American Experience
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox television
American Experience is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States that presents documentaries about key events and people in U.S. history. The show has several awards, including 30 Emmy Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The series premiered on October 4, 1988 and was originally titled The American Experience. The show has had a presence on the internet since 1995, and more than 100 American Experience programs are accompanied by their own internet websites that provide background information on the subjects covered as well as teachers' guides and educational companion materials.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> American Experience is produced primarily by WGBH-TV in Boston, Massachusetts, though occasionally in the early seasons it was co-produced by other PBS stations such as WNET (Channel 13) in New York City.
Some of the American Experience programs were produced prior to the formal creation of the series. Vietnam: A Television History was one of them, airing originally in 1983 after six years in development.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Also, in 2006, American Experience rebroadcast Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, the first half of the 1986 documentary series about the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
In July 2025, WGBH announced that American Experience would end new production and switch exclusively to rereleasing past episodes after airing an abbreviated 37th season that fall and that the series' staff was being laid off.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> WGBH CEO Susan Goldberg attributed the decision to "severe cuts in federal funding for public media."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Work had been halted in May on six films, and no new documentaries will be produced until further notice since this is the "most expensive show funded by PBS" on a per hour basis.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Episodes
Template:Main List of American Experience episodes
Reception
Critical response
American Experience has received generally positive reviews from television critics and parents of young children. Glenn McNatt of The Baltimore Sun wrote that it is "TV's finest history series ever."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Steve Johnson of Chicago Tribune wrote, "History comes alive in excellent docu-series."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Home media
A DVD boxset collecting episodes about United States presidents was released on August 26, 2008.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A DVD boxset for the five-part documentary We Shall Remain was released on May 12, 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The collection was updated to include the documentary on Bill Clinton's presidency on August 28, 2012,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the documentary on George W. Bush's presidency<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> on May 4, 2020.
Awards
References
External links
Template:American Experience Template:Navboxes Template:PBSTV Template:WGBH
- American Experience
- 1988 American television series debuts
- 1980s American documentary television series
- 1990s American documentary television series
- 2000s American documentary television series
- 2010s American documentary television series
- 2020s American documentary television series
- Peabody Award–winning television programs
- Television series about the history of the United States
- Television series by WGBH