American Experience Season 12

American Experience Season 12 is currently streaming on and , and it treats its subject with more rigour than the format usually demands. Across 1 season, the show has had time to find its rhythm and keep it. With 48 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. The access the production secured is remarkable, and it does justice to it. Start it whenever you need something guaranteed to land.

Whatever else is competing for your attention this week, American Experience Season 12 is worth clearing space for. American Experience Season 12 approaches its subject with the rigour that makes documentary storytelling worth taking seriously. Season 12 of American Experience includes 15 episodes. It aired from November 1999 to May 2000. Episodes include "New York (1): The Country and the City", "New York (2): Order and Disorder", "New York (3): Sunshine and Shadow". It was aired in 1999. What elevates American Experience Season 12 above most documentary work is a refusal to settle for the easy version of the story. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

For viewers who want their entertainment to leave them with something, American Experience Season 12 delivers on both counts. If you have run out of similar titles to watch, this is a strong next pick. It is a manageable watch, easy to fit into a single week. The access the production gets is remarkable, and the storytelling does full justice to it. Worth watching in order, from the beginning.

🎬 American Experience Season 12 — Episode Guide

New York (1): The Country and the City

1999-11-14

The Country and the City, 1609-1825: New York, notes narrator David Ogden Stiers, "was a business proposition from the very start," when Henry Hudson, exploring for the Dutch East India Company, sailed into its harbor. Part 1 also focuses on New Yorker Alexander Hamilton, the first Treasury Secreta...

New York (2): Order and Disorder

1999-11-15

"Order and Disorder: 1825-1865" recalls a period of tremendous growth and ferment. Most of the new arrivals were Irish immigrants (100,000 by 1842—and that was before the potato famine), and the subsequent overcrowding led to the construction of Central Park (1857-58). But that didn't quell the ferm...

New York (3): Sunshine and Shadow

1999-11-16

"Sunshine and Shadow: 1865-1898" During the Gilded Age, New York "was home to the greatest concentration of wealth in human history," says narrator David Ogden Stiers. And, he adds, "the greatest concentration of poverty." This episode surveys that dichotomy, from Fifth Avenue mansions to slums docu...

New York (4): The Power and the People

1999-11-17

"The Power and the People: 1898-1914" recalls the era of mass immigration. "The entire world would arrive on the city's doorstep," says narrator David Ogden Stiers (1.2-million in 1907 alone). "There was a message," says writer Pete Hamill. "Come here, everything is possible." The program also follo...

New York (5): Cosmopolis

1999-11-18

"Cosmopolis: 1914-1931" recalls the WWI years and the "Roaring '20s" in the city that F. Scott Fitzgerald called "the land of ambition and success." Of course, an egg was laid on Wall Street in 1929, but before that happened the city gave rise, narrator David Ogden Stiers says, "to a new culture, a ...

Eleanor Roosevelt

2000-01-10

Profiling Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), the wife of one president, the niece of another and, says historian Geoffrey Ward, "one of the best politicians of the 20th century" in her own right. That's a remarkable achievement considering that she was also an implacable social reformer all her life. Th...

Houdini

2000-01-24

Mandy Patinkin narrates a biography of Harry Houdini (1874-1926) that focuses on his amazing feats (later ones are seen in clips; others are re-created) and the obsessions---notably his mother and death---that shaped his personality. "Escapology" was also high on the list. "He was so insanely devote...

Nixon's China Game

2000-01-31

Charting the tortuous three-year gambit that led to Richard Nixon's historic February 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China. What it did, says narrator David Ogden Stiers, was “alter the global balance of power.” How he did it is chronicled in vintage footage and interviews with major players...

The Duel

2000-02-14

The duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, narrator Linda Hunt says, was an 1804 gunfight between “the founder of American capitalism and the first modern American politician.” Included: profiles of Burr (1756-1836) and Hamilton (1757-1804), and sketches of the political differences between...

E10

John Brown's Holy War

2000-02-28

John Brown could be seen as a hero or a madman (perhaps both), but either way, there's no doubt he played a role in igniting the Civil War. Actor Joe Morton narrates a chronicle of Brown's life (1800-59), which features archival stills, atmospheric re-creations and the comments of historians. Interv...

E11

George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire (1)

2000-04-23

A haunting two-part profile of George Wallace, who, says narrator Randy Quaid, "divided a nation and launched a conservative movement that transformed the country." Part 1 covers Wallace's career up to the death of his first wife, Lurleen, in 1968, just as he was embarking on his second Presidential...

E12

George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire (2)

2000-04-24

The conclusion of a two-part profile of George Wallace (1919-98) focuses on his Presidential campaigns and the 1972 attempt on his life, which left him paralyzed. "He loved power," says his daughter Peggy, and the shooting didn't stop him from regaining the Alabama statehouse or from running for Pre...

E13

Jubilee Singers: Sacrifice and Glory

2000-05-01

Former slaves spread the gospel of African-American music in an inspiring 2000 chronicle of the 1870s Tennessee vocal group Jubilee Singers that introduced such songs as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "This Little Light of Mine" into popular culture. Dion Graham narrates the hour, which follows the ...

E14

Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life

2000-05-08

An atmospheric profile of Joe DiMaggio (1914-99), baseball's "Yankee Clipper," explores how and why he played what narrator (and co-writer) Richard Ben Kramer calls "the hero's game" by projecting -- and zealously guarding -- an image of effortless elegance on and off the field. On the field, the Ya...

E15

The Wizard of Photography

2000-05-23

Profiling George Eastman (1854-1932), whose Kodak and Brownie cameras "forever changed the way people see their world," says narrator Judith Light. The hour uses interviews with historians and, of course, vintage stills and clips to recall the autocratic Eastman, whose business strategy bypassed pro...

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