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.

Last Updated: 12/19/2024Network: PBSStatus: Continuing
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#1 - 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.

Writer: David Dugan
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#2 - 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.

Directors: Nancy Porter
Writer: Nancy Porter
Race for the Super Bomb
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#3 - Race for the Super Bomb

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.

Directors: Thomas Ott
Writer: Thomas Ott
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#4 - America 1900 (4): Anything Seemed Possible

Season 11 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/25/1998

Directors: David Grubin
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#5 - America 1900 (1): Spirit of the Age

Season 11 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/18/1998

Directors: David Grubin
Vietnam: A Television History (9): Peace Is at Hand
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#6 - 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.

Directors: Martin Smith
Writer: Martin Smith
Vietnam: A Television History (7): Vietnamizing the War
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#7 - Vietnam: A Television History (7): Vietnamizing the War

Season 9 - Episode 19 - Aired 6/30/1997

As the U.S. turns over the war to the South Vietnamese army, American soldiers and Vietnamese citizens feel the dimming prospects for victory. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.

Directors: Martin Smith
Writer: Martin Smith
Vietnam: A Television History (5): America's Enemy
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#8 - Vietnam: A Television History (5): America's Enemy

Season 9 - Episode 17 - Aired 6/16/1997

The war Americans seldom saw: the view from North Vietnam, featuring the perspectives of communist leaders, Vietcong guerrillas and American prisoners of war. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.

Directors: Martin Smith
Writer: Martin Smith
Vietnam: A Television History (3): LBJ Goes to War
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#9 - Vietnam: A Television History (3): LBJ Goes to War

Season 9 - Episode 15 - Aired 6/2/1997

Charging that North Vietnam has attacked American ships in the Gulf of Tonkin, President Lyndon B. Johnson orders bombing raids and sends 200,000 troops into an undeclared war. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.

Directors: Austin Hoyt
Writer: Austin Hoyt
Vietnam: A Television History (1): The First Vietnam War (1946-1954)
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#10 - Vietnam: A Television History (1): The First Vietnam War (1946-1954)

Season 9 - Episode 13 - Aired 5/26/1997

This program traces the rise of a pro-American Vietnamese nationalist, Ho Chi Minh, whose Viet Minh guerrillas grab a stunning victory over French colonial forces. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.

Directors: Judy Vecchione
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#11 - Gold Fever

Season 9 - Episode 12 - Aired 5/12/1997

The story of the last great gold rush in North America, the search in the Yukon and Klondike at the end of the 19th century.

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#12 - Around the World in 72 Days

Season 9 - Episode 11 - Aired 4/28/1997

Groundbreaking New York reporter Nellie Bly uses all manner of transportation to beat the fictional feat of Verne's Phileas Fogg.

Directors: Christine Lesiak
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#13 - 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.

Directors: Ben Loeterman
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#14 - 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.

Writer: Vivian Ducat
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#15 - 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.

Directors: Austin Hoyt
Writer: Austin Hoyt
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#16 - T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (1): The Long Campaign

Season 9 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/6/1996

Directors: David Grubin
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#17 - 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.

Directors: Linda Garmon
Writer: Linda Garmon
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#18 - The Wright Stuff

Season 8 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/12/1996

The story of Wilbur and Orville Wright and the earliest days of aviation.

Directors: Nancy Porter
Writer: Nancy Porter
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#19 - 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.

Directors: Barak Goodman
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#20 - 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.

Writer: Chana Gazit
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#21 - 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.

Directors: John Walter
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#22 - 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.

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#23 - The Way West (3): The War for the Black Hills (1870-1876)

Season 7 - Episode 11 - Aired 5/9/1995

Directors: Ric Burns
Writer: Ric Burns
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#24 - George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire (2)

Season 12 - Episode 12 - Aired 4/24/2000

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#25 - War Letters

Season 14 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/11/2001

An episode that focuses on the letters that passed between soldiers and those at home during American history.

Directors: Robert Kenner