# American Experience

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, 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. 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. 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.

## Episodes

| Season | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| Season | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released |
| 1 | 16 | 16 | October 4, 1988 (1988-10-04) | January 17, 1989 (1989-01-17) |
| 2 | 15 | 15 | October 3, 1989 (1989-10-03) | February 12, 1990 (1990-02-12) |
| 3 | 12 | 12 | October 1, 1990 (1990-10-01) | May 6, 1991 (1991-05-06) |
| 4 | 12 | 12 | September 30, 1991 (1991-09-30) | February 17, 1992 (1992-02-17) |
| 5 | 15 | 15 | September 20, 1992 (1992-09-20) | March 1, 1993 (1993-03-01) |
| 6 | 7 | 7 | October 27, 1993 (1993-10-27) | May 25, 1994 (1994-05-25) |
| 7 | 9 | 9 | October 11, 1994 (1994-10-11) | May 9, 1995 (1995-05-09) |
| 8 | 9 | 9 | October 16, 1995 (1995-10-16) | February 26, 1996 (1996-02-26) |
| 9 | 9 | 9 | October 6, 1996 (1996-10-06) | July 28, 1997 (1997-07-28) |
| 10 | 18 | 18 | October 5, 1997 (1997-10-05) | March 2, 1998 (1998-03-02) |
| 11 | 13 | 13 | November 18, 1998 (1998-11-18) | May 17, 1999 (1999-05-17) |
| 12 | 15 | 15 | November 14, 1999 (1999-11-14) | May 23, 2000 (2000-05-23) |
| 13 | 13 | 13 | October 17, 2000 (2000-10-17) | April 30, 2001 (2001-04-30) |
| 14 | 14 | 14 | September 30, 2001 (2001-09-30) | May 12, 2002 (2002-05-12) |
| 15 | 13 | 13 | November 11, 2002 (2002-11-11) | July 14, 2003 (2003-07-14) |
| 16 | 9 | 9 | September 8, 2003 (2003-09-08) | May 3, 2004 (2004-05-03) |
| 17 | 12 | 12 | October 4, 2004 (2004-10-04) | July 4, 2005 (2005-07-04) |
| 18 | 13 | 13 | October 17, 2005 (2005-10-17) | May 22, 2006 (2006-05-22) |
| 19 | 18 | 18 | October 2, 2006 (2006-10-02) | May 14, 2007 (2007-05-14) |
| 20 | 18 | 18 | January 14, 2008 (2008-01-14) | May 6, 2008 (2008-05-06) |
| 21 | 10 | 10 | January 26, 2009 (2009-01-26) | May 18, 2009 (2009-05-18) |
| 22 | 8 | 8 | November 2, 2009 (2009-11-02) | May 10, 2010 (2010-05-10) |
| 23 | 12 | 12 | October 11, 2010 (2010-10-11) | May 16, 2011 (2011-05-16) |
| 24 | 7 | 7 | January 10, 2012 (2012-01-10) | May 1, 2012 (2012-05-01) |
| 25 | 6 | 6 | September 18, 2012 (2012-09-18) | February 5, 2013 (2013-02-05) |
| 26 | 9 | 9 | October 29, 2013 (2013-10-29) | June 24, 2014 (2014-06-24) |
| 27 | 8 | 8 | November 18, 2014 (2014-11-18) | July 14, 2015 (2015-07-14) |
| 28 | 10 | 10 | September 14, 2015 (2015-09-14) | August 2, 2016 (2016-08-02) |
| 29 | 10 | 10 | October 18, 2016 (2016-10-18) | April 12, 2017 (2017-04-12) |
| 30 | 6 | 6 | January 9, 2018 (2018-01-09) | October 16, 2018 (2018-10-16) |
| 31 | 9 | 9 | January 15, 2019 (2019-01-15) | September 10, 2019 (2019-09-10) |
| 32 | 9 | 9 | January 6, 2020 (2020-01-06) | July 7, 2020 (2020-07-07) |
| 33 | 5 | 5 | January 11, 2021 (2021-01-11) | September 28, 2021 (2021-09-28) |
| 34 | 7 | 7 | February 7, 2022 (2022-02-07) | November 15, 2022 (2022-11-15) |
| 35 | 8 | 8 | January 3, 2023 (2023-01-03) | October 30, 2023 (2023-10-30) |
| 36 | 7 | 7 | January 23, 2024 (2024-01-23) | November 30, 2024 (2024-11-30) |

## Critical reception

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." Steve Johnson of Chicago Tribune wrote, "History comes alive in excellent docu-series."

## Home media

A DVD boxset collecting episodes about United States presidents was released on August 26, 2008. The collection was updated to include the documentary on Bill Clinton's presidency on August 28, 2012, and the documentary on George W. Bush's presidency on May 4, 2020.
A DVD boxset for the five-part documentary We Shall Remain was released on May 12, 2009.