Oliver Platt
Author
Series
American Experience volume 3
Summary
Chart the ways in which the bloodiest battle in American history, and the ensuing peace, forever changed a president and a nation. In the fall of 1918, the deadly flu swept through cities at home and at the front. When the tide of war turned, the Germans wanted a cease-fire on Wilson's terms. On November 11, 1918, the war was over, but for Wilson, the last fight remained. He negotiated the terms of the peace treaty and won the world over to his League...
Author
Series
American Experience volume 2
Summary
Chart America's entry into the conflict, examining the breathtaking speed of mobilization and the profound transformations required if America was to play a central role in the Great War. In 1917, the U.S. was deeply divided about going to war. Wilson hired former journalist George Creel to lead an unprecedented propaganda campaign to support the war. But for those who resisted the patriotic fervor, the consequences could be severe. Repressive legislation...
Author
Series
Summary
Inspired by Timothy Egan's best-selling book, The Big Burn is the dramatic story of an unimaginable wildfire that swept across the Northern Rockies in the summer of 1910. The fire devoured more than three million acres in 36 hours, confronting the fledgling U.S. Forest Service with a catastrophe that would define the agency and the nation's fire policy for the rest of the 20th century and beyond.
Author
Series
American Experience volume 1
Summary
Explore America's tortured, nearly three-year journey to war. In August 1914, a war unprecedented in size and violence broke out on the European continent. Ever the idealistic diplomat, Wilson vowed to keep his country out of "the Great War." His neutrality was supported but reports from Europe began to challenge America's delicate position. From behind the battle lines came reports detailing German atrocities in Belgium and France: history's first...
Author
Series
American Experience volume 2
Summary
Explore the complex life and enduring legacy of the creative genius as he made films such as Cinderella and Mary Poppins and realized his dream project, Disneyland.
Author
Series
American Experience volume 1
Summary
Explore the complex life and enduring legacy of the iconic filmmaker from his early days creating Mickey Mouse through the making of Snow White, the first full-length animated film.
7) Funny Bones
Author
Summary
This hilarious and touching comedy is about a struggling second-generation stage comedian who returns to the England of his childhood to find the source of humor that made his dad so successful. In the process, he discovers some startling secrets in his family's history, and the truth about his father. It is at this point he begins to rediscover the way to make audiences like him again.
Summary
With the coming of the Civil War, and the staggering casualties it ushered in, death entered the experience of the American people as it never had before — permanently altering the character of the republic and the psyche of the American people. Contending with death on an unprecedented scale posed challenges for which there were no ready answers when the war began. Americans worked to improvise new solutions, new institutions, and new ways of coping...
10) The Ticket
Summary
After James (Dan Stevens), a blind man, inexplicably regains his vision, he becomes possessed by a drive to make a better life for himself. However, his new improvements—a nicer home, a higher paying job, tailored suits, luxury car—leave little room for the people who were part of his old, simpler life: his plain wife (Malin Akerman) and close friend Bob (Oliver Platt). As his relationships buckle under the strain of his snowballing ambition,...
11) Fargo: Season 1
Summary
The Coen Brothers Best Picture Oscar Nominee transforms into the season's most talked about TV debut. It features a new "true crime" story and new characters, all chilled in the trademark dry wit, murderous mayhem and "Minnesota nice" of the original classic film. Lorne Malvo, is a manipulative master criminal who changes the life of insurance salesmen Lester Nygaard. Gus Grimly and Molly Solverson are the small-town police officers who join forces...
Summary
The story of psychologist William Moulton Marston, the polyamorous relationship between his wife and his mistress, the creation of his beloved comic book character Wonder Woman, and the controversy the comic generated.
"A sly and thoroughly charming Trojan horse of a movie, "Professor Marston" tells the story of the man who created Wonder Woman and the women who inspired him, both in and out of bed."--New York Times.
"It's a lively and absorbing...
15) Prohibition
Summary
Explores the extraordinary story of what happens when a freedom-loving nation outlaws the sale of intoxicating liquor, and the disastrous unintended consequences that follow. Raises profound questions about the proper role of government and the limits of legislating morality.
17) Frost/Nixon
Summary
Richard Nixon is the disgraced president with a legacy to save. David Frost is a jet-setting television personality with a name to make. This is the legendary battle between the two men and the historic encounter that changed both their lives. For three years after resigning from office, Nixon remained silent. But in the summer of 1977, the steely, cunning former commander-in-chief agreed to sit for one all-inclusive interview to confront the questions...
18) Rachel Carson
Summary
Often called the mother of the modern environmental movement, Rachel Carson rocked the world in 1962 with her book Silent Spring, which warned the American public of the impact of pesticides on the environment and unleashed an extraordinary national debate about science and safety. At the center of that firestorm stood Ms. Carson, a strong, intensely private woman who balanced her love of the natural world and passion for writing with personal strife....
Summary
Webb stumbles onto a story which leads to the shady origins of the men who started the crack epidemic on the nation's streets, and further alleges that the CIA was aware of major dealers who were smuggling cocaine into the U.S., and using the profits to arm rebels fighting in Nicaragua. Despite warnings from drug kingpins and CIA operatives to stop his investigation, Webb keeps digging to uncover a conspiracy with explosive implications.
20) Flatliners
Summary
An ambitious, charismatic medical student persuades two classmates to take part in an experiment to determine if there is life after death. Their horror begins when they realize that although they've come back alive, they haven't come back alone.