The BEST episodes of PBS Specials season 1999
Every episode of PBS Specials season 1999, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of PBS Specials season 1999!
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American non-profit public broadcasting television service with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. However, its operations are largely funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Its headquarters are in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is the most prominent provider of programming to U.S. public television stations, distributing series such as PBS NewsHour, Masterpiece, and Frontline. Since the mid-2000s, Roper polls commissioned by PBS have consistently placed the service as America's most trusted national institution. However, PBS is not responsible for all programming carried on public TV stations; in fact, stations usually receive a large portion of their content (including most pledge drive specials) from third-party sources, such as American Public Television, NETA, and independent producers.
#1 - A Hot Dog Program
Season 1999 - Episode 2 - Aired 6/30/1999
Rick Sebak travels the country, seeking out the various styles of hot dogs that people enjoy. He also discusses the history of the hot dog, and visits the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.
#2 - American Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith
Season 1999 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/26/1999
Millions of people around the world know of him. Yet this frontier prophet of the early 1800s found little honor and eventual martyrdom at the hands of an angry mob in his own country. Who was this Joseph Smith and what was it about his remarkable life story, which inspired such impassioned rancor or unflinching reverence? Please join Academy Award-winner Gregory Peck for a fascinating look at this oft-misunderstood American legend.
#3 - Great Old Amusement Parks
Season 1999 - Episode 4 - Aired 7/21/1999
On a Hot Summer day, there may be no better place on earth than a traditional amusement park. A place where you can hop on a classic wooden coaster, reach for the ring as you whirl by on the merry-go-round, or cool down on the Caterpillar. In this documentary, you get to visit some of America’s most charming parks from Lake Compounce in Connecticut to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in California. You get to gallop on the Derby Racer at Playland, go with the flow on the Boat Chute at Lake Winnepesaukah, and rock on Deno’s Wonder Wheel at Coney Island. And of course there are coasters, including the Thunderbolt at Kennywood, the Cyclone at Astroland, the Raven at Holiday World, and San Diego’s Giant Dipper!
#4 - To the Moon
Season 1999 - Episode 3 - Aired 7/13/1999
For two hours in July of 1969, the world stood still as man landed and walked on the moon. Tens of millions watched it happen, on blurry black and white television, beamed back a quarter million miles across the heavens. For the first time in human history, all mankind could observe a profound discovery as it happened. A generation later, in July of 1999, a two-hour NOVA special television event will mark the 30th anniversary of the greatest science and engineering adventure of all time—going behind the scenes to tell the stories the astronauts and the unsung heroes of lunar exploration—the scientists and engineers who made it happen. When President John F. Kennedy pledged to put a man on the moon by the end of the 60s, not a single person in the nascent US space agency had a clue as to how this would be accomplished. After all, it was April, 1961, just two weeks after an American flew into space for the first time. Everything was unknown and in debate—how would they get there? And how to return? The technologies—for propulsion, navigation, and life support—had yet to be invented and tested. At the time, no computers, batteries, communication, let alone rockets or spacecraft capable of the mission were on the drawing boards. The task seemed endless, even impossible. Then, before the plans were barely outlined, the President was dead, leaving the mission to continue. The task was daunting.
#5 - The Germans from Russia: Children of the Steppe, Children of the Prairie
Season 1999 - Episode 1 - Aired 5/8/1999
The Germans from Russia: Children of the Steppe, Children of the Prairie is the story of the Germans from Russia— agricultural pioneers on several continents whose quest for land and peace shaped them into a distinctive and enduring ethnic group.