TV series
TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.
Streaming, rental and purchase options
Checked Jul 22, 2026
American Experience is available to stream on DirecTV On Demand, Hoopla, and YouTube TV in United States. You can also rent or buy it from Google Play, Amazon, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home. Use the direct links below to open the provider.
TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.
Choose an episode, then use the watch options above for the show.
Episode 1
One of the most popular New Deal programs, the Civilian Conservation Corps put three million young men to work in the nation's forests and parks at the height of the Great Depression.
Where to watch American Experience
Episode 2
Wyatt Earp has been portrayed in countless movies and television shows by some of Hollywood's greatest actors, including Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, and more recently, Kevin Costner, but these popular fictions often belie the complexities and flaws of a man whose life is a lens on politics, justice and economic opportunity in the American frontier.
Directed by Rob RapleyWritten by Rob RapleyGuest stars Michael Murphy, Bob Boze Bell, Jim Dunham
Episode 3
From International Emmy Award and Peabody Award-winning producer Zvi Dor-Ner (Israel’s Next War, House of Saud) comes The Bombing of Germany, a one-hour film that examines the defining moments of the U.S. bombing campaign. Weaving together veteran and historian interviews with archival footage of the bombing and its aftermath, The Bombing of Germany is a haunting reminder of the moral dilemma imposed by war’s strategic imperatives.
Where to watch American Experience
Episode 4
Dolley Madison lived through the two wars that established the U.S., was friends with the first 12 Presidents, and watched America evolve from a struggling young republic to the first modern democracy in the world. She was nicknamed “Queen Dolley,” and when she died in 1849 at the age of 81 — one of the last remaining members of the founding generation - Washington City honored her with the largest state funeral the capital had ever seen for a woman. Dolley Madison features Tony Award-nominee Eve Best (Nurse Jackie) as Dolley Madison and Tony Award-winner Jefferson Mays as James Madison (I Am My Own Wife).
Where to watch American Experience
Episode 5
Earth Days looks at the road to April 22, 1970, to the dawn and development of the modern environmental movement through the extraordinary stories of the era’s pioneers — among them Former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, biologist/Population Bomb author Paul Ehrlich, Whole Earth Catalog founder Stewart Brand, Apollo Nine astronaut Rusty Schweickart, and renewable energy pioneer Hunter Lovins. Earth Days is a meditation on man’s complex relationship with nature and an engaging history of the revolutionary achievements and missed opportunities of groundbreaking eco-activism.
Where to watch American Experience
Episode 6
What drove a company of American soldiers — ordinary young men from around the country — to commit the worst atrocity in American military history? American Experience focuses on the 1968 My Lai massacre, its subsequent cover-up, and the heroic efforts of the soldiers who broke ranks to try to halt the atrocities and then bring them to light.
Where to watch American Experience
Episode 7
On April 4, 1968, James Earl Ray shot and killed Dr. Martin Luther King. This is the fateful narrative of the killer and his prey, set against the seething, turbulent forces in American society. Roads to Memphis is told through eyewitness testimony from King's inner circle and the officials involved in Ray’s capture and prosecution following an intense two-month international manhunt.
Directed by Stephen IvesWritten by Michelle FerrariGuest stars Martin Luther King Jr.
Episode 8
The 300-year saga of the American whaling industry, from its origins off the coast of New England, through the age of deep ocean whaling, and on to its demise in the decades following the Civil War.
Where to watch American ExperienceEpisode information updated Jul 25, 2026
Liev SchreiberNarrator (voice)
Linda HuntSelf - Narrator (voice)
Jason RobardsNarrator (voice)
Peter CoyoteNarrator (voice)
Alfre WoodardNarrator (voice)
Dion GrahamSelf - Narrator (voice)
Joe MortonNarrator (voice)
René AuberjonoisWoodrow Wilson (voice)
PBSUnited States
GBHUnited StatesMore shows like American Experience.
