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America: Facts vs. Fiction

Season 5 2017
TV-PG

  • 2017-01-22T02:00:00Z on Focus
  • 30m
  • 10h 16m (24 episodes)
  • United States
  • English
  • Documentary
Host Jamie Kaler debunks classic American myths.

24 episodes

Season Premiere

2017-01-22T02:00:00Z

5x01 Bonus Round: Vote for the Truth

Season Premiere

5x01 Bonus Round: Vote for the Truth

  • 2017-01-22T02:00:00Z22m

Profiles of U.S. generals, including Dwight Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur. Also: a look at Washington, D.C., landmarks.

2017-01-22T02:00:00Z

5x02 World War 2

5x02 World War 2

  • 2017-01-22T02:00:00Z22m

The war waged by America's greatest generation is obscured by myth. Few remember that an American admiral played a pivotal role in showing Japan how to attack Pearl Harbor or that the German army was not the mechanized wonder it's reputed to be.

Myths obscure the real facts about our favorite vices: smoking, drinking and gambling. Discover which nation had the first anti-smoking campaign, what those three X's on a jug of moonshine mean, or where our first slot machines appeared.

5x04 Bonus Round: Fire in the Sky

  • 2017-01-29T02:00:00Z22m

A look at UFO sightings; and a pair of pioneering space flights.

Myths taint our knowledge of the 4th of July, St. Patrick's Day, and our favorite mini-holiday, the weekend. We should celebrate Independence Day on July 2nd, St. Patrick wasn't Irish, and the idea of a fun weekend is a recent creation.

2017-01-29T02:00:00Z

5x06 The Real West

5x06 The Real West

  • 2017-01-29T02:00:00Z22m

Much of what we know about the old west is myth, not fact, drawn from movies and TV. Gunfights never started with a quick draw, cowboys weren't all white, and Native Americans feared enemies more menacing than settlers and soldiers.

Investigating the nation's most secret vaults to separate fiction from fact.

2017-02-05T02:00:00Z

5x08 Secret Societies

5x08 Secret Societies

  • 2017-02-05T02:00:00Z22m

Much of what we know about America's secret societies is myth, not truth. The Freemasons have no evil agenda, the Mafia took root not in New York, but the South, and Harvard's Skull and Bones does not control a sinister shadow government.

2017-02-05T02:00:00Z

5x09 Space: The Final Frontier

5x09 Space: The Final Frontier

  • 2017-02-05T02:00:00Z22m

Myths eclipse the real facts about NASA's dramatic rescue of three astronauts aboard the crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft; Hollywood movies have a hit-and-miss track record of depicting the realties of interstellar exploration.

Profiles of Lewis and Clark; and Pocahontas. Also: a look at the women's suffrage movement.

2017-02-12T02:00:00Z

5x11 The Atomic Age

5x11 The Atomic Age

  • 2017-02-12T02:00:00Z22m

The real facts of the nuclear age are clouded by myth. Manhattan played a major role in the Manhattan Project; there were closer calls to World War III than the Cuban Missile Crisis; America's nuclear security hinges on a football and a biscuit.

2017-02-12T02:00:00Z

5x12 American Villains

5x12 American Villains

  • 2017-02-12T02:00:00Z22m

Al Capone was a philanthropist as well as a hood; Benedict Arnold was a hero as well as a traitor, Jesse James was no wild west Robin Hood; Billy the Kid's nickname was wrong.

Season Finale

2017-02-19T02:00:00Z

5x13 Bonus Round: America Celebrates

Season Finale

5x13 Bonus Round: America Celebrates

  • 2017-02-19T02:00:00Z22m

The spotlight is on amusement parks and world's fairs to separate fiction from truth; explore the myths of two of our favorite holidays, Christmas and New Year's Eve.

2017-02-19T02:00:00Z

5x14 Famous Feuds

5x14 Famous Feuds

  • 2017-02-19T02:00:00Z30m

Myths distort the stories of two of America's most renowned rivalries. Before their fateful duel, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were law partners; and the conflict between the Hatfields and McCoys didn't end in the backwoods, but a courtroom.

The birth of America and the powerful people behind it are featured.

5x16 Moments That Changed History

  • 2017-02-26T02:00:00Z30m

Myths and misconceptions surrounding four pivotal historic moments: the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962; the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC; the Boston Tea Party in 1773 and the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

2017-03-05T02:00:00Z

5x17 The Civil War

5x17 The Civil War

  • 2017-03-05T02:00:00Z30m

Myths cloud the real facts of America's Civil War. The North's biggest city tried to secede; the Union didn't go to war to end slavery; most deaths weren't caused by battle wounds, and Grant and Lee didn't end the conflict; two other generals did.

2017-03-12T02:00:00Z

5x18 Bad Medicine

5x18 Bad Medicine

  • 2017-03-12T02:00:00Z30m

America's medical history is infected with myths. George Washington's doctors may have inadvertently killed him; Abraham Lincoln used a toxic remedy that warped his mind; and heroin was once a best-selling cough suppressant.

Hollywood's vision of the old west is explored. Included: the truth behind some of America's renowned rivalries.

5x20 Bonus Round: No Liars Allowed

  • 2017-08-06T01:00:00Z30m

The true stories behind America's most infamous bad guys; and the truths behind America's notorious secret societies are investigated.

The myths behind World War II are exposed. Delves into the truths that are often forgotten when it comes to America's Civil War.

The myths surrounding popular favorite vices and the facts behind the most-liked holidays are explored.

The myths behind some of history's most defining moments are uncovered, as well as revealing facts behind America's space explorations.

The science in America's history is examined, including its medical history and its nuclear age.

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