Seasons and episodes
1
Season 1 6/23/1986
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1 - 1Arthur Miller: Private Conversations 6/23/1986 -
1 - 2Phillip Johnson: A Self Portrait 6/30/1986 -
1 - 3Katherine Anne Porter: The Eye of Memory 7/7/1986 -
1 - 4The Unknown Chaplin: Part 1 7/14/1986 -
1 - 5The Unknown Chaplin: Part 2 7/21/1986 -
1 - 6The Unknown Chaplin: Part 3 7/28/1986
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1 - 7Billie Holiday: The Long Night of Lady Day 8/4/1986 -
1 - 8James Levine: A Life in Music 8/11/1986 -
1 - 9Aaron Copland ~ About the Composer 8/18/1986 -
1 - 10Thomas Eakins: A Motion Portrait 8/25/1986 -
1 - 11Georgia O'Keeffe 9/1/1986 -
1 - 12Eugene O'Neill: A Glory of Ghosts 9/8/1986
2
Season 2 7/6/1987
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2 - 1Isaac in America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer 7/6/1987 -
2 - 2Directed by William Wyler 7/13/1987 -
2 - 3Rubinstein Remembered 7/20/1987
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2 - 4Nik and Murray 7/27/1987
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2 - 5George Gershwin Remembered 8/24/1987 -
2 - 6Maurice Sendak: Mon Cher Papa 8/31/1987
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2 - 7The Negro Ensemble Company 9/14/1987 -
2 - 8Unanswered Prayers: The Life and Times of Truman Capote 9/21/1987 -
2 - 9The Algonquin Round Table: The Ten Year Lunch 9/28/1987 -
2 - 10Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow 11/18/1987
3
Season 3 7/11/1988
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3 - 1Lillian Gish: The Actor's Life for Me 7/11/1988 -
3 - 2A Duke Named Ellington 7/18/1988 -
3 - 3Andre Kertesz of the Cities 8/8/1988 -
3 - 4Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul 8/22/1988 -
3 - 6Saint-Gaudens: Masque of the Golden Bowl 9/5/1988 -
3 - 7Neil Simon: Not Just for Laughs 3/8/1989 -
3 - 8Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of Group Theater 6/26/1989
4
Season 4 7/3/1989
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4 - 1Harold Clurman: A Life of Theatre 7/3/1989
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4 - 2Stella Adler: Awake and Dream! 7/10/1989
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4 - 3Satchmo: The Life of Louis Armstrong 7/31/1989 -
4 - 4James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket 8/14/1989 -
4 - 5Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker 8/17/1989 -
4 - 6Jasper Johns: Ideas in Paint 9/11/1989 -
4 - 7Mort Sahl: Shaping Laughter 9/18/1989 -
4 - 8W. Eugene Smith: Photography Made Difficult 9/25/1989 -
4 - 9Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius 11/15/1989 -
4 - 10Milos Forman: Portrait 12/20/1989
5
Season 5 7/2/1990
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5 - 1Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer 7/2/1990 -
5 - 3Martin Scorsese Directs 7/16/1990 -
5 - 4You're the Top: The Cole Porter Story 7/23/1990 -
5 - 5Edward R. Murrow: This Reporter 7/30/1990 -
5 - 6John Hammond: From Bessie Smith to Bruce Springsteen 8/20/1990 -
5 - 7Sanford Meisner: The Theater's Best Kept Secret 8/27/1990
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5 - 8John Cage: I Have Nothing to Say and I'm Saying It 9/17/1990
6
Season 6 7/1/1991
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6 - 1Helen Hayes: First Lady of the American Theatre 7/1/1991 -
6 - 3A. Einstein: How I See the World 7/22/1991 -
6 - 4Sarah Vaughan: The Divine One 7/29/1991 -
6 - 5Frederic Remington: The Truth of Other Days 8/5/1991 -
6 - 6Menuhin: A Family Portrait 8/12/1991 -
6 - 7Robert Motherwell and the New York School 8/26/1991 -
6 - 8Ray Charles: The Genius of Soul 1/3/1992 -
6 - 9Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey 5/1/1992
7
Season 7 3/17/1993
8
Season 8 12/8/1993
9
Season 9 11/30/1994
10
Season 10 11/29/1995
11
Season 11 11/25/1996
12
Season 12 9/17/1997
13
Season 13 10/28/1998
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13 - 1Leonard Bernstein: Reaching for the Note 10/28/1998 -
13 - 2The Line King: Al Hirschfeld 1/6/1999 -
13 - 3Paul Robeson: Here I Stand 2/24/1999 -
13 - 4Robert Rauschenberg: Inventive Genius 4/7/1999 -
13 - 6Dashiell Hammett: Detective, Writer 6/30/1999 -
13 - 7Yours for a Song: The Women of Tin Pan Alley 8/18/1999
14
Season 14 11/1/1999
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14 - 1Hitchcock, Selznick and the End of Hollywood 11/1/1999 -
14 - 2Norman Rockwell: Painting America 11/24/1999 -
14 - 3Ella Fitzgerald: Something to Live For 12/8/1999 -
14 - 4Paul Taylor: Dancemaker 1/5/2000 -
14 - 5Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light 2/2/2000 -
14 - 7The Source: The Story of the Beats and the Beat Generation 5/31/2000
15
Season 15 9/27/2000
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15 - 1Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows 9/27/2000 -
15 - 2Mailer on Mailer 10/4/2000 -
15 - 3On Cukor 11/22/2000 -
15 - 4Lucille Ball: Finding Lucy 12/3/2000 -
15 - 5Bob Marley: Rebel Music 2/14/2001 -
15 - 6A Conversation with Gregory Peck 4/9/2001 -
15 - 7Alfred Stieglitz: The Eloquent Eye 4/16/2001 -
15 - 8Coming to Light: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indians 4/23/2001
16
Season 16 10/7/2001
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16 - 1Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies 10/7/2001 -
16 - 2F. Scott Fitzgerald: Winter Dreams 10/14/2001 -
16 - 3Richard Rodgers: The Sweetest Sounds 10/21/2001 -
16 - 4Quincy Jones: In the Pocket 11/18/2001 -
16 - 5Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records 11/28/2001 -
16 - 7Ralph Ellison: An American Journey 2/19/2002 -
16 - 8Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer 3/1/2002
17
Season 17 10/2/2002
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17 - 1Willie Nelson: Still is Still Moving 10/2/2002 -
17 - 2Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces 10/30/2002 -
17 - 3Juilliard 1/29/2003 -
17 - 5Joni Mitchell: A Woman of Heart and Mind 4/2/2003 -
17 - 6Muddy Waters: Can't Be Satisfied 4/23/2003 -
17 - 7Robert Capa: In Love and War 5/28/2003 -
17 - 8The Education of Gore Vidal 7/30/2003
18
Season 18 9/3/2003
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18 - 1Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan and the Blacklist 9/3/2003 -
18 - 2James Brown: Soul Survivor 10/29/2003 -
18 - 4Balanchine 1/14/2004 -
18 - 5Judy Garland: By Myself 2/25/2004 -
18 - 6Henry Luce and Time-Life's America: A Vision of Empire 4/28/2004 -
18 - 7Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues 6/23/2004 -
18 - 8Julia! America's Favorite Chef 8/18/2004
19
Season 19 5/11/2005
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19 - 1James Dean: Sense Memories 5/11/2005 -
19 - 2Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice 6/29/2005 -
19 - 3George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey 7/13/2005 -
19 - 4Bob Newhart: Unbuttoned 7/20/2005 -
19 - 5Willa Cather: The Road is All 9/7/2005 -
19 - 6Ernest Hemingway: Rivers to the Sea 9/14/2005 -
19 - 7Bob Dylan: No Direction Home 9/27/2005
20
Season 20 5/10/2006
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20 - 1John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend 5/10/2006 -
20 - 2The World of Nat King Cole 5/17/2006 -
20 - 3Woodie Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home 7/12/2006 -
20 - 4Marilyn Monroe: Still Life 7/19/2006 -
20 - 5Walter Cronkite: Witness to History 7/26/2006 -
20 - 6Andy Warhol: A Documentary: Part 1 9/20/2006 -
20 - 7Andy Warhol: A Documentary: Part 2 9/21/2006 -
20 - 8Sketches of Frank Gehry 9/27/2006 -
20 - 9Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens 1/3/2007
21
Season 21 4/4/2007
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21 - 1Novel Reflections on the American Dream 4/4/2007 -
21 - 2Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built 5/2/2007 -
21 - 3Les Paul: Chasing Sound 7/11/2007 -
21 - 4David Hockney: The Colors of Music 7/18/2007 -
21 - 5John James Audubon: Drawn from Nature 7/25/2007 -
21 - 6Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends 9/12/2007 -
21 - 7Orozco: Man of Fire 9/19/2007 -
21 - 8Good Ol' Charles Schulz 10/29/2007 -
21 - 9Carol Burnett: A Woman of Character 11/5/2007
22
Season 22 2/27/2008
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22 - 1Pete Seeger: The Power of Song 2/27/2008 -
22 - 2Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun 4/9/2008 -
22 - 3Marvin Gaye: What's Going On 5/7/2008 -
22 - 4You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story: You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet (1923-1935) 9/23/2008 -
22 - 5You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story: Good War, Uneasy Peace (1935-1950) 9/23/2008 -
22 - 6You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story: A New Reality (1950-1970) 9/24/2008 -
22 - 7You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story: Woodstock Notions (1970-1989) 9/24/2008 -
22 - 8You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story: The Big Tent (1980-Present) 9/25/2008 -
22 - 9The Brothers Warner 9/25/2008
23
Season 23 2/18/2009
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23 - 1Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About 2/18/2009 -
23 - 2Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts 4/8/2009 -
23 - 3Hollywood Chinese 5/27/2009 -
23 - 4Neil Young: Don't Be Denied 6/10/2009 -
23 - 5Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes 7/1/2009 -
23 - 6Trumbo 9/2/2009 -
23 - 7Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound 10/14/2009 -
23 - 8Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind 'Little Women' 12/28/2009
24
Season 24 1/11/2010
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24 - 1Sam Cooke: Crossing Over 1/11/2010 -
24 - 2I.M. Pei: Building China Modern 3/31/2010 -
24 - 3The Doors: When You're Strange 5/12/2010 -
24 - 4Merle Haggard: Learning to Live with Myself 7/21/2010 -
24 - 5Cachao: Uno Más 9/20/2010 -
24 - 6A Letter to Elia 10/4/2010 -
24 - 7Lennon NYC 11/22/2010 -
24 - 8Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould 12/27/2010
25
Season 25 1/12/2011
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25 - 1Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides 1/12/2011 -
25 - 2Troubadors: Carole King/James Taylor & the Rise of the Singer-Songwriter 3/2/2011 -
25 - 3John Muir in the New World 4/18/2011 -
25 - 4James Levine: America's Maestro 6/1/2011 -
25 - 5Pearl Jam Twenty 10/21/2011 -
25 - 6Bill T. Jones: A Good Man 11/11/2011 -
25 - 7Woody Allen: A Documentary: Part 1 11/20/2011 -
25 - 8Woody Allen: A Documentary: Part 2 11/21/2011 -
25 - 9Charles & Ray Eames: The Architect and the Painter 12/29/2011
26
Season 26 1/23/2012
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26 - 1Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune 1/23/2012 -
26 - 2Cab Calloway: Sketches 2/27/2012 -
26 - 3Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel 4/2/2012 -
26 - 4Harper Lee: Hey, Boo 4/2/2012 -
26 - 5Johnny Carson: King of Late Night 5/14/2012 -
26 - 6The Day Carl Sandburg Died 9/24/2012 -
26 - 7Inventing David Geffen 11/20/2012 -
26 - 8Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance 12/28/2012
27
Season 27 2/22/2013
28
Season 28 1/21/2014
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28 - 1Salinger 1/21/2014 -
28 - 2Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth 2/7/2014 -
28 - 3A Fierce Green Fire 4/22/2014 -
28 - 3A Fierce Green Fire 4/22/2014
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28 - 4Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself 5/16/2014 -
28 - 5Tanaquil Le Clercq: Afternoon of a Faun 6/20/2014 -
28 - 6Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning 8/29/2014 -
28 - 7Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work 9/23/2014 -
28 - 8The Boomer List 9/23/2014 -
28 - 9Bing Crosby Rediscovered 12/2/2014
29
Season 29 1/23/2015
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29 - 1Ricky Jay: Deceptive Practice 1/23/2015 -
29 - 2August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand 2/20/2015 -
29 - 3Jascha Heifetz: God's Fiddler 4/16/2015 -
29 - 4American Ballet Theatre: A History 5/15/2015 -
29 - 5Althea 9/4/2015 -
29 - 6Pedro E. Guerrero: A Photographer's Journey 9/18/2015 -
29 - 7The Women's List 9/25/2015 -
29 - 8The Women's List 9/25/2015
30
Season 30 1/29/2016
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30 - 1Mike Nichols: An American Master 1/29/2016 -
30 - 2B.B. King: The Life of Riley 2/12/2016 -
30 - 3Carole King: Natural Woman 2/19/2016 -
30 - 4Fats Domino: The Birth of Rock N' Roll 2/26/2016 -
30 - 5Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl 3/4/2016 -
30 - 6Janis Joplin: Little Girl Blue 5/3/2016 -
30 - 7The Highwaymen: Friends Till the End 5/27/2016 -
30 - 8Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You 10/25/2016 -
30 - 9Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future 12/27/2016 -
30 - 10Sidney Lumet 1/3/2017
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30 - 11Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise 2/21/2017
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30 - 125/19/2017
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30 - 13Jacques Pépin - The Art Of Craft 5/26/2017
31
Season 31 1/3/2017
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31 - 1By Sidney Lumet 1/3/2017 -
31 - 2Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise 2/21/2017 -
31 - 3Patsy Cline 3/4/2017 -
31 - 4James Beard: America's First Foodie 5/19/2017 -
31 - 5Jacques Pépin: The Art of Craft 5/26/2017 -
31 - 6Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me 8/16/2017 -
31 - 7Richard Linklater: Dream is Destiny 9/1/2017 -
31 - 8Tyrus Wong 9/8/2017 -
31 - 9Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive 10/30/2017 -
31 - 10Inspiring Woman Web Series 11/8/2017 -
31 - 11This Is Bob Hope... 12/29/2017
32
Season 32 1/19/2018
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32 - 1Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart 1/19/2018 -
32 - 2Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story 5/18/2018 -
32 - 3Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived 7/23/2018 -
32 - 4Eva Hesse 8/31/2018 -
32 - 5Everybody Knows... Elizabeth Murray 9/7/2018 -
32 - 6Andrew Wyeth 9/7/2018 -
32 - 7Basquiat: Rage to Riches 9/14/2018 -
32 - 8Itzhak 10/14/2018 -
32 - 9Itzhak 10/14/2018
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32 - 10Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me 2/19/2019
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32 - 11Charley Pride: I'm Just Me 2/22/2019
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32 - 12Holly Near: Singing For Our Lives 3/1/2019
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32 - 13Joseph Pulitzer: Voice Of The People 4/12/2019
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32 - 14Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable 4/19/2019
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32 - 15Robert Shaw - Man of Many Voices 5/17/2019
33
Season 33 1/2/2019
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33 - 1Decoding Watson 1/2/2019 -
33 - 2Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me 2/19/2019 -
33 - 3Charley Pride: I'm Just Me 2/22/2019 -
33 - 4Holly Near: Singing for Our Lives 3/1/2019 -
33 - 5Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People 4/12/2019 -
33 - 6Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable 4/19/2019 -
33 - 7Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life 6/14/2019 -
33 - 8Robert Shaw - Man of Many Voices 6/21/2019 -
33 - 9Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin 8/2/2019 -
33 - 10Raul Julia: The World's a Stage 9/13/2019 -
33 - 11Rothko: Pictures Must Be Miraculous 10/25/2019 -
33 - 12N. Scott Momaday: Words from a Bear 11/18/2019
34
Season 34 2/25/2020
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34 - 1Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool 2/25/2020 -
34 - 2Mae West: Dirty Blonde 6/16/2020 -
34 - 3Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am 6/23/2020 -
34 - 4And She Could Be Next Part Two 6/30/2020 -
34 - 5Unladylike2020: The Changemakers 7/10/2020 -
34 - 6Walter Winchell: The Power of Gossip 10/20/2020 -
34 - 7Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Now Is 10/23/2020 -
34 - 8Keith Haring: Street Art Boy 12/11/2020 -
34 - 9Laura Ingalls Wilder: Prairie to Page 12/29/2020
35
Season 35 1/18/2021
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35 - 1How It Feels To Be Free 1/18/2021 -
35 - 2Flannery O'Connor 3/23/2021 -
35 - 3Twyla Moves 3/26/2021 -
35 - 4Never Too Late: The Doc Severinsen Story 4/2/2021 -
35 - 5Oliver Sacks: His Own Life 4/9/2021 -
35 - 6Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir 5/3/2021 -
35 - 7Ballerina Boys 6/4/2021 -
35 - 8Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase the Blues Away 7/27/2021 -
35 - 9Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It 10/5/2021 -
35 - 10Becoming Helen Keller 10/19/2021 -
35 - 11Not Found 1/11/2022
36
Season 36 1/11/2022
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36 - 1Ailey 1/11/2022 -
36 - 2Marian Anderson: The Whole World in Her Hands 2/8/2022 -
36 - 3Waterman - Duke: Ambassador of Aloha 5/10/2022 -
36 - 4Joe Papp in Five Acts 6/3/2022 -
36 - 5Brian Wilson - Long Promised Road 6/14/2022 -
36 - 6Tony – A Year in the Life of Dr. Anthony Fauci 7/27/2022 -
36 - 7Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On 11/22/2022 -
36 - 8The Adventures of Saul Bellow 12/12/2022 -
36 - 9Groucho & Cavett 12/27/2022
37
Season 37 1/24/2023
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37 - 1Roberta Flack 1/24/2023 -
37 - 2Lily Gladstone: Far Out There 3/13/2023 -
37 - 3Dr. Tony Fauci 3/21/2023 -
37 - 4In the Making 3/24/2023 -
37 - 5Alejandro Jimenez: The Ground I Stand On 4/4/2023 -
37 - 6Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV 5/16/2023 -
37 - 7Little Richard: The King and Queen of Rock and Roll 6/2/2023 -
37 - 8Bella! This Woman's Place Is in the House 9/8/2023 -
37 - 9Jerry Brown: The Disrupter 9/15/2023 -
37 - 10Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely 9/22/2023
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37 - 11A Song for Cesar 9/29/2023
38
Season 38 10/6/2023
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38 - 1Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes 10/6/2023 -
38 - 2Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll 2/2/2024 -
38 - 3The Incomparable Mr. Buckley 4/5/2024 -
38 - 4Blake Edwards: A Love Story in 24 Frames 8/27/2024 -
38 - 5Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined 9/17/2024 -
38 - 6Brenda Lee: Rockin' Around 2024-12-16
Cast
Synopsis
"American Masters" is an ongoing series of award-winning primetime specials examining the lives, works, and creative processes of our most outstanding cultural artists. Created in 1984 by Susan Lacy and produced by Thirteen/WNET for national public television, the series is both a celebration and an exploration of creativity in America. Consisting of more than 250 hours of programming to date, "American Masters" is a growing film library documenting the role important individuals, groups, and movements have played in the formation of our cultural identity. Since its premiere in 1986, "American Masters" has been the only PBS primetime series committed to developing and producing comprehensive film biographies about the broad cast of characters who comprise our cultural history. The illuminating film portraits chronicle the process of discovery and evolution in the working methods and lives of our most significant and influential writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, and filmmakers.
Original title
American Masters
Synonyms
TMDb Rating
7.06 16 votes
First air date
June 23, 1986
Seasons
38
Episodes
307
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