Series from 2014
Television Comes of Age: Series exploring the changing face of America throughout the 60s, starting with a look at the groundbreaking television that shaped the nation. (S1, ep 1)
Americans gathered around "the tube," for the news, The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, and more. Dick and Tom Smothers, Carol Burnett and others describe how the shows and historical events reflected who we were.
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.
The Warren Commission staff, and others trace the events leading up to that November day in Dallas, and try to explain why the investigations, media coverage and personalities associated with the tragedy remain compelling and controversial.
Involving more than 550,000 U.S. troops by the end of it, the escalation of the war in Vietnam brought social and political polarization home. It was televised so the more Americans saw of the war, the more unpopular the conflict became.
Selma, Birmingham, and the March on Washington are re-examined. Eyewitnesses to history give context to the lunch counter sit-ins, Freedom Rides, integration, and the Children's Crusade for the moral mission of the Civil Rights Movement.
"The lads from Liverpool" led a musical cultural exchange that impacted everything from fashion to sexual mores to politics. Graham Nash, Smokey Robinson and more recall what it was like to make music that mirrored the souls of the young.