The WORST episodes of PBS Specials
Every episode of PBS Specials ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of PBS Specials!
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 - Myths and the Moundbuilders
Season 1981 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/10/1981
Throughout most of the nineteenth century, it was believed that the tens of thousands of earthen mounds that dotted the central United States were engineering feats created by a mysterious, lost race - a race that had been destroyed by the less civilized Indians. By the late 1880s, it was becoming clear that the mounds were actually built by ancestors of the numerous native American groups that still inhabited the central states, such as the Natchez. This film reconstructs the history of ideas associated with the mounds and their builders, from the mid-nineteenth century explorations of curious citizens, to contemporary archaeological research in the Illinois River Valley.
#2 - Modernist Maverick
Season 2013 - Episode 30 - Aired 9/1/2013
American architect William L. Pereira designed structures and places around the world ranging from San Francisco's iconic Transamerica Pyramid to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art: the University of California, San Diego Geisel Library to the master plan for California's Irvine Ranch and the Los Angeles International Airport. Modernist Maverick surveys Pereira's career.
#3 - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Friends- 50 Years and Circlin' Back
Season 2016 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/5/2016
#4 - Lost at Sea: The Search for Longitude
Season 1998 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/6/1998
Based on the bestselling book Longitude by Dava Sobel, the program tells the story of how an unknown genius, John Harrison, discovered the key to navigating on the open seas and thus solved one of the thorniest problems of the 1700s.
#5 - Seized: Inside the Mystery of Epilepsy
Season 2016 - Episode 14 - Aired 5/2/2016
#6 - Temples of Justice
Season 2015 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/26/2015
Temples of Justice visits 45 courthouses in South Dakota and tells the colorful stories of several. You'll find out how swindlers changed history, where there's a bullet hole in a judge's chamber, what cowboys did with their hats and which courthouses helped South Dakotans survive the Great Depression. The production is supported by a grant from the South Dakota Humanities Council.
#7 - Behind the Britcoms: From Script to Screen
Season 2011 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/5/2011
Moira Brooker and Philip Bretherton (Judith and Alastair from As Time Goes By (1992)) host this behind-the-scenes look at the work of the writers behind many of our favorite "Britcoms" (British situation comedies), revealing how their ideas make it to the screen.
#8 - The Real Adam Smith: Ideas That Changed the World (2)
Season 2016 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/26/2016
Ideas That Changed the World explores contemporary life and Smith’s influences on the very things we see going on today. Why is Smith widely studied now in China? Ethical businesses, like Whole Foods, showcase the morality Smith insisted was critical to thriving markets. Uber and eBay demonstrate that markets can thrive through the organization and “self-policing” of the participants themselves.
#9 - The Real Adam Smith: Morality and Markets (1)
Season 2016 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/26/2016
Morality & Markets explores Smith’s life and role in the Scottish Enlightenment, his thoughts on empathy and how we distinguish right from wrong. French wine, Scottish whiskey, and freshly-baked scones all illustrate Smith’s economic principles. True wealth is defined. We discover Smith’s thoughts on the government’s role in markets, his distaste for monopolies/crony capitalism in the form of the East India Company, and his thoughts on the American colonies.
#10 - The National Parks of Texas
Season 2016 - Episode 13 - Aired 4/26/2016
In time to celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of the National Park Service, looking at the diverse parks in Texas, and how the stories of the parks tie into the history of the state and the experiences they offer to visitors.
#11 - Shakespeare's Tomb
Season 2016 - Episode 12 - Aired 4/19/2016
Historian Dr. Helen Castor explores the mysteries surrounding Shakespeare’s burial place. Will the first- ever scientific investigation discover why his tombstone's only inscription is a curse against any man who ‘moves my bones’?
#12 - Memory Hackers
Season 2016 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/10/2016
Memory is the glue that binds our mental lives. Without it, we’d be prisoners of the present, unable to use the lessons of the past to change our future. From our first kiss to where we put our keys, memory represents who we are and how we learn and navigate the world. But how does it work? Neuroscientists using cutting-edge techniques are exploring the precise molecular mechanisms of memory. By studying a range of individuals ranging—from an 11-year-old whiz-kid who remembers every detail of his life to a woman who had memories implanted—scientists have uncovered a provocative idea. For much of human history, memory has been seen as a tape recorder that faithfully registers information and replays intact. But now, researchers are discovering that memory is far more malleable, always being written and rewritten, not just by us but by others. We are discovering the precise mechanisms that can explain and even control our memories. The question is—are we ready?
#13 - William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible
Season 2010 - Episode 36 - Aired 10/21/2010
"William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible" gives viewers an intimate look into the mind and creative process of William Kentridge, the South African artist whose acclaimed charcoal drawings, animations, video installations, shadow plays, mechanical puppets, tapestries, sculptures, live performance pieces, and operas have made him one of the most dynamic and exciting contemporary artists working today. With its rich historical references and undertones of political and social commentary, Kentridge's work has earned him inclusion in "Time" magazine's 2009 list of the 100 most influential people in the world. This documentary features exclusive interviews with Kentridge as he works in his studio and discusses his artistic philosophy and techniques. In the film, Kentridge talks about how his personal history as a white South African of Jewish heritage has informed recurring themes in his work—including violent oppression, class struggle, and social and political hierarchies. Additionally, Kentridge discusses his experiments with "machines that tell you what it is to look" and how the very mechanism of vision is a metaphor for "the agency we have, whether we like it or not, to make sense of the world." We see Kentridge in his studio as he creates animations, music, video, and projection pieces for his various projects, including "Breathe" (2008); "I am not me, the horse is not mine" (2008); and the opera "The Nose" (2010), which premiered earlier this year at New York's Metropolitan Opera to rave reviews. With its playful bending of reality and observations on hierarchical systems, the world of "The Nose" provides an ideal vehicle for Kentridge. The absurdism, he explains in the documentary's closing, "...is in fact an accurate and a productive way of understanding the world. Why should we be interested in a clearly impossible story? Because, as Gogol says, in fact the impossible is what happens all the time."
#14 - Dynasty: The Nehru-Gandhi Story: Part 2 - Mother Indira
Season 1998 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/14/1998
#15 - Tahoe: A Visual History
Season 2015 - Episode 24 - Aired 9/17/2015
A documentary based on the exhibition of the visual history of Lake Tahoe and Donner region on display at the Nevada Museum of Art. The film follows the NMA’s journey to visually survey one of the most beloved landscapes like never before -- through the eyes of 175 painters, photographers, architects, basket weavers, and sculptors.
#16 - Ride the Tiger: A Guide Through the Bipolar Brain
Season 2016 - Episode 11 - Aired 3/30/2016
A one-hour documentary that tells the stories of individuals with bipolar disorder.
#17 - Coffee: The Drink that Changed America
Season 2016 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/7/2016
America's love affair with coffee is chronicled. Included: the journey of the drink from Ethiopia to Europe to the Caribbean to modern-day coffee palaces.
#18 - 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.
#19 - Guts With Michael Mosley
Season 2013 - Episode 16 - Aired 5/17/2013
Join British journalist and physician Michael Mosley to uncover the secret life of the human digestive tract in this eye-opening and detailed exploration of a part of the body we seldom see. Enter the strange and mysterious world of the human stomach!
#20 - Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood
Season 2009 - Episode 24 - Aired 1/1/2009
Sigourney Weaver narrates this documentary telling the story of a diaspora that resulted in some of the biggest names in the German film industry seeking their fortunes in Hollywood. When Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933, one of his earliest actions was to ban Jews from working in the country's film industry. The following years saw more than 800 film professionals fleeing their homeland and escaping to Hollywood. They included actors Hedy Lamarr and Peter Lorre; directors Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann; and composers Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Franz Waxman. Through film clips, rare footage, photographs and first-person accounts, the film traces the experiences of the exiles and examines their impact on the big screen on both sides of the Atlantic. Not all were successful, but some went on to play major roles in the history of American cinema, producing such classics as The Bride of Frankenstein, Ninotchka, To Be or Not To Be, Casablanca, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, High Noon, The Big Heat, and Some Like It Hot. The documentary features personal contributions from some of the actors and directors who exerted a profound influence on the culture of their adopted country.
#21 - True Whispers: The Story of the Navajo Code Talkers
Season 2002 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/11/2002
Exploring the personal and heartfelt story of the Navajo Code Talkers, True Whispers tells the stories of the young Navajo men recruited from harsh government boarding schools into the Marines during World War II. From 1942-1945, the Code Talkers devised an unbreakable code in their native language and transmitted vital messages in the midst of combat against the Japanese.
#22 - City At War, London Calling
Season 2007 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/29/2007
It was the city that Hitler's Third Reich could not defeat. Led by one of the 20th century's most indomitable statesmen, Winston Churchill, London during World War II confronted each threat with stoic heroism - from the ferocious Blitz of German bombers to the indiscriminate carnage wrought by V-1 and V-2 "robot" bombs. Throughout, such American radio and print correspondents as Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite - names that would become synonymous with journalism of the highest integrity - reported from the frontlines.
#23 - A Year in Space
Season 2016 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/2/2016
Follow astronaut Scott Kelly’s record-breaking 12-month mission on the International Space Station, from launch to landing, as NASA charts the effects of long-duration spaceflight by comparing him to his identical twin on Earth, astronaut Mark Kelly
#24 - America's Untold Story: 450 Years of the African-American Experience
Season 2014 - Episode 40 - Aired 2/13/2014
The Journey exhibit showcases 450 years of African-American history in St. Augustine.
#25 - Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip
Season 2003 - Episode 8 - Aired 8/20/2003
In 1903, Americans considered automobiles practical for short trips only. Horatio Nelson Jackson believed differently. He bet a man fifty dollars that he could drive an automobile across the country. Nelson paid a man to accompany him on a trip that attempted to go from California into Oregon and the Rocky Mountain states, then across the Midwestern U.S.A. and finally to New York City. Jackson's trip made him a media sensation. While Jackson, the other man, and a dog travelled by car, they encountered numerous setbacks involving mechanical difficulties. After the Jackson car started, two other teams of drivers set out from San Francisco, each trying to be the first team to reach New York.