American Experience | |
---|---|
Genre | Television documentary |
Created by | Peter McGhee |
Theme music composer |
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Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English (US) |
No. of seasons | 36 |
No. of episodes | 378 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Running time | Between 55 minutes and two hours |
Production company | WGBH-TV |
Original release | |
Network | PBS [2] |
Release | October 4, 1988 |
American Experience is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, [3] about important or interesting events and people in American history.
The series premiered on October 4, 1988, and was originally titled The American Experience. It was shortened to American Experience during a rebrand and image update. The show has had a presence on the internet since 1995, and more than 100 American Experience programs are accompanied by their own internet websites, which provide background information on the subjects covered as well as teachers' guides and educational companion materials. [4] The show is produced primarily by WGBH-TV in Boston, Massachusetts, though occasionally in the early seasons it was co-produced by other PBS stations such as WNET (Channel 13) in New York City.
Some programs considered part of the American Experience collection were produced prior to the creation of the series. Vietnam: A Television History was one of them, airing originally in 1983 after taking six years to assemble. [5] Also, in 2006, American Experience rebroadcast Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, the first half of the 1986 documentary series about the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 16 | October 4, 1988 | January 17, 1989 | |
2 | 15 | October 3, 1989 | February 12, 1990 | |
3 | 12 | October 1, 1990 | May 6, 1991 | |
4 | 12 | September 30, 1991 | February 17, 1992 | |
5 | 15 | September 20, 1992 | March 1, 1993 | |
6 | 7 | October 27, 1993 | May 25, 1994 | |
7 | 9 | October 11, 1994 | May 9, 1995 | |
8 | 9 | October 16, 1995 | February 26, 1996 | |
9 | 9 | October 6, 1996 | July 28, 1997 | |
10 | 18 | October 5, 1997 | March 2, 1998 | |
11 | 13 | November 18, 1998 | May 17, 1999 | |
12 | 15 | November 14, 1999 | May 23, 2000 | |
13 | 13 | October 17, 2000 | April 30, 2001 | |
14 | 14 | September 30, 2001 | May 12, 2002 | |
15 | 13 | November 11, 2002 | July 14, 2003 | |
16 | 9 | September 8, 2003 | May 3, 2004 | |
17 | 12 | October 4, 2004 | July 4, 2005 | |
18 | 13 | October 17, 2005 | May 22, 2006 | |
19 | 18 | October 2, 2006 | May 14, 2007 | |
20 | 18 | January 14, 2008 | May 6, 2008 | |
21 | 10 | January 26, 2009 | May 18, 2009 | |
22 | 8 | November 2, 2009 | May 10, 2010 | |
23 | 12 | October 11, 2010 | May 16, 2011 | |
24 | 7 | January 10, 2012 | May 1, 2012 | |
25 | 6 | September 18, 2012 | February 5, 2013 | |
26 | 9 | October 29, 2013 | June 24, 2014 | |
27 | 8 | November 18, 2014 | July 14, 2015 | |
28 | 10 | September 14, 2015 | August 2, 2016 | |
29 | 10 | October 18, 2016 | April 12, 2017 | |
30 | 6 | January 9, 2018 | October 16, 2018 | |
31 | 9 | January 15, 2019 | September 10, 2019 | |
32 | 9 | January 6, 2020 | July 7, 2020 | |
33 | 5 | January 11, 2021 | September 28, 2021 | |
34 | 7 | February 7, 2022 | November 15, 2022 | |
35 | 8 | January 3, 2023 | October 30, 2023 | |
36 | TBA | January 23, 2024 | TBA |
American Experience has received generally positive reviews from television critics and parents of young children. Glenn McNatt of The Baltimore Sun wrote that it is "TV's finest history series ever." [6] Steve Johnson of Chicago Tribune wrote, "History comes alive in excellent docu-series." [7]
A DVD boxset collecting episodes about United States presidents was released on August 26, 2008. [8] The collection was updated to include the documentary on Bill Clinton's presidency on August 28, 2012. [9]
A DVD boxset for the five-part documentary We Shall Remain was released on May 12, 2009. [10]
Frontline is an investigative documentary program distributed by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Episodes are produced at WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. The series has covered a variety of domestic and international issues, including terrorism, elections, environmental disasters, and other sociopolitical issues. Since its debut in 1983, Frontline has aired in the U.S. for 42 seasons, and has won critical acclaim and awards in broadcast journalism. In 2024, Frontline won its first Oscar at the 96th Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature, 20 Days in Mariupol, made by a team of AP Ukrainian journalists. Frontline has produced over 800 documentaries from both in-house and independent filmmakers, 200 of which are available online.
The Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award honors excellence in broadcast and digital journalism in the public service and is considered one of the most prestigious awards in journalism. The awards were established in 1942 and administered until 1967 by Washington and Lee University's O. W. Riegel, Curator and Head of the Department of Journalism and Communications. Since 1968 they have been administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City, and are considered by some to be the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, another program administered by Columbia University.
WGBH-TV, branded GBH or GBH 2 since 2020, is the primary PBS member television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Ric Burns is an American documentary filmmaker and writer. He has written, directed and produced historical documentaries since the 1990s, beginning with his collaboration on the celebrated PBS series The Civil War (1990), which he produced with his older brother Ken Burns and wrote with Geoffrey Ward.
Paula S. Apsell is the television Executive Producer Emerita of PBS's NOVA and was director of the WGBH Science Unit.
Carrier is a PBS documentary television series about the six-month deployment of the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in 2005 from the United States to the Middle East and back. There are ten episodes, and the series is supplemented by a 90-minute companion documentary film called Another Day in Paradise.
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programs to public television stations in the United States, distributing shows such as Frontline, Nova, PBS News Hour, Masterpiece, Sesame Street, and This Old House.
Patricia Alvarado Núñez is an American television producer, director, and published photographer based in Boston, Massachusetts. She has created, produced, co-produced, executive produced, written and directed television and digitally distributed documentaries, music specials and series on social and cultural issues including the American Experience PBS primetime documentary Fidel in 2004, an episode of PBS Kids' Postcards from Buster which was nominated for a 2008 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children Series. She later served as the Creator and Series Producer of the WGBH series "Neighborhood Kitchens" which won an Emmy Award in 2014. Patricia was an Executive Producer of "Sing That Thing," an amateur choral group competition television series which ran for four seasons by broadcaster WGBH. Alvarado Núñez is currently the Executive Producer of WGBH's World Channel online, television, and podcast series "Stories from the Stage" which broadcast nationally on the PBS network and won two Webby Awards.
Vietnam: A Television History (1983) is a 13-part documentary mini-series about the Vietnam War (1955–1975) from the perspective of the United States. It was produced for public television by WGBH-TV in Boston, Central Independent Television of the UK and Antenne-2 of France. It was originally broadcast on PBS between October 4 and December 20, 1983.
Elizabeth Deane is a writer, producer and director of documentary films for PBS, specializing in American history. She is based primarily at WGBH-TV in Boston, with work ranging from presidential politics to biographies and musical history.
George H.W. Bush is a 2008 two-part biographical television film about former United States President George H. W. Bush. Produced by PBS for the American Experience documentary program, it recounts Bush's life from his childhood and experience in World War II up to the end of his presidency in 1993. Written, co-produced, and directed by Austin Hoyt, the film aired on PBS in two parts on May 5 and 6, 2008.
Truman is a 1997 two-part television documentary film about Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States. Produced by PBS for The American Experience documentary program, it recounts Truman's life from childhood to his presidency. Written, co-produced, and directed by David Grubin, the film first aired on PBS in two parts on October 5 and 6, 1997.
Jimmy Carter is a 2002 two-part television documentary film about Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States. Produced by PBS for the American Experience documentary program, it recounts Carter's life from childhood in Georgia to his post-presidency as peacemaker. The film was written, produced, and directed by Adriana Bosch, and was first aired on PBS in two parts on November 11 and 12, 2002.
John and Abigail Adams is a 2006 television documentary film about John Adams, the 2nd President of the United States, and his wife Abigail Adams. Produced by PBS for the American Experience documentary program, it recounts the Adams couple's lives and partnership through both dramatizations and interviews. The film was directed by Peter Jones and written and produced by Elizabeth Deane, and it first aired on PBS in the United States on January 23, 2006.
Ulysses S. Grant is a 2002 two-part television documentary film about Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States. Produced by PBS for the American Experience documentary program, it recounts Grant's life from his childhood in Ohio to his presidency, with narration by Liev Schreiber. The film was released in two parts on May 5 and 6, 2002, with part one written, produced, and directed by Adriana Bosch, and part two written, produced, and directed by Elizabeth Deane.
The Wright Stuff is a 1996 television documentary film about Orville and Wilbur Wright, the brothers who invented the first successful motor-powered airplane. Produced by PBS for The American Experience documentary program, it recounts the lives of the Wright brothers from their early childhood in Ohio with dreams of flight to their subsequent fame after their successful 1908 demonstration in France. The film was written, produced, and directed by Nancy Porter, narrated by Garrison Keillor, and hosted by David McCullough, and was first aired on PBS in the United States on February 12, 1996.
Bataan Rescue is a 2003 television documentary film about the Raid at Cabanatuan. Produced by PBS for the American Experience documentary program, it begins with the Fall of Bataan in 1942 up to the titular event in January 1945, where more than 500 prisoners of war were liberated from a Japanese camp in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija. Directed by Peter Jones and written and produced by David Axelrod, the film first aired on PBS in the United States on July 7, 2003.
LBJ is a 1991 two-part television documentary film about Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president of the United States. Produced by PBS for The American Experience documentary program, it recounts Johnson's life from his childhood to his presidency up to his death. Written, co-produced and directed by David Grubin and narrated by David McCullough, the film first aired on PBS in two parts on September 30, 1991.