The Icons That Built America

Season 12024

Highlights the talented, often provocative entertainers whose brilliance and rise to stardom transformed American popular culture.

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7 Episodes

E01 Daredevil Duo

In 1965, a struggling motorcycle salesman desperate to juice sales at his small-town dealership comes up with a dangerous publicity stunt that not only launches him into a new career, but changes entertainment forever. As his star rises, he'll bet it all on a stunt that could propel him to new heights or cost him his life. And a generation later, a young boy who grew up idolizing the motorcycle daredevil will take his own dangerous path to television and film success... by daring to fail.

June 23, 2024

E02 Action Heroes

A struggling New York actor, brushed aside because of his looks and speech impediment, bets on himself to write, and star in a movie. By challenging the ideas of what it means to be a leading man at the time, he gives himself a fighting chance in Hollywood. At the same time, a young Austrian bodybuilder must overcome his own hurdles and outside discrimination to utilize his strength and power in creating a name for himself in America.

June 30, 2024

E03 Shock Jocks

In the 1970s, two maverick broadcasters take a different approach, challenging their bosses, the rules and polite society to help create a new genre: talk radio.

July 7, 2024

E04 Hollywood Warriors

A young martial artist and actor from Hong Kong has dreams of breaking into Hollywood, but in the 1970s, the racial barriers block any chance he has of becoming a star.

July 14, 2024

E05 Titans of Talk

Daytime talk shows in the 1980s is aimed at a stay-at-home female audience and has conversational topics and polite discussion; a young politician-turned-TV host rewrites the rules when an unexpected fight breaks out between his guests.

July 21, 2024

E06 Comedy Kings

Fitting into the clean-cut roles that comedians occupied in the 1950s, two up-and-coming stand-ups make names for themselves; as society shifts and counter-culture movements take hold, both men realize they need to adapt their comedy

July 28, 2024

E07 Fight The System: Hip Hop & Grunge

n 1987, a small-time drug dealer forms a hip-hop based group in his hometown of Compton, California. The group's provocative brand of "reality rap" draws backlash from the government and law enforcement as they try to push the boundaries of what hip-hop can be.

August 4, 2024

The Icons That Built America

E01 Daredevil Duo

E02 Action Heroes

E03 Shock Jocks

E04 Hollywood Warriors

E05 Titans of Talk

E06 Comedy Kings

E07 Fight The System: Hip Hop & Grunge

Gomorrah

Frozen Planet

Wild Wild Country

The Pillars of the Earth

Stargate Atlantis

Resurrection: Ertugrul

Slasher

Preacher

The Last Man on Earth

Lovecraft Country

Nobody Wants This

Blackadder

Elite Short Stories: Guzmán Caye Rebe

Arrow

Monsters

The War of the Worlds

Breaking Bad

The Langoliers

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst

The White Princess

E01 Daredevil Duo

E02 Action Heroes

E03 Shock Jocks

E04 Hollywood Warriors

E05 Titans of Talk

E06 Comedy Kings

E07 Fight The System: Hip Hop & Grunge