American Experience - Season 18

American Experience - Season 18

Season 18

Network
Episodes13
DatesOkt. 17, 2005 - Mai 22, 2006
Previous SeasonNext Season

Episodes

Two Days in October
Season 18Episode 160 min

Two Days in October

In October 1967, history turned a corner. In a jungle in Vietnam, a Viet Cong ambush nearly wiped out an American battalion, prompting some in power to question whether the war might be unwinnable. On a campus in Wisconsin, a student protest against the war spiraled out of control, marking the first time that a campus anti-war demonstration had turned violent.

Okt. 17, 2005
Race to the Moon
Season 18Episode 260 min

Race to the Moon

"Race to the Moon" chronicles Apollo 8, the first voyage to the moon. "It was an event beyond all other events," says Walter Cronkite of the December 1968 mission, which laid the groundwork for the first lunar landing seven months later. Cronkite and author Andrew Chaikin put the flight into context; astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders and their wives recall it firsthand. Says Lovell of seeing the lunar landscape, "We were like three kids looking into a candy-store window."
Okt. 31, 2005
Las Vegas: An Unconventional History: Sin City
Season 18Episode 360 min

Las Vegas: An Unconventional History: Sin City

The story of the gambling mecca is told via news clips and reminiscences. Part 1 of 2
Nov. 14, 2005
Las Vegas: An Unconventional History: American Mecca
Season 18Episode 460 min

Las Vegas: An Unconventional History: American Mecca

News clips and reminiscences tell the story of the gambling mecca, from a dusty railroad town to a leading tourist attraction. Part 2 of 2
Nov. 15, 2005
John and Abigail Adams
Season 18Episode 560 min

John and Abigail Adams

An engrossing portrait of the second U.S. president and first lady, costars Simon Russell Beale and Linda Emond. Included: the friendship (and enmity) between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (James Barbour), who both died on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence; the Adamses' “great love story”; their bouts with depression; his troubled presidency. Interspersed are comments from historians.
Jan. 23, 2006
The Nuremberg Trials
Season 18Episode 660 min

The Nuremberg Trials

A gripping study of the groundbreaking prosecution, which began Nov. 20, 1945, as Nazi Germany's leaders were held accountable for war crimes, infamously blamed on "following orders." Profiled are Hermann Goering, the lead defendant, and Robert Jackson, the U.S. prosecutor. Also: comments from Walter Cronkite, who covered the proceedings; events leading to the trial, which had 21 defendants and eight judges; footage of concentration camps.
Jan. 30, 2006
Jesse James
Season 18Episode 760 min

Jesse James

A striking profile of the outlaw (1847-82) is told through reenactments, comments from historians and archival photographs. The hour traces James' life from age 16 to his death at 34 (he was shot in the back), and includes his years as a Southern guerrilla fighter, bandit and killer.
Feb. 6, 2006
Hijacked
Season 18Episode 860 min

Hijacked

A look at the coordinated hijacking of four jetliners in 1970 by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which blew up the evacuated planes in Jordan. Included: the militants' use of civilians to further their goals.
Feb. 27, 2006
Eugene O'Neill
Season 18Episode 960 min

Eugene O'Neill

An absorbing profile of the esteemed playwright (1888-1953). Included: excerpts from his plays are performed by Al Pacino, Zoe Caldwell, Christopher Plummer, Vanessa Redgrave, Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson. Also: comments from Tony Kushner, John Guare, Sidney Lumet and Jason Robards. Plays include “The Iceman Cometh” and “Long Day's Journey into Night.”
März 27, 2006
The Boy in the Bubble
Season 18Episode 1060 min

The Boy in the Bubble

The absorbing story of David Vetter (1971-84), who had severe combined immunodeficiency and lived inside a sterile plastic chamber for 12 years. Included: comments from his mother, Carol Ann Vetter Demaret; and from doctors, who discuss their feelings about the use of the plastic chamber. Also: examinations of the boy's birth and his death, which occurred following a bone-marrow transplant from his sister.
Apr. 10, 2006
The Alaska Pipeline
Season 18Episode 1160 min

The Alaska Pipeline

The history of the Alaska Pipeline, which was built in the 1970s to transport oil across 800 miles of pristine wilderness, from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. Included: the 1968 discovery of the largest oil field in North America at Prudhoe Bay; the battle between Native Americans and the government over the land the pipeline would cross; environmental concerns; and construction of the pipeline itself, which employed 78,000 people and cost more than $8 billion.
Apr. 24, 2006
Annie Oakley
Season 18Episode 1260 min

Annie Oakley

She was the toast of Victorian London, New York, and Paris. She was "adopted" by Indian chief Sitting Bull, charmed the Prince of Prussia, and entertained the likes of Oscar Wilde and Queen Victoria. Annie Oakley excelled in a man's world by doing what she loved and won fame and fortune as the little lady from Ohio who never missed a shot.

Mai 8, 2006
The Man Behind Hitler
Season 18Episode 1360 min

The Man Behind Hitler

A profile of Joseph Goebbels (1897-45), who helped launch Hitler's rise to power. Kenneth Branagh provides voice-over readings of Goebbels' personal diaries. Included: footage from German archives tracing Goebbels' life; how Goebbels continually stage-managed his life and reinvented himself from his early days as a radical “popular socialist” to his death.
Mai 22, 2006

Recently Updated Shows

Recently updated shows that might be of your interest.
The Voice
Running

The Voice

The Voice is Australia's premiere singing competition, renowned for its unique Blind Audition process. The Coaches, all iconic musicians in their own right, look for one thing and one thing only: The Voice!

GenreMusic
Murder Most Puzzling
Running

Murder Most Puzzling

When a strange murder takes place in the sleepy market town of Bakerbury. The local police are baffled by a crossword puzzle left on the body.

With their case going nowhere, they turn reluctantly to Cora Felton, a recent arrival in Bakerbury; whose fame as the eponymous Puzzle Lady suggests she can help DCI Hooper and the Bakerbury police solve its first murder case. But the eccentric Cora isn't who she claims to be, and as she throws herself into a murder case that has the town's residents baffled, she starts to gather allies and enemies in equal measure.

In Flight
Running

In Flight

Jo Conran is a single mum working as a flight attendant. Her son is serving a fifteen-year sentence in a Bulgarian prison for a murder he swears he did not commit. Jo is approached by a gang who know all about her son and is blackmailed into using her job to smuggle drugs. She soon finds herself pulled into a murky underworld of corrupt cops and hired killers, forced to carry out their orders with no escape in sight. However, no matter how far Jo finds herself from her old life, her mission remains the same, to keep her son alive. 

One Piece
Running

One Piece

With his straw hat and ragtag crew, young pirate Monkey D. Luffy goes on an epic voyage for treasure in this live-action adaptation of the popular manga.

Irish Blood
Running

Irish Blood

Irish Blood focuses on Fiona, whose path in life is earmarked by her father, Declan, who seemingly abandoned her and her mother on her tenth birthday. After years of channelling anger toward him, to the benefit of her litigious clients, a message from her father sends her to Ireland. There she learns key truths about her father as well as a family that doesn't know she exists, and, moreover, that the story of abandonment that has shaped her entire life - was a lie. A lie intended to protect her and her mother from her father's shady business dealings. Fiona resolves to uncover the full truth about her father and reconnect with the parent she only thought she knew.