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The Best Episodes of The Sixties Season 1

Every episode of The Sixties Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Sixties Season 1!

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The space race, the cold war, "free love," civil rights and more: The decade of the 1960s shaped our history -- and changed the world. In collaboration with Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog,

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  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    The Sixties Season 1 Episode 1 - Television Comes of Age (1960 - 1969)
    7.9/10(199 votes)

    #1 - Television Comes of Age (1960 - 1969)

    S1:E1

    Americans gathered around “the tube,” to be informed and entertained by the news, The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, I Dream of Jeannie, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, and more. Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Dick and Tom Smothers, Carol Burnett, Dick Cavett, Diahann Carroll, Carl Reiner, Vince Gilligan, Petula Clark and others describe how the ground-breaking, rule-breaking, norm-bending dramas, historical events, and sitcoms reflected and influenced who we were.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. The Sixties Season 1 Episode 2 - The World on the Brink (1960 – 1963)
    7.6/10(170 votes)

    #2 - The World on the Brink (1960 – 1963)

    S1:E2

    The heady days of Camelot were clouded by the political and military tensions between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Marvin Kalb, Richard Reeves, Robert Dallek, Sergei Khrushchev and more explain how close the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis brought us all to World War III – and how two nuclear superpowers moved from near confrontation to the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. The Sixties Season 1 Episode 3 - The Assassination of Kennedy (1963 - 1969)
    7.8/10(212 votes)

    #3 - The Assassination of Kennedy (1963 - 1969)

    S1:E3

    A documentary examining the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963. Included: a look at the conclusions drawn from the Warren Report; and eyewitness testimony. Remarks by: historians Robert Dallek and Robert Caro; journalists Robert MacNeil and Dan Rather; and Alexandra Zapruder, whose grandfather captured the assassination on film.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. The Sixties Season 1 Episode 4 - The War in Vietnam (1961 – 1968)
    7.7/10(157 votes)

    #4 - The War in Vietnam (1961 – 1968)

    S1:E4

    From just several hundred advisors at the start of the decade, to more than 550,000 American troops by the end of it, the escalation of the war in Vietnam – and the fighting and the dying – brought social and political polarization back home. It was also televised – and, the more Americans saw of the war, the more unpopular the conflict became. Tim O’Brien, Frederik Logeval, Karl Marlantes, Neil Sheehan, Andrew Bacevich, George Herring, Tom Hayden, and Philip Caputo discuss the Gulf of Tonkin, and LBJ, for this most complex of American stories.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. The Sixties Season 1 Episode 5 - A Long March to Freedom (1960 – 1968)
    8.0/10(158 votes)

    #5 - A Long March to Freedom (1960 – 1968)

    S1:E5

    Selma, Birmingham, and the March on Washington are reexamined by eyewitnesses to history. Diane Nash, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Rev. C.T. Vivian, Bob Moses, Diane McWhorter, Taylor Branch, David Garrow, and Isabel Wilkerson give critical context to the lunch counter sit-ins, Freedom Rides, Freedom Summer, integration, and the Children’s Crusade for the moral mission of the Civil Rights Movement.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. The Sixties Season 1 Episode 6 - The British Invasion (1964 - 1967)
    8.1/10(183 votes)

    #6 - The British Invasion (1964 - 1967)

    S1:E6

    Clips of performances by British bands of the 1960s, including Manfred Mann, the Animals, Peter and Gordon, Joe Cocker, Traffic, Procol Harum, the Troggs, the Kinks, the Yardbirds, the Hollies, and Gerry and the Pacemakers. Host: Casey Kasem.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. The Sixties Season 1 Episode 7 - The Space Race (1960 – 1969)
    7.8/10(143 votes)

    #7 - The Space Race (1960 – 1969)

    S1:E7

    Astronaut and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Mike Massimino and Dave Scott, and Walter Issacson, Douglas Brinkley, Tom Wolfe, Andy Chaikin, and Tom Hanks describe the greatest adventure story of all time. The “giant leap” pushed the boundaries of exploration to an unprecedented frontier, inspiring inventions and imaginations around the world for generations.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. The Sixties Season 1 Episode 8 - 1968 (1968)
    7.9/10(146 votes)

    #8 - 1968 (1968)

    S1:E8

    Tom Hayden, Gloria Steinem, Lance Morrow, Evan Thomas, Dan Rather, Morley Safer, Tim Naftali, and Mark Kurlansky discuss how one of the most dramatic years in American history was punctuated by a Soviet incursion into Czechoslovakia, devastating assassinations, turning points in the wars in Southeast Asia, a decisive and televised end to the Johnson Administration, violence at the Democratic National Convention, and the election of President Nixon.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. The Sixties Season 1 Episode 9 - The Times, They are A-Changin’ (1960 – 1969)
    7.6/10(135 votes)

    #9 - The Times, They are A-Changin’ (1960 – 1969)

    S1:E9

    Gloria Steinem, Robert Kennedy, Jr., former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, Cecile Richards, Marlo Thomas, Douglas Brinkley, and Gail Collins discuss how feminism, civil rights, environmentalism, conservatism, and the gay rights movements were fueled by deep yearnings for freedom by a generation unwilling to wait.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. The Sixties Season 1 Episode 10 - Sex, Drugs, and Rock N’ Roll (1960 – 1969)
    7.8/10(140 votes)

    #10 - Sex, Drugs, and Rock N’ Roll (1960 – 1969)

    S1:E10

    American culture changed fundamentally from the beginning to the end of the 1960s as the tastes, morals, and politics of the Baby Boomer generation came to define America. Jann Wenner, Grace Slick, David Wild, Leonard Steinhorn, Tom Wolfe, Douglas Brinkley, Tom Hanks, and more describe how beatniks, Haight-Ashbury, Andy Warhol, Timothy Leary, hippies, and Hell’s Angels became counter-cultural touchstones that still resonate today.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Television Comes of Age (1960 - 1969)" is the best rated episode of "The Sixties" season 1. It scored 7.9/10 based on 199 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 5/29/2014. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "The World on the Brink (1960 – 1963)".