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The Best Episodes of American Experience Season 35

Every episode of American Experience Season 35 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of American Experience Season 35!

Binge this in 11h 59m•Peaking at 7.5/10

TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    American Experience Season 35 Episode 1 - The Lie Detector
    7.0/10(91 votes)

    #1 - The Lie Detector

    S35:E1

    Discover the story of the polygraph, the controversial device that transformed modern police work, seized headlines and was extolled as an infallible crime-fighting tool. A tale of good intentions, twisted morals and unintended consequences.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. American Experience Season 35 Episode 2 - Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space
    7.5/10(77 votes)

    #2 - Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space

    S35:E2

    Meet the influential author and key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Also a trained anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston collected folklore throughout the South and Caribbean — reclaiming, honoring and celebrating Black life on its own terms.

    Director:Tracy Heather Strain
    Writer:Tracy Heather Strain

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  3. American Experience Season 35 Episode 3 - Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History
    7.2/10(223 votes)

    #3 - Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History

    S35:E3

    Monopoly is America’s favorite board game, a love letter to unbridled capitalism and our free market society. But behind the myth of the game’s creation is an untold tale of theft, obsession and corporate double-dealing.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. American Experience Season 35 Episode 4 - The Movement and the "Madman"
    7.5/10(103 votes)

    #4 - The Movement and the "Madman"

    S35:E4

    Discover the story of the 1969 showdown between President Nixon and the antiwar movement. Told through firsthand accounts, the film reveals how movement leaders mobilized disparate groups to create two massive protests that changed history.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. American Experience Season 35 Episode 5 - The Sun Queen
    6.9/10(81 votes)

    #5 - The Sun Queen

    S35:E5

    Scientist Mária Telkes dedicated her career to harnessing the power of the sun. Though undercut and thwarted by her male colleagues, she persevered to design the first successfully solar-heated house in 1948 and held more than 20 patents.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. American Experience Season 35 Episode 6 - Casa Susanna
    6.9/10(55 votes)

    #6 - Casa Susanna

    S35:E6

    In the 1950s and ’60s, an underground network of transgender women and cross-dressing men found refuge at a house in the Catskills region of New York. Known as Casa Susanna, the house provided a safe place to express their true selves.

    Director:Sébastien Lifshitz
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. American Experience Season 35 Episode 7 - The Busing Battleground
    7.2/10(71 votes)

    #7 - The Busing Battleground

    S35:E7

    The Busing Battleground viscerally captures the class tensions and racial violence that ensued when Black and white students in Boston were bused for the first time between neighborhoods to comply with a federal desegregation order.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. American Experience Season 35 Episode 8 - The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools
    6.9/10(66 votes)

    #8 - The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools

    S35:E8

    When the Supreme Court issued an order to fully and immediately desegregate schools in October 1969, Leland Mississippi finally met the demand put forth in the 1954 Brown v Board of Education decision. In the fall of 1970, a group of children entered school as part of the first class of Black and white students who would attend all 12 grades together.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. American Experience Season 35 Episode 9 - The War on Disco
    6.6/10(128 votes)

    #9 - The War on Disco

    S35:E9

    The War on Disco explores the culture war that erupted over the rise of Disco music. The hostility came to a head on July 12, 1979, when a riot led by rock fans broke out at “Disco Demolition Night” during a baseball game in Chicago

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Rushmore DeNooyer

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Season 35 Ratings Summary

"The Lie Detector" is the best rated episode of "American Experience" season 35. It scored 7/10 based on 91 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/3/2023. This episode is rated 0.5 points higher than the second-best, "Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space".