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 - Kennedy vs. Wallace: A Crisis Up Close
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/15/1988
John Kennedy and George Wallace clash over questions of civil rights in early 1960s Alabama.
#2 - Eudora Welty: One Writer's Beginnings
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/3/1989
The work of photographer and author Eudora Welty and her impressions of the south after the turn of the 20th century.
#3 - The World That Moses Built
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/10/1989
A biography of Robert Moses, single-minded visionary behind many of New York City's largest and most expensive construction projects.
#4 - The Great Air Race of 1924
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/3/1989
Early American aviators try to cross the planet with primitive planes of limited range and under harsh conditions.
#5 - A Family Gathering
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/17/1989
An examination of a the story of a Japanese family in America from their arrival in the US to the days of suspicion during World War II.
#6 - Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/19/1989
The work of a notable civil rights crusader in the late 19th and early 20th century.
#7 - Battle for Wilderness
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/9/1990
A profile of an early environmental dispute over the construction of a dam in California after the earthquake of 1906.
#8 - Adam Clayton Powell
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/28/1989
Documentary on the life of civil rights advocate Powell, including his career as a Harlem minister and a US Congressman.
#9 - Mr. Sears' Catalogue
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/14/1989
The story behind the mail order tome that brought merchandise (or dreams of it) within reach of Americans far and wide.
#10 - Ballad of a Mountain Man
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/12/1989
Story of a folklore historian who sought to preserve the traditional music of the Appalachians for posterity.
#11 - Forbidden City, USA
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/2/1990
The Americanization of Chinese people in the 1920s and 30s, including public roles that ran counter to their cultural history.
#12 - Roots of Resistance: The Story of the Underground Railroad
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/16/1990
A chronicle of the organized efforts to help slaves find freedom in the north.
#13 - Yosemite: The Fate of Heaven
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/21/1989
The story of Yosemite told through the diary of one of the first white Americans to visit the California valley.
#14 - Lindbergh
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/1/1990
After his famous flight, Charles Lindbergh becomes known to all the world but struggles with life in the limelight.
#15 - Journey to America
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/5/1989
Documentary on the great influx of immigrants between 1890 and the 1920s.
#16 - Insanity on Trial
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/29/1990
The trial of Charles Guiteau, a seeming madman who killed President James Garfield.
#17 - Nixon (2): Triumph
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/15/1990
Chronicle of the 37th President - from his earliest ambitions to his innovative foreign policy and paranoia of perceived rivals.
#18 - The Satellite Sky
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/5/1990
The story behind orbiting satellites, the "space race," and the proliferation and uses of man-made satellites.
#19 - After the Crash
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/7/1991
After the stock market crashed in 1929, thousands suffered unemployment and poverty in the Great Depression. The most desperate year, 1932, brought World War I veterans' Bonus March, the election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the New Deal.
#20 - The Iron Road
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/26/1990
America is spanned when the Central Pacific and Union Pacific join track and enable a railroad system that is truly transcontinental.
#21 - Coney Island
Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/4/1991
A history of the three major amusement parks that made Coney Island one of America's favorite recreational diversions in the early to mid 20th century and the ultimate fate of Coney Island.
#22 - G-Men: The Rise of J. Edgar Hoover
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/18/1991
The rise of the FBI from a minor government bureaucracy to the premiere law enforcement agency in the world under the controversial leadership of J. Edgar Hoover.
#23 - Barnum's Big Top
Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/10/1992
P.T. Barnum launches a scheme to bring entertainment and marvels to the country - something that one day becomes "The Greatest Show on Earth."
#25 - Pearl Harbor: Surprise and Remembrance
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/11/1991
Recounting the historic attack of 1941, including the planning and military outlook of both the United States and Japan at the time.
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