The WORST episodes of American Experience
Every episode of American Experience ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of American Experience!
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.
#1 - Edison's Miracle of Light
Season 8 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/23/1995
Inventor Thomas A. Edison experiments with electricity, long-burning filaments, and glass bulbs to give America an alternative to gas lights.
#2 - Vietnam: A Television History (9): Peace Is at Hand
Season 9 - Episode 21 - Aired 7/14/1997
As President Nixon escalates the bombing of Hanoi and North Vietnamese troops advance, negotiators struggle for four years to sign a peace treaty that will be broken quickly. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.
#3 - Big Dream, Small Screen
Season 9 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/10/1997
How Philo Farnsworth combined his work with other emerging technologies to contribute to the development of television.
#4 - Hawaii's Last Queen
Season 9 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/27/1997
In 1893, the last sovereign ruler of Hawaii is removed by forces that want the islands to come under the official jurisdiction of the United States.
#5 - The Richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie
Season 9 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/20/1997
A chronicle of the rise of industrialist Andrew Carnegie, his steel empire, and his philanthropy.
#6 - Spy in the Sky
Season 8 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/26/1996
The Cold War forces the United States to build very high altitude U2 planes to record photographs of opposing nations.
#7 - The Wright Stuff
Season 8 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/12/1996
The story of Wilbur and Orville Wright and the earliest days of aviation.
#8 - Daley: The Last Boss
Season 8 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/22/1996
Biography of Chicago mayor Richard Daley, considered one of the last major heads of big city "machine" politics in the United States.
#9 - Chicago 1968
Season 8 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/13/1995
The nation watches a political convention that in many ways is a symbol of the turbulent times in which it was held.
#10 - America 1900 (1): Spirit of the Age
Season 11 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/18/1998
America 1900 presents a comprehensive picture of what life was like in the United States at the turn of the century. Both the program and the site offer compelling images, information, and documents about American life. Students will be able to grasp historical concepts and issues through the stories of ordinary people across the country. Diverse voices and faces will help expand students' knowledge and understanding of the time period and how it relates to our lives today. The program also explores key themes such as the impact of technology, the rise of racism, immigration and the search for a national identity, and the rise of America as a world power. A film by David Grubin Productions, Inc. Produced and directed by David Grubin. Written by Judy Crichton and David Grubin.
#11 - Murder of the Century
Season 8 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/16/1995
The nation is fascinated by the high-profile murder of a famous architect, apparently because of jealousy over a popular female stage performer.
#13 - One Woman, One Vote
Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/15/1995
The struggle of the women's movement and the 19th Amendment that finally extended national suffrage to women.
#14 - Freedom on My Mind
Season 8 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/15/1996
An account of the struggle to register African Americans to vote in the state of Mississippi in the 1960s.
#15 - Midnight Ramble
Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/26/1994
Oscar Micheaux and the History of Race. Oscar Micheaux wrote, produced and directed over 40 movies and despite this was really not known because he was African American . This movie recounts the history of the black film industry from 1910 to the 1940s and includes rare clips and highlights.
#16 - Telegrams from the Dead
Season 7 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/19/1994
A program that examines America's fascination with spiritualism and the occult in the second half of the 1800s.
#17 - D-Day
Season 6 - Episode 9 - Aired 5/25/1994
Archival footage and the voices of people who participated provide a unique perspective on the World War II Allied invasion of Normandy.
#18 - America and the Holocaust
Season 6 - Episode 8 - Aired 4/6/1994
America's reaction to the plight of European Jews both immediately before and during World War II.
#19 - America 1900 (4): Anything Seemed Possible
Season 11 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/25/1998
America 1900 presents a comprehensive picture of what life was like in the United States at the turn of the century. Both the program and the site offer compelling images, information, and documents about American life. Students will be able to grasp historical concepts and issues through the stories of ordinary people across the country. Diverse voices and faces will help expand students' knowledge and understanding of the time period and how it relates to our lives today. The program also explores key themes such as the impact of technology, the rise of racism, immigration and the search for a national identity, and the rise of America as a world power. A film by David Grubin Productions, Inc. Produced and directed by David Grubin. Written by Judy Crichton and David Grubin.
#20 - Race for the Superbomb
Season 11 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/11/1999
The United States and the Soviet Union work on weapons even more powerful than the earlier atomic bomb during the height of the Cold War.
#21 - Alone on the Ice
Season 11 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/8/1999
An account of Robert Byrd's adventures at the poles and his trials in Antarctica.
#22 - Rescue at Sea
Season 11 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/15/1999
The collision of two large ocean-going vessels in 1909 puts the new wireless telegraph to the test.
#23 - Meltdown at Three Mile Island
Season 11 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/22/1999
An account of the causes of the partial core meltdown at the Pennsylvania nuclear power plant in 1979 and the reactions of staff and the public.
#24 - Lost in the Grand Canyon
Season 11 - Episode 10 - Aired 4/5/1999
Geologist and explorer John Wesley Powell undertakes a dangerous water trip down the Colorado River with a crew of adventure-seekers.
#25 - Fly Girls
Season 11 - Episode 13 - Aired 5/24/1999
The lives of the Women Air Service Pilots (WASPs) and their flying exploits within the US during World War II.