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Episodes

S33E1
Decoding Watson
Meet James Watson, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist behind the double helix as he confronts his complex legacy. With unprecedented access to Watson and his family, "American Masters: Decoding Watson" explores his life, achievements, controversies and contradictions.
Premiered: 1/2/2019
S33E2
Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me
The first major film documentary to examine Sammy Davis, Jr.'s vast talent and his journey for identity through the shifting tides of civil rights and racial progress during 20th century America.
Premiered: 2/19/2019
S33E3
Charley Pride: I’m Just Me
Explore the complicated history of the American South and its music through the life of country star Charley Pride. Raised in segregated Mississippi, his journey shows the ways that artistic expression can triumph over prejudice and injustice.
Premiered: 2/22/2019
S33E4
Holly Near: Singing for Our Lives
An outspoken political activist and singer-songwriter, Holly Near’s music and life story illustrate how song can have the power to send a clarion call and influence the course of social justice – from the lesbian and women’s movements to anti-war efforts and the fight to give South American women a voice.
Premiered: 3/1/2019
S33E6
Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable
Discover the life and work of Garry Winogrand, the epic storyteller in pictures who harnessed the serendipity of the streets to capture the American 1960s-70s. His “snapshot aesthetic” is now the universal language of contemporary image making.
Premiered: 4/19/2019
S33E8
Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life
The new documentary lifts the curtain on the life, career and inspirations of the complicated and brilliant Emmy- and four-time Tony Award-winning writer Terrance McNally.
Premiered: 6/14/2019
S33E9
Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin
Explore the remarkable life and legacy of late feminist author Ursula K. Le Guin whose groundbreaking work, including “The Left Hand of Darkness,” transformed American literature by bringing science fiction into the literary mainstream.
Premiered: 8/2/2019
S33E10
Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage
Explore a warm and revealing portrait of the charismatic, groundbreaking actor’s journey from his native Puerto Rico to the creative hotbed of 1960s New York City, to prominence on Broadway and in Hollywood. Filled with passion, determination and joy, Juliá’s brilliant and daring career was tragically cut short by his untimely death 25 years ago, at age 54.
Premiered: 9/13/2019
S33E11
Rothko: Pictures Must Be Miraculous
Explore the life of the celebrated artist whose luminous color field paintings helped define the abstract expressionist movement, which shifted the art world epicenter from Paris to New York. Featuring original scenes with Alfred Molina.
Premiered: 10/25/2019
S33E12
N. Scott Momaday: Words From a Bear
Delve into the enigmatic life and mind of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet N. Scott Momaday, best known for “House Made of Dawn” and a formative voice of the Native American Renaissance in art and literature.
Premiered: 11/18/2019