7.4/1052 votes#1 - Ripley: Believe It or Not
Season 27 Episode 1 - Aired 1/6/2015
Robert Ripley's obsession with the odd and keen eye for the curious made him one of the most successful men in America during the Great Depression. Over three decades, his Believe It or Not! franchise grew into an entertainment empire, expanding from newspapers to radio, film and, ultimately, television. Americans not only loved his bizarre fare, but were fascinated by the man himself, and the eccentric, globetrotting playboy became an unlikely national celebrity. This is the story of the man who popularized the iconic phrase, and proof of why we still can’t resist his challenge to “Believe it — or not!”
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.2/1074 votes#2 - Klansville, USA
Season 27 Episode 2 - Aired 1/13/2015
The rise of the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina during the 1960s is recalled. In 1963, Bob Jones Sr. started the state's chapter for the racist organization, and grew its membership to more than 10,000 within three years. Included: remarks from sociologist David Cunningham, whose book "Klansville, USA" the documentary is partially based on; historians David Cecelski and Gary Freeze; the Southern Poverty Law Center's Mark Potok; and journalist Patsy Sims, author of "The Klan."
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.1/10168 votes#3 - Edison
Season 27 Episode 3 - Aired 1/27/2015
EDISON explores the complex alchemy that accounts for the enduring celebrity of America's most famous inventor, offering new perspectives on the man and his milieu, and illuminating not only the true nature of invention, but its role in turn-of-the-century America's rush into the future.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.7/1088 votes#4 - The Big Burn
Season 27 Episode 4 - Aired 2/3/2015
In the summer of 1910, hundreds of wildfires raged across the Northern Rockies. By the time it was all over, more than three million acres had burned and at least 78 firefighters were dead. It was the largest fire in American history.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.2/10152 votes#5 - The Forgotten Plague
Season 27 Episode 5 - Aired 2/10/2015
By the dawn of the 19th century, the most deadly killer in human history, tuberculosis, had killed one in seven of all the people who had ever lived. Throughout the 1800s, the disease struck America with a vengeance, ravaging communities and touching the lives of almost every family. The battle against the deadly bacteria had a profound and lasting impact on America. It shaped medical and scientific pursuits, social habits, economic development, western expansion, and government policy. Yet both the disease and its impact are poorly understood; in the words of one writer, tuberculosis is our "forgotten plague."
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.5/1095 votes#6 - Last Days In Vietnam
Season 27 Episode 6 - Aired 4/28/2015
The North Vietnamese Army was nearing Saigon and the South Vietnamese resistance was at a low. Nearly 5,000 Americans still needed to remove from South Vietnam, but their South Vietnamese allies, co-workers and friends would be captured by the North Army if they where left behind. Many of these South Vietnamese people were able to escape with the help of a number of memorable Americans, who, unsanctioned, managed to complete operations that saved many of the South Vietnamese.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.2/10100 votes#7 - Blackout
Season 27 Episode 7 - Aired 7/14/2015
First responders, journalists, shop owners, those inside the pressure-packed control center of Con Edison on West End Avenue, and other New Yorkers tell about what happened when the lights went out on July 13, 1977
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.0/10270 votes#8 - Walt Disney (1)
Season 27 Episode 8 - Aired 9/14/2015
In 1966, the year Walt Disney died, 240 million people saw a Disney movie, 100 million tuned in to a Disney television program, 80 million bought Disney merchandise, and close to seven million visited Disneyland. Few creative figures before or since have held such a long-lasting place in American life and popular culture.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#9 - Walt Disney (2)
Season 27 Episode 9 - Aired 9/15/2015
In 1966, the year Walt Disney died, 240 million people saw a Disney movie, 100 million tuned in to a Disney television program, 80 million bought Disney merchandise, and close to seven million visited Disneyland. Few creative figures before or since have held such a long-lasting place in American life and popular culture.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#10 - American Comandante
Season 27 Episode 10 - Aired 11/17/2015
When William Morgan was executed outside a Havana prison on March 11, 1961, his strange story seemed to vanish from the popular imagination as quickly as it had appeared; it was lost in the classified archives of the Cold War and edited out of Cuban history by Fidel Castro’s retelling of the revolution.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#11 - The Pilgrims
Season 27 Episode 11 - Aired 11/24/2015
The challenges the Pilgrims faced in making new lives for themselves still resonate almost 400 years later: the tensions of faith and freedom in American society, the separation of Church and State, and cultural encounters resulting from immigration. Staring: Roger Rees (1944 - 2015) as William Bradford in his final Television appearance.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of American Experience Season 27
Every episode of American Experience Season 27 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of American Experience Season 27!
TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.
Genre:Documentary
Network:PBS
Season 27 Ratings Summary
"Ripley: Believe It or Not" is the best rated episode of "American Experience" season 27. It scored 7.4/10 based on 52 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 1/6/2015. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "Klansville, USA".