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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!

The Worst Episodes of American Experience

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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  1. NaN/10(0 votes)

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

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    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.

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    #2 - French Dance Tonight

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    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.

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    #3 - Ishi: The Last Yahi Indian

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    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.

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    #4 - One Woman, One Vote (1)

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    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.

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    #5 - One Woman, One Vote (2)

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    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.

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

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    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.

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

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    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.

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

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    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.

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

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    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.

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    #10 - T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (1): The Long Campaign

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    S9:E1

    TR is born into a wealthy New York family that has a strong sense of social justice. He fights his severe asthma through a strenuous exercise program. He becomes New York State assemblyman. Then tragedy strikes with the untimely deaths of his beloved first wife and his mother. To escape his grief, he flees to the Dakota Badlands for the rigors of ranch life. When he returns, his political career flourishes; he eventually becomes William McKinley's Vice President.

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    #11 - T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (2): The Bully Pulpit

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    S9:E2

    After McKinley's assassination, Roosevelt becomes an "accidental" president. Seeing himself as a crusader, TR uses the presidency to advance his agenda of social reform. He expands the power of the presidential office and comes to dominate American politics. Yet, the night he is elected to a second term, TR announces he will not run again, ultimately weakening his second term.

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    #12 - The Richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie

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    S9:E3

    A look at the poor emigrant boy who built a fortune in railroads and steel, and, unlike any industrialist of his time, began to systematically give it away; a man full of contradictions and inner conflict.

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    #13 - Hawaii's Last Queen

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    S9:E4

    Liliu'okalani moved easily between two worlds -- she had dined at the White House, had been a guest at Buckingham Palace, yet never abandoned her Hawaiian traditions. A writer and composer, she was thrust into a role she was never prepared to play, caught between two opposing forces.

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    #14 - The Telephone

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    S9:E5

    At first rented only "to persons of good breeding," seen as an expensive luxury for doctors and businessmen, within a decade the telephone had begun to transform American life. Trees gave way to telephone poles as operators known as "hello girls" began to connect a sprawling continent.

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    #15 - Big Dream, Small Screen

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    S9:E6

    The little known story of Philo T. Farnsworth, a Utah farm boy who first sketched out his idea for electronic television at the age of fourteen. An eccentric genius, Farnsworth spent years battling corporate giants to receive acknowledgment for his invention.

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    #16 - New York Underground

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    S9:E7

    It began with the blizzard of 1888 -- mountains of snow twenty feet high, horse cars and omnibuses abandoned, the city paralyzed. There was no doubt New York needed a public transportation system. It would be an American epic -- the largest public works project in history, overshadowed only by the Panama Canal.

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    #17 - Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern

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    S9:E8

    A story of the realities leading to the vanishing role of the family farm in the United States.

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    #18 - Around the World in 72 Days

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    S9:E9

    At the age of nineteen, Nellie Bly talked her way into an improbable job on a newspaper, then went on to become "the best reporter in America." She was serious and spunky. To expose abuse of the mentally ill, she had herself committed. But when she travelled around the world in just 72 days, beating Jules Verne's fictional escapade, she turned herself into a world celebrity.

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  20. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #19 - Gold Fever

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    S9:E10

    The 1890's in America were desperate times. A depression brought bank and business failures and forced millions of men and women from their jobs. When gold was discovered in a frozen no man's land between Canada and Alaska, 100,000 people made the treacherous journey in search of riches.

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  21. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #20 - Vietnam: A Television History (Part 1 & 2)

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    S9:E11

    "Vietnam: A Television History" begins by tracing the "Roots of a War" to French colonialism. "America's Mandarin" looks at the start of America's involvement in Vietnam during the 1950s and '60s.

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    #21 - Vietnam: A Television History (3): LBJ Goes to War

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    S9:E12

    LBJ Goes to War (1964-65) examines the escalating American involvement following the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. Interviewed: Gen. William Westmoreland (USA Ret.) and former Secretary of State Dean Rusk.

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    #22 - Vietnam: A Television History (4): America Takes Charge

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    S9:E13

    In "America Takes Charge (1965-67)," GIs recall combat experiences during the years of U.S. military escalation. Also: a sequence in which Americans and Vietnamese describe the same operation.

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    #23 - Vietnam: A Television History (5): America's Enemy

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    S9:E14

    As "Vietnam: A Television History" continues, "America's Enemy (1954-67)" examines the escalating war from the point of view of North Vietnamese leaders and their followers, beginning with the country's partition after the French defeat. Interviewed: former Premier Pham Van Dong.

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    #24 - Vietnam: A Television History (6): Tet 1968

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    S9:E15

    Vietnam: A Television History": TV-news footage graphically recalls "Tet 1968," the bold North Vietnamese and Vietcong offensive. The attacks gave the enemy a "brilliant political victory" in the U.S, says former Secretary of State Dean Rusk.

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

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    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.

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Roots of Resistance: The Story of the Underground Railroad" is the worst rated episode of "American Experience". It scored N/A/10 based on 0 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 1/16/1990. This episode scored NaN points lower than the second lowest rated, "French Dance Tonight".