American Experience - Season 17
Season 17
Episodes
RFK: The Garish Sun
RFK: The Awful Grace of God
The Fight
June 22, 1938. Though the Great Depression rages and war looms, the eyes of the world are on Yankee Stadium in New York where, beneath threatening skies, German Max Schmeling and American Joe Louis are squaring off for the heavyweight championship of the world. More than 90,000 people crowd the stadium to watch the encounter, and countless millions more — the largest radio audience in history — listen in around the world to what one commentator would call "two minutes and four seconds of murder."
The pressure on each fighter is enormous. Joe Louis is not only fighting for the honor of the country; he is quite literally holding the hopes of all of black America in his fists. For Max Schmeling, the fight will be a demonstration of Hitler's racial theories, and should the German lose, many fear for what could happen to him. Theirs was a rivalry that would draw in two nations inching closer to war and take the measure of two men who had been fighting all their lives.
The Fight explores the famous 1938 heavyweight bout and finds two men who, in the shadow of war, became reluctant symbols of equality and supremacy, democracy and fascism.
Fidel Castro
Building the Alaskan Highway
Kinsey
Mary Pickford
The Great Transatlantic Cable
The Massie Affair
Was it an act of honor or revenge for a crime never committed? In the waning days of summer 1931, Honolulu's tropical tranquility was shattered when a young Navy wife made a drastic allegation of rape against five nonwhite islanders. What unfolded in the following days and weeks was a racially-charged murder case that would make headlines across the nation, enrage Hawai'i's native population, and galvanize the island's law enforcers and the nation's social elite. Retitled as "The Island Murder," it aired again on April 17, 2018.
On April 17, 2018, American Experience aired "The Massie Affair" again as "The Island Murder."
The Fall of Saigon
Victory in the Pacific
The Carter Family: Will the Circle Be Unbroken?
Guerilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst
Recently Updated Shows
FBI: Most Wanted
FBI: Most Wanted is a high-stakes drama that focuses on the Fugitive Task Force, which relentlessly tracks and captures the notorious criminals on the Bureau's Most Wanted list. Seasoned agent Jess LaCroix oversees the highly skilled team that functions as a mobile undercover unit that is always out in the field, pursuing those who are most desperate to elude justice.
Chicago Fire
No job is more stressful, dangerous or exhilarating than those of the Firefighters, Rescue Squad and Paramedics of Chicago Firehouse 51. These are the courageous men and women who forge headfirst into danger when everyone else is running the other way and whose actions make the difference between life and death. These are their stories.
FBI
FBI is a fast-paced drama about the inner workings of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. These first-class agents, including Special Agent Maggie Bell and her partner, Special Agent Omar Adom 'OA' Zidan, bring all their talents, intellect and technical expertise on major cases in order to keep New York and the country safe.
Chicago P.D.
District 21 of the Chicago Police Department is made up of two distinctly different groups. There are the uniformed cops who patrol the beat and go head to head with the city's street crimes. And there's the Intelligence Unit, the team that combats the city's major offenses - organized crime, drug trafficking, high profile murders and beyond. These are their stories.
Grosse Pointe Garden Society
Grosse Pointe Garden Society follows four members of a suburban garden club who find their lives intertwined by scandal, mischief and a shared secret - a murder no one wants to talk about. As dark truths begin to rot their lives under the surface, they struggle to remain as perfect as the flowers blooming in their garden above.