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The Worst Episodes of American Experience

Every episode of American Experience ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of American Experience!

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TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    American Experience Season 2 Episode 12 - Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice
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    #1 - Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice

    S2:E12

    Born into slavery, she became a journalist and newspaper owner in Memphis, and was radicalized following the lynching of three friends. Her crusade against lynching led to death threats, but she bravely continued for the rest of her life to call for an end to sexism and racism.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. American Experience Season 2 Episode 14 - Forbidden City, USA
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    #2 - Forbidden City, USA

    S2:E14

    Before WWII, San Francisco's Chinatown was a separate world, closed to outsiders, ruled by rigid homeland customs. But in the 1930s, second generation Chinese Americans defied cultural tradition to pursue their passion for American music and dance. They started careers as "Chinese Fred Astaires" and "Chinese Frank Sinatras" in one of the city's famous Chinatown night clubs, Forbidden City.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. American Experience Season 2 Episode 16 - Roots of Resistance: The Story of the Underground Railroad
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #3 - Roots of Resistance: The Story of the Underground Railroad

    S2:E16

    Men and women, black and white, risked their lives to carve an elaborate network of escape routes out of slavery in the mid 1800s -- trails and backroads, safehouses, river crossings and night trains leading as far north as Canada. Disguises, secret rendezvous and special codes were used to guard the identity of "conductors" and their fugitive "passengers." But flight to free territory didn't guarantee freedom; fugitives could be hunted down and returned.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. American Experience Season 3 Episode 10 - French Dance Tonight
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #4 - French Dance Tonight

    S3:E10

    When French settlers, exiled from Nova Scotia, migrated to Louisiana in the 1750s, they mixed with African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, and others to create one of America's richest, most varied cultures. The film captures many of Cajun and Zydeco music's most important innovators and performers as they talk about the emergence of two musical traditions.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. American Experience Season 4 Episode 1 - LBJ (1)
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    #5 - LBJ (1)

    S4:E1

    LBJ's career started in 1938 when he was elected a congressman, one of the youngest ever. He was elected to the Senate in 1948 under a cloud of suspicion. LBJ won by only 87 votes. In 1954, when the Democrats took over the Senate, LBJ became the youngest majority leader ever at age 46. In 1957, LBJ engineered passage of the first civil rights bill since Reconstruction, but the bill had too many compromises and no teeth. By 1960, LBJ felt he was ready for the presidency, but John Kennedy got there first and then picked LBJ as his vice president.

    Director:David Grubin
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. American Experience Season 4 Episode 2 - LBJ (2)
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    #6 - LBJ (2)

    S4:E2

    Lyndon Johnson's ascension to the Presidency and the controversial events of his tenure such as the Great Society and the Vietnam War are chronicled here.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. American Experience Season 4 Episode 10 - Love in the Cold War
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    #7 - Love in the Cold War

    S4:E10

    Eugene Dennis fled to Moscow to avoid indictment and prison for his work for the American Communist Party in the late 1920s; his wife Peggy and 18-month-old son soon followed. In 1935, they were reassigned to America but ordered to leave behind their five-year-old who spoke only Russian. A second son, born in America, offers an honest and touching examination of the lives of his parents, whose political beliefs tore the family apart.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. American Experience Season 5 Episode 20 - Ishi: The Last Yahi Indian
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    #8 - Ishi: The Last Yahi Indian

    S5:E20

    When "Ishi," the last surviving member of a small Indian tribe, walked into the small California town of Oroville in 1911, he became a media curiosity and scientific "specimen." The San Francisco Museum built a Yahi house where audiences could watch Ishi make arrowheads and shoot bows. Ishi went to the theater and received invitations of marriage. But contact would bring him terrible physical and psychological consequences.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. American Experience Season 7 Episode 10 - One Woman, One Vote (1)
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    #9 - One Woman, One Vote (1)

    S7:E10

    From Elizabeth Cady Stanton's electrifying call to arms at Seneca Falls in 1848, to the last battle for passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, a recounting of the infighting, the alliances and betrayals, defeats and victories on the way to winning the right to vote. The struggle split the suffragist movement into two opposing forces: the militants who faced imprisonment and riots and those who argued for a quieter, more persuasive ways. Both tactics, it turned out, were needed.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. American Experience Season 7 Episode 11 - One Woman, One Vote (2)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - One Woman, One Vote (2)

    S7:E11

    From Elizabeth Cady Stanton's electrifying call to arms at Seneca Falls in 1848, to the last battle for passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, a recounting of the infighting, the alliances and betrayals, defeats and victories on the way to winning the right to vote. The struggle split the suffragist movement into two opposing forces: the militants who faced imprisonment and riots and those who argued for a quieter, more persuasive ways. Both tactics, it turned out, were needed.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. American Experience Season 7 Episode 12 - The Way West (1): Westward, the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (1845-1864)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - The Way West (1): Westward, the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (1845-1864)

    S7:E12

    A six-hour documentary of how the West was lost and won, from the time of the Gold Rush in 1848 until after the last gasp of the Indian Wars at Wounded Knee in 1893, when the West was settled, subdued, exploited and incorporated into the American empire. Lakotas, Cheyennes, Kiowas, Poncas, Apaches, Nez Perces and Utes fought back, then watched as everything they had was taken from them, their way of life all but destroyed.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. American Experience Season 7 Episode 13 - The Way West (2): The Approach of Civilization (1865-1869)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - The Way West (2): The Approach of Civilization (1865-1869)

    S7:E13

    A six-hour documentary of how the West was lost and won, from the time of the Gold Rush in 1848 until after the last gasp of the Indian Wars at Wounded Knee in 1893, when the West was settled, subdued, exploited and incorporated into the American empire. Lakotas, Cheyennes, Kiowas, Poncas, Apaches, Nez Perces and Utes fought back, then watched as everything they had was taken from them, their way of life all but destroyed.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. American Experience Season 7 Episode 14 - The Way West (3): The War for the Black Hills (1870-1876)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #13 - The Way West (3): The War for the Black Hills (1870-1876)

    S7:E14

    A six-hour documentary of how the West was lost and won, from the time of the Gold Rush in 1848 until after the last gasp of the Indian Wars at Wounded Knee in 1893, when the West was settled, subdued, exploited and incorporated into the American empire. Lakotas, Cheyennes, Kiowas, Poncas, Apaches, Nez Perces and Utes fought back, then watched as everything they had was taken from them, their way of life all but destroyed.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. American Experience Season 7 Episode 15 - The Way West (4): Ghost Dance (1877-1893)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - The Way West (4): Ghost Dance (1877-1893)

    S7:E15

    A six-hour documentary of how the West was lost and won, from the time of the Gold Rush in 1848 until after the last gasp of the Indian Wars at Wounded Knee in 1893, when the West was settled, subdued, exploited and incorporated into the American empire. Lakotas, Cheyennes, Kiowas, Poncas, Apaches, Nez Perces and Utes fought back, then watched as everything they had was taken from them, their way of life all but destroyed.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. American Experience Season 9 Episode 16 - Vietnam: A Television History (7): Vietnamizing the War
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - Vietnam: A Television History (7): Vietnamizing the War

    S9:E16

    "Vietnam: A Television History": The gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops and their replacement by the South Vietnamese are recalled in "Vietnamizing the War (1968-73)." But morale was low among Americans still in the country, and veterans interviewed recall racial divisions and the availability of drugs.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. American Experience Season 9 Episode 17 - Vietnam: A Television History (8): Cambodia and Laos
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    #16 - Vietnam: A Television History (8): Cambodia and Laos

    S9:E17

    America's involvement in—and secret bombing of—Cambodia and Laos are chronicled as "Vietnam: A Television History" continues. After the bombing halt in August 1973, the Communist Khmer Rouge advanced on the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, and finally, in April 1975, the city fell.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. American Experience Season 9 Episode 18 - Vietnam: A Television History (9): Peace is at Hand
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Vietnam: A Television History (9): Peace is at Hand

    S9:E18

    "Vietnam: A Television History": "Peace Is at Hand (1968-73)" recalls the peace negotiations in Paris, including Henry Kissinger's "secret" talks with Le Duc Tho. As the talks dragged on, the U.S. stepped up air attacks.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. American Experience Season 9 Episode 19 - Vietnam: A Television History (10): Homefront USA
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - Vietnam: A Television History (10): Homefront USA

    S9:E19

    "Vietnam: A Television History - Homefront U.S.A.," traces the widening rift between supporters and opponents of the war, from the first demonstrations in the mid-1960s to the May 1970 Kent State shootings.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. American Experience Season 9 Episode 20 - Vietnam: A Television History (11): The End of the Tunnel
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    #19 - Vietnam: A Television History (11): The End of the Tunnel

    S9:E20

    "Vietnam: A Television History" concludes with "The End of the Tunnel," which recalls the 1973 Paris accords and the subsequent collapse of South Vietnam. Included: vivid footage of helicopter evacuations in Saigon during the final hours before the Communists took the city on April 30, 1975.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. American Experience Season 9 Episode 30 - T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (3): The Good Fight
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (3): The Good Fight

    S9:E30

    TR is just 46 years old when he is inaugurated as president. He builds the Panama Canal, wins the Nobel Prize for Peace, and combatively introduces widesweeping social reforms. As his presidency draws to a close, TR names his best friend, Secretary of War William Howard Taft, as his successor. Taft wins the 1908 election.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. American Experience Season 9 Episode 31 - T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (4): Black Care
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #21 - T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (4): Black Care

    S9:E31

    TR opposes his old friend Taft for the 1912 Republican nomination. When Taft wins, TR runs for president with his own Progressive Party. Despite enormous popular support, he loses to Democrat Woodrow Wilson. TR, now 55, retreats to the jungles of Brazil for two years for what becomes the most harrowing expedition of his life. His four sons join the World War I effort; shatters TR. Nearly six months later, he dies in his sleep at Sagamore Hill.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. American Experience Season 10 Episode 4 - Mr. Miami Beach
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - Mr. Miami Beach

    S10:E4

    Recalling the life of Carl Fisher, the entrepreneur who “sold the glamour of Florida” and turned a swampland into Miami Beach. Included: how he developed the resort town using topsoil from the Everglades and sand from Biscayne Bay.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. American Experience Season 11 Episode 9 - MacArthur (2): The Politics of War
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #23 - MacArthur (2): The Politics of War

    S11:E9

    The conclusion of "MacArthur" focuses on his "return" to the Philippines in 1944, his years as Supreme Allied Commander in Japan after the war and his controversial command in Korea. Interviewed: onetime MacArthur aide Alexander Haig; historian David McCullough

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. American Experience Season 13 Episode 3 - Secrets of a Master Builder
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #24 - Secrets of a Master Builder

    S13:E3

    Charting the life on the Mississippi of James B. Eads (1820-1887), "one of the greatest engineering geniuses of all time," says narrator David McCullough. Eads designed, built and financed ironclad river gunships in the Civil War (helping the Union win it, some say), the first steel bridge over the Mississippi, and sandbar-busting jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi that helped ensure the economic viability of New Orleans and the river itself.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. American Experience Season 24 Episode 8 - Death and the Civil War
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #25 - Death and the Civil War

    S24:E8

    With the coming of the Civil War, and the staggering casualties it ushered in, death entered the experience of the American people as it never had before -- permanently altering the character of the republic and the psyche of the American people. Contending with death on an unprecedented scale posed challenges for which there were no ready answers when the war began. Americans worked to improvise new solutions, new institutions, and new ways of coping with death on an unimaginable scale.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice" is the worst rated episode of "American Experience". It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 12/19/1989. This episode scored 0.0 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Forbidden City, USA".