American Experience - Season 21
Season 21
Episodes
The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer
J. Robert Oppenheimer was brilliant, arrogant, proud, charismatic — and a national hero. Under his leadership during World War II, the United States succeeded in becoming the first nation to harness the power of nuclear energy to create the ultimate weapon of mass destruction — the atomic bomb. But after the bomb brought the war to an end, in spite of his renown and his enormous achievement, America turned on him, humiliated him, and cast him aside. The question this film asks is, "Why?"
The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer features Academy Award-nominated actor David Strathairn (Good Night and Good Luck, The Bourne Ultimatum) as Robert Oppenheimer. From multiple Emmy Award-winning producer David Grubin (RFK, LBJ, Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided), The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer features interviews with the scientist's former colleagues and eminent scholars to present a complex and revealing portrait of one of the most important and controversial scientists of the twentieth century. The two-hour film traces the course of Oppenheimer's life: his rarefied childhood, his troubled adolescence, his emergence as one of America's leading nuclear physicists, his leadership of the Los Alamos laboratory, and his tragic humiliation.
The Polio Crusade
The story of the polio crusade pays tribute to a time when Americans banded together to conquer a terrible disease. The medical breakthrough saved countless lives and had a pervasive impact on American philanthropy that continues to be felt today.
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
A Class Apart
We Shall Remain: After the Mayflower
We Shall Remain: Tecumseh's Vision
We Shall Remain: Trail of Tears
We Shall Remain: Geronimo
We Shall Remain: Wounded Knee
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Amandaland
Following three series of the Merman-produced, BAFTA award-winning series Motherland, a brand-new spin-off, Amandaland, is coming to the BBC, focused on Amanda.
Post her divorce, Amanda has had to downsize and up sticks to South Harlesden, or as the Estate Agent calls it SoHa (definitely not the area around Wormwood Scrubs prison).
With both Manus and Georgie now at secondary school, Amanda has to try and get her head around raising teenagers, dealing with modern motherhood horrors like teenage drinking, fake Instagram accounts and eco anxiety. Not even a woman as certain of her parenting as Amanda can deal with these nightmares alone.
Then there's Amanda's mother Felicity who is constantly around, and completely in denial that she is, in fact, lonely. Theirs is a slightly unhealthy co-dependent relationship based on backhanded compliments and veiled snipes about her new home.
After a brief spell of freedom, Anne is sucked back into being Amanda's minion to help her navigate the social scene with the other parents at the children's new school. Thank God for Anne.
