment.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Mine Wars
star
8.00
1 votes

#5 - The Mine Wars

Season 28 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/26/2016

Go inside the coal miners' bitter battle for dignity at the dawn of the 20th century with The Mine Wars. The struggle over the material that fueled America led to the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War and turned parts of West Virginia into a bloody war zone.

Directors: Randall MacLowry
Bonnie & Clyde
star
8.00
1 votes

#6 - Bonnie & Clyde

Season 28 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/19/2016

Though their exploits were romanticized, the Barrow gang was believed responsible for at least 13 murders, including nine law enforcement officers, as well as numerous robberies and kidnappings. Discover the true story of the most famous outlaw couple in U.S. history -- Bonnie and Clyde.

Directors: John Maggio
Writer: John Maggio
The Pilgrims
star
7.67
3 votes

#7 - The Pilgrims

Season 28 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/24/2015

The challenges the Pilgrims faced in making new lives for themselves still resonate almost 400 years later: the tensions of faith and freedom in American society, the separation of Church and State, and cultural encounters resulting from immigration.

Directors: Ric Burns
Writer: Ric Burns
Murder of a President
star
7.64
45 votes

#8 - Murder of a President

Season 28 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/2/2016

The story of James Garfield, one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president, and his assassination by a deluded madman named Charles Guiteau. Follow Garfield's unprecedented rise to power, his shooting only four months into his presidency, and its bizarre and heartbreaking aftermath.

Directors: Rob Rapley
American Comandante
star
7.50
2 votes

#9 - American Comandante

Season 28 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/17/2015

When William Morgan was executed outside a Havana prison on March 11, 1961, his strange story seemed to vanish from the popular imagination as quickly as it had appeared; it was lost in the classified archives of the Cold War and edited out of Cuban history by Fidel Castro’s retelling of the revolution.

Directors: Adriana Bosch
Space Men
star
0.00
0 votes

#10 - Space Men

Season 28 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/1/2016

In the 1950s and early '60s, a small band of high-altitude pioneers exposed themselves to the extreme forces of the space age long before NASA's acclaimed Mercury 7 would make headlines. Though largely forgotten today, balloonists were the first to venture into the frozen near-vacuum on the edge of our world, exploring the very limits of human physiology and human ingenuity in this lethal realm.

Directors: Amanda Pollak