8.0/10148 votes#1 - The Swamp
Season 31 Episode 1 - Aired 1/15/2019
The history of the Everglades is a dramatic yet little known story of humanity’s attempt to conquer nature. The Swamp, told through the lives of a handful of colorful and resolute characters, explores the repeated efforts to reclaim, control and transform what was seen as a vast wasteland into an agricultural and urban paradise, and, ultimately, the drive to preserve America’s greatest wetland.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.2/1035 votes#2 - Sealab
Season 31 Episode 2 - Aired 2/12/2019
In 1969 off the California coast, a US Navy crane carefully lowered a massive tubular structure into the waters. It was an audacious feat of engineering — a pressurized underwater habitat, designed for an elite group of divers to spend days or even months at a stretch living and working on the ocean floor.Sealab tells the little-known story of the daring program that tested the limits of human endurance and revolutionized undersea exploration.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.9/10117 votes#3 - Chasing the Moon - A Place Beyond the Sky
Season 31 Episode 3 - Aired 7/8/2019
On 4 October 1957, Soviet scientists launched Sputnik 1 - a beach ball-sized, radio-transmitting aluminium alloy sphere - into orbit. The satellite caused a sensation. Amid Cold War tensions, the Soviet Union’s accomplishment signalled a dramatic technological advantage and American felt it had little choice but to join the Space Race.
Director: Robert Stone
Writer: N/A
7.6/1083 votes#4 - Chasing the Moon - Earthrise
Season 31 Episode 4 - Aired 7/9/2019
What exactly was it going to take for America to beat the Soviets to the moon? Cold War tensions persisted, as rumours circulated that the Soviets were preparing to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon. Nasa quickly developed the Gemini program, sending astronauts into orbit around the Earth to practice critical manoeuvres for the eventual trip to the moon.
Director: Robert Stone
Writer: N/A
7.2/1067 votes#5 - Chasing the Moon - Magnificent Desolation
Season 31 Episode 5 - Aired 7/10/2019
After the immediate celebration of 1968’s successful Apollo 8 mission, underlying questions about the space programme emerged with new intensity as politicized young Americans challenged the nation’s priorities. Nasa pushed brashly forward.
Director: Robert Stone
Writer: N/A
8.4/1092 votes#6 - Woodstock
Season 31 Episode 6 - Aired 8/6/2019
In August, 1969, half a million people from all walks of life and every corner of the country converged on a small dairy farm in upstate New York. They came to hear the concert of their lives, but most experienced something far more profound: a moment that would change them and the country forever, and define a cultural revolution.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.6/1084 votes#7 - The Feud
Season 31 Episode 7 - Aired 9/10/2019
Anderson Hatfield and Randolph McCoy, the patriarchs of the legendary feud, were entrepreneurs seeking to climb up from hardship after fierce economic competition and rapid technological change had turned their lives upside down. When members of both families took their grievances to court, their dispute escalated into a war between two families and a struggle between two states. The Feud reveals more than an isolated story of mountain lust and violence between “hillbillies” — the Hatfield - McCoy feud was a microcosm of the tensions inherent in the nation’s rapid industrialization after the Civil War.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of American Experience Season 31
Every episode of American Experience Season 31 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of American Experience Season 31!
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 31 Ratings Summary
"The Swamp" is the best rated episode of "American Experience" season 31. It scored 8/10 based on 148 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 1/15/2019. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "Sealab".