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The Best Episodes Written By Geoffrey C. ward

Every TV Episode Written by Geoffrey C. ward Ranked from Best to Worst by Thousands of Voters

Geoffrey C. Ward Ratings Summary

"War is All Hell: 1865" is the best rated episode written by Geoffrey C. Ward. It scored 8.2/10 based on 5 votes. It was directed by Ken Burns. It aired on 9/27/1990 and is rated 0.2 points higher than their second-best episode, "Inning One: Our Game".

  • War is All Hell: 1865
    8.2/105 votes

    #1 - War is All Hell: 1865

    Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 9/27/1990

    The episode begins with William Tecumseh Sherman's brilliant march to the sea, which brings the war to the heart of Georgia and the Carolinas and spells the end of the Confederacy. In March, following Lincoln's second inauguration, first Petersburg and then Richmond finally fall to Grant's army. Lee's tattered Army of Northern Virginia flees westward towards a tiny crossroads town called Appomattox Court House. There the dramatic and deeply moving surrender of Lee to Grant takes place. The episode ends in Washington where John Wilkes Booth begins to dream of vengeance for the South.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • Inning One: Our Game
    8.0/102 votes

    #2 - Inning One: Our Game

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/18/1994

    In New York City, in the 1840s, people need a diversion from the "railroad pace" at which they work and live. They find it in a game of questionable origins. Inning One, Our Game, looks at the origins of baseball in the 1840s and takes the story up to 1900. Burns refutes the myth that Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown and traces its roots instead to the earliest days of the nation.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • Inning Three: The Faith of Fifty Million People
    8.0/101 votes

    #3 - Inning Three: The Faith of Fifty Million People

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 9/20/1994

    Examine the century's second decade, which was dominated by the Black Sox scandal. George Herman “Babe” Ruth makes his first major league appearance (as a member of the Boston Red Sox) and a wave of immigration helps fill the stands with new fans, eager to “become American” by learning America's game.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • Inning Six: The National Pastime
    8.0/102 votes

    #4 - Inning Six: The National Pastime

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 9/25/1994

    This episode covers the 1940s and includes Joe DiMaggio's celebrated hitting streak, the awe-inspiring performance of Ted Williams and what Burns calls “baseball's finest moment” — the debut of Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • Inning Seven: The Capitol of Baseball
    8.0/102 votes

    #5 - Inning Seven: The Capitol of Baseball

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 9/26/1994

    Viewers are taken through the 1950s when New York City had three successful baseball teams and dominated the World Series. By the end of the decade, the Giants and Dodgers had left New York, a signal that the old game was changed forever.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • Inning Eight: A Whole New Ball Game
    8.0/101 votes

    #6 - Inning Eight: A Whole New Ball Game

    Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 9/27/1994

    The field is moved to the 1960s. This episode traces the emergence of television, the expansion to new cities and the building of anonymous multipurpose stadiums that robbed the game of its intimacy and some of its urban following.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • Inning Nine: Home
    8.0/101 votes

    #7 - Inning Nine: Home

    Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 9/28/1994

    The final episode looks at baseball from the 1970s to the present, including the establishment of the free agent system, the rise in player salaries, the continued expansion, the dilution of talent, the ongoing battles between labor and management and the scandals.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • The Better Angels of Our Nature: 1865
    7.8/105 votes

    #8 - The Better Angels of Our Nature: 1865

    Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 9/27/1990

    This extraordinary final episode of The Civil War begins in the bittersweet aftermath of Lee's surrender and then goes on to narrate the horrendous events of five days later when, on April 14, Lincoln is assassinated. After chronicling Lincoln's poignant funeral, the series recounts the final days of the war, the capture of John Wilkes Booth and the fates of the Civil War's major protagonists. The episode then considers the consequences and meaning of a war that transformed the country from a collection of states to the nation we are today.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • Simply Murder: 1863
    7.6/105 votes

    #9 - Simply Murder: 1863

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 9/25/1990

    The nightmarish Union disaster at Fredericksburg comes to two climaxes that spring: at Chancellorsville in May, where Lee wins his most brilliant victory but loses Stonewall Jackson; and at Vicksburg, where Grant's attempts to take the city by siege are stopped. During the episode we learn of fierce Northern opposition to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, the miseries of regimental life and the increasing desperation of the Confederate homefront. As the episode ends, Lee decides to invade the North again to draw Grant's forces away from Vicksburg.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • The Universe of Battle: 1863
    7.6/105 votes

    #10 - The Universe of Battle: 1863

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 9/25/1990

    This episode opens with a dramatic account of the turning point of war: the Battle of Gettysburg, the greatest ever fought in the Western Hemisphere. For three days 150,000 men will fight to the death in the Pennsylvania countryside, culminating in Pickett's legendary charge. This extended episode then goes on to chronicle the fall of Vicksburg, the New York draft riots, the first use of black troops, and the western battles at Chickamauga, Georgia and Chattanooga, Tennessee. The episode closes with the dedication of a new Union cemetery at Gettysburg in November, where Abraham Lincoln struggles to put into words what is happening to his people.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • Valley of the Shadow of Death: 1864
    7.6/105 votes

    #11 - Valley of the Shadow of Death: 1864

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 9/26/1990

    Episode six begins with a biographical comparison of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee and then chronicles the extraordinary series of battles that pitted the two generals against each other from the wilderness to Petersburg in Virginia. In 30 days, the two armies lose more men than both sides have lost in three years of war. With Grant and Lee finally deadlocked at Petersburg, we visit the ghastly hospitals north and south and follow General Sherman's Atlanta campaign through the mountains of north Georgia. As the horrendous casualty lists increase, Lincoln's chances for re-election begin to dim, and with them the possibility of Union victory.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • Most Hallowed Ground: 1864
    7.6/105 votes

    #12 - Most Hallowed Ground: 1864

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 9/26/1990

    The episode begins with the presidential election of 1864 that sets Abraham Lincoln against his old commanding general, George McClellan. The stakes are nothing less than the survival of the Union itself: with Grant and Sherman stalled at Petersburg and Atlanta, opinion in the North has turned strongly against the war. But 11th-hour victories at Mobile Bay, Atlanta, and the Shenandoah Valley tilt the election to Lincoln and the Confederacy's last hope for independence dies. In an ironic twist, poignantly typical of the Civil War, Lee's Arlington mansion is turned into a Union military hospital and the estate becomes Arlington National Cemetery, the Union's most hallowed ground.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • Déjà Vu (1858-1961)
    7.6/1017 votes

    #13 - Déjà Vu (1858-1961)

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/17/2017

    After a century of French occupation, Vietnam emerges independent but divided into North and South.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • The Cause: 1861
    7.5/106 votes

    #14 - The Cause: 1861

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/23/1990

    Beginning with a searing indictment of slavery, this first episode dramatically evokes the causes of the war, from the Cotton Kingdom of the South to the northern abolitionists who opposed it. Here are the burning questions of Union and States' rights, John Brown at Harper's Ferry, the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, the firing on Fort Sumter and the jubilant rush to arms on both sides. Along the way the series' major figures are introduced: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and a host of lesser-known but equally vivid characters. The episode comes to a climax with the disastrous Union defeat at Manassas, Virginia, where both sides now learn it is to be a very long war.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • Forever Free: 1862
    7.5/106 votes

    #15 - Forever Free: 1862

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 9/24/1990

    This episode charts the dramatic events that led to Lincoln's decision to set the slaves free. Convinced by July 1862 that emancipation was now morally and militarily crucial to the future of the Union, Lincoln must wait for a victory to issue his proclamation. But as the year wears on there are no Union victories to be had, thanks to the brilliance of Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. The episode comes to a climax in September 1862 with Lee's invasion of Maryland. On the banks of Antietam Creek, the bloodiest day of the war takes place, followed shortly by the brightest: the emancipation of the slaves.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • Inning Five: Shadow Ball
    7.5/102 votes

    #16 - Inning Five: Shadow Ball

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 9/22/1994

    The story of the Negro Leagues in the 1930s. “Shadow Ball” refers to a common pre-game feature in which the players staged a mock game with an imaginary ball. Though unintended, the pantomime was an apt metaphor for the exclusion of blacks from major league play at that time.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • A Very Bloody Affair: 1862
    7.2/106 votes

    #17 - A Very Bloody Affair: 1862

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 9/24/1990

    1862 saw the birth of modern warfare and the transformation of Lincoln's war to preserve the Union into a war to emancipate the slaves. Episode Two begins with the political infighting that threatened to swamp Lincoln's administration and then follows Union General George McClellan's ill-fated campaign on the Virginia Peninsula, where his huge army meets a smaller but infinitely more resourceful Confederate force. During this episode we witness the battle of ironclad ships, partake of camp life, and watch slavery begin to crumble. We meet Ulysses S. Grant, whose exploits come to a bloody climax at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee. The episode ends with rumors of Europe's readiness to recognize the Confederacy.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • Inning Two: Something Like a War
    7.0/102 votes

    #18 - Inning Two: Something Like a War

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 9/19/1994

    In 1894, a sportswriter named Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson takes over a struggling minor league - the Western League - and turns it into a financial success. Inning Two, Something Like a War, takes viewers through 1910 and introduces some of the game's most celebrated and colorful characters, including Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • Inning Four: A National Heirloom
    7.0/102 votes

    #19 - Inning Four: A National Heirloom

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 9/21/1994

    This episode concentrates on Babe Ruth, whose phenomenal performance thrilled the nation throughout the 1920s and rescued the game from the scandal of the previous decade.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • A Nation of Drunkards
    6.0/101 votes

    #20 - A Nation of Drunkards

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 10/2/2011

    The start of the temperance movement in the 19th century under the stewardship of such leaders as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frances Willard and Carry Nation; and the Anti-Saloon League, which pushed for a constitutional amendment that would ban the sale and manufacture of alcohol.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • A Nation of Scofflaws
    6.0/101 votes

    #21 - A Nation of Scofflaws

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/3/2011

    The problems that the Volstead Act and Prohibition caused, including a possible increase in alcoholism due to women frequenting the illicit speakeasies that replaced male-only saloons; adulterated liquor that poisons some drinkers; and civil-rights violations by overzealous federal agents anxious to make arrests. Despite the public's growing opposition to the ban, few politicians dare to speak against it due to the political might of the Anti-Saloon League.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward

  • A Nation of Hypocrites
    6.0/101 votes

    #22 - A Nation of Hypocrites

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/4/2011

    The factors that led to the end of Prohibition. The criminalizing of alcohol feeds large profits into the coffers of criminal organizations and turns such gangsters as Al Capone into celebrities. Wealthy Pauline Sabin encourages the repeal of the 18th Amendment; and brings together women from all classes who support her position. The 21st Amendment, which repeals the 18th, is adopted after Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1932 election and by late 1933 people can again legally buy drinks.

    Director: Ken Burns

    Writer: Geoffrey C. Ward