American Experience

American Experience
GenreTelevision documentary
Created byPeter McGhee
Theme music composer
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish (US)
No. of seasons36
No. of episodes378 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Judy Crichton (1987–1996)
  • Margaret Drain (1997–2003)
  • Mark Samels (2003–2020)
  • Cameo George (2020–present)[1]
Running timeBetween 55 minutes and two hours
Production companyWGBH-TV
Original release
NetworkPBS[2]
ReleaseOctober 4, 1988 (1988-10-04)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

American Experience is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards,[3] about important or interesting events and people in American history.

The series premiered on October 4, 1988, and was originally titled The American Experience. It was shortened to American Experience during a rebrand and image update. 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, which provide background information on the subjects covered as well as teachers' guides and educational companion materials.[4] The show 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 programs considered part of the American Experience collection were produced prior to the creation of the series. Vietnam: A Television History was one of them, airing originally in 1983 after taking six years to assemble.[5] 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.

  1. ^ "Cameo George Named Executive Producer of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, WGBH's Acclaimed History Series on PBS" (Press release). WGBH. July 23, 2020. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  2. ^ "Broadcast Schedule  • American Experience  • WGBH". PBS. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  3. ^ "About the Series . American Experience . WGBH". PBS. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  4. ^ "American Experience | Who We Are". Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Retrieved October 23, 2012.
  5. ^ "American Experience | Vietnam Online | About the TV Series". PBS. Archived from the original on November 14, 2012. Retrieved October 23, 2012.