American Masters

PBS

American Masters

Returning Series 1986 · Documentary · 40 seasons

Next Episode — S40E05: TBD

--d : --h : --m : --s

Synopsis

American Masters is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and others who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the United States.

Where to Watch

YouTube TV

PBS

Thirteen

WETA+

Streaming data provided by JustWatch.

Seasons & Episodes

► Season 40 5 episodes

Season page → 0/5 watched

E01 Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire 27 Jan 2026

E02 Sun Ra: Do The Impossible 20 Feb 2026

E03 Bella! This Woman's Place Is in the House 17 Mar 2026

E04 W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause 19 May 2026

E05 TBD 14 Aug 2026

► Season 39 8 episodes

Season page → 0/8 watched

E01 The Disappearance of Miss Scott 21 Feb 2025

E02 Liza: A Truly Terrific, Absolutely True Story 01 Apr 2025

E03 Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse 15 Apr 2025

E04 Janis Ian: Breaking Silence 19 Jun 2025

E05 Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny 27 Jun 2025

E06 Marcella 11 Jul 2025

E07 Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore 14 Oct 2025

E08 Starring Dick Van Dyke 12 Dec 2025

► Season 38 7 episodes

Season page → 0/7 watched

E01 Hopper: An American Love Story 02 Jan 2024

E02 Daniel Patrick Moynihan 29 Mar 2024

E03 The Incomparable Mr. Buckley 05 Apr 2024

E04 Blake Edwards: A Love Story in 24 Frames 27 Aug 2024

E05 Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined 17 Sep 2024

E06 Brenda Lee: Rockin' Around 29 Nov 2024

E07 Brenda Lee: Rockin' Around 16 Dec 2024

► Season 37 9 episodes

Season page → 0/9 watched

E01 Roberta Flack 24 Jan 2023

E02 Dr. Tony Fauci 21 Mar 2023

E03 In the Making 24 Mar 2023

E04 Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV 16 May 2023

E05 Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll 02 Jun 2023

E06 Jerry Brown: The Disrupter 15 Sep 2023

E07 Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely 22 Sep 2023

E08 A Song for Cesar 29 Sep 2023

E09 Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes 06 Oct 2023

► Season 36 8 episodes

Season page → 0/8 watched

E01 Ailey 11 Jan 2022

E02 Marian Anderson: The Whole World in Her Hands 08 Feb 2022

E03 Waterman - Duke: Ambassador of Aloha 10 May 2022

E04 Joe Papp in Five Acts 03 Jun 2022

E05 Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road 14 Jun 2022

E06 Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On 22 Nov 2022

E07 The Adventures of Saul Bellow 12 Dec 2022

E08 Groucho & Cavett 27 Dec 2022

► Season 35 10 episodes

Season page → 0/10 watched

E01 How It Feels to Be Free 18 Jan 2021

E02 Flannery 23 Mar 2021

E03 Twyla Moves 26 Mar 2021

E04 Never Too Late: The Doc Severinsen Story 02 Apr 2021

E05 Oliver Sacks: His Own Life 09 Apr 2021

E06 Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir 03 May 2021

E07 Ballerina Boys: Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo 04 Jun 2021

E08 Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase the Blues Away 27 Jul 2021

E09 Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It 05 Oct 2021

E10 Becoming Helen Keller 19 Oct 2021

► Season 34 8 episodes

Season page → 0/8 watched

E01 Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool 25 Feb 2020

E02 Mae West: Dirty Blonde 16 Jun 2020

E03 Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am 23 Jun 2020

E04 Unladylike2020 10 Jul 2020

E05 Walter Winchell: The Power of Gossip 20 Oct 2020

E06 Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Now Is 23 Oct 2020

E07 Laura Ingalls Wilder: Prairie to Page 29 Dec 2020

E08 Keith Haring: Street Art Boy 11 Dec 2020

► Season 33 12 episodes

Season page → 0/12 watched

E01 Decoding Watson 02 Jan 2019

E02 Sammy Davis Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me 19 Feb 2019

E03 Charley Pride: I'm Just Me 22 Feb 2019

E04 Holly Near: Singing for Our Lives 01 Mar 2019

E05 Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People 12 Apr 2019

E06 Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable 19 Apr 2019

E07 Robert Shaw: Man of Many Voices 21 Jun 2019

E08 Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life 14 Jun 2019

E09 Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin 02 Aug 2019

E10 Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage 13 Sep 2019

E11 Rothko: Pictures Must Be Miraculous 25 Oct 2019

E12 N. Scott Momaday: Words from a Bear 18 Nov 2019

► Season 32 8 episodes

Season page → 0/8 watched

E01 Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart 19 Jan 2018

E02 Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story 18 May 2018

E03 Ted Williams: “The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived” 23 Jul 2018

E04 Artists Flight: Eva Hesse 31 Aug 2018

E05 Artists Flight: Everybody Knows…Elizabeth Murray 07 Sep 2018

E06 Andrew Wyeth 07 Sep 2018

E07 Basquiat: Rage to Riches 14 Sep 2018

E08 Itzhak Perlman 14 Oct 2018

► Season 31 10 episodes

Season page → 0/10 watched

E01 By Sidney Lumet 03 Jan 2017

E02 Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise 21 Feb 2017

E03 Patsy Cline 01 Mar 2017

E04 James Beard: America's First Foodie 19 May 2017

E05 Jacques Pépin: The Art of Craft 26 May 2017

E06 Richard Linklater: Dream is Destiny 01 Sep 2017

E07 Tyrus Wong 08 Sep 2017

E08 Edgar A Poe: Buried Alive 30 Oct 2017

E09 This Is Bob Hope... 29 Dec 2017

E10 This is Bob Hope 13 Nov 2017

► Season 30 9 episodes

Season page → 0/9 watched

E01 Mike Nichols 29 Jan 2016

E02 B.B. King: The Life of Riley 12 Feb 2016

E03 Carole King: Natural Woman 19 Feb 2016

E04 Fats Domino and the Birth of Rock N' Roll 26 Feb 2016

E05 Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl 04 Mar 2016

E06 Janis: Little Girl Blue 03 May 2016

E07 The Highwaymen: Friends Till the End 27 May 2016

E08 Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You 25 Oct 2016

E09 Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future 27 Dec 2016

► Season 29 8 episodes

Season page → 0/8 watched

E01 Ricky Jay: Deceptive Practice 23 Jan 2015

E02 August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand 20 Feb 2015

E03 Jascha Heifetz: God's Fiddler 16 Apr 2015

E04 American Ballet Theatre: A History 15 May 2015

E05 Harper Lee 10 Jul 2015

E06 Althea 04 Sep 2015

E07 Pedro E. Guerrero: A Photographer's Journey 18 Sep 2015

E08 The Women's List 25 Sep 2015

► Season 28 10 episodes

Season page → 0/10 watched

E01 Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love 27 Dec 2013

E02 Salinger 21 Jan 2014

E03 Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth 07 Feb 2014

E04 A Fierce Green Fire 22 Apr 2014

E05 Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself 16 May 2014

E06 Tanaquil Le Clercq: Afternoon of a Faun 20 Jun 2014

E07 Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning 29 Aug 2014

E08 The Boomer List 23 Sep 2014

E09 Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work 23 Sep 2014

E10 Bing Crosby Rediscovered 02 Dec 2014

► Season 27 5 episodes

Season page → 0/5 watched

E01 Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Godmother of Rock & Roll 22 Feb 2013

E02 Philip Roth: Unmasked 29 Mar 2013

E03 Mel Brooks: Make a Noise 20 May 2013

E04 Billie Jean King 10 Sep 2013

E05 Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train a Comin' 05 Nov 2013

► Season 26 8 episodes

Season page → 0/8 watched

E01 Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune 22 Jan 2012

E02 Cab Calloway: Sketches 26 Feb 2012

E03 Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel 02 Apr 2012

E04 Harper Lee: Hey, Boo 01 Apr 2012

E05 Johnny Carson - King of Late Night - Interview Outtakes 14 May 2012

E06 The Day Carl Sandburg Died 23 Sep 2012

E07 Inventing David Geffen 20 Nov 2012

E08 Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance 28 Dec 2012

► Season 25 9 episodes

Season page → 0/9 watched

E01 Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides 11 Jan 2011

E02 Troubadors: Carole King/James Taylor & the Rise of the Singer-Songwriter 01 Mar 2011

E03 John Muir in the New World 17 Apr 2011

E04 James Levine: America's Maestro 31 May 2011

E05 Pearl Jam Twenty 20 Oct 2011

E06 Bill T. Jones: A Good Man 10 Nov 2011

E07 Woody Allen: A Documentary (1) 19 Nov 2011

E08 Woody Allen: A Documentary (2) 20 Nov 2011

E09 Charles & Ray Eames: The Architect and the Painter 18 Dec 2011

► Season 24 8 episodes

Season page → 0/8 watched

E01 Sam Cooke: Crossing Over 11 Jan 2010

E02 I.M. Pei: Building China Modern 31 Mar 2010

E03 The Doors: When You're Strange 09 May 2010

E04 Merle Haggard: Learning to Live with Myself 21 Jul 2010

E05 Cachao: Uno Más 20 Sep 2010

E06 A Letter to Elia 03 Oct 2010

E07 LennoNYC 21 Nov 2010

E08 Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould 26 Dec 2010

► Season 23 8 episodes

Season page → 0/8 watched

E01 Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About 18 Feb 2009

E02 Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts 08 Apr 2009

E03 Hollywood Chinese 27 May 2009

E04 Neil Young: Don't Be Denied 10 Jun 2009

E05 Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes 01 Jul 2009

E06 Trumbo 02 Sep 2009

E07 Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound 14 Oct 2009

E08 Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women 28 Dec 2009

► Season 22 9 episodes

Season page → 0/9 watched

E01 Pete Seeger: The Power of Song 27 Feb 2008

E02 Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun 09 Apr 2008

E03 Marvin Gaye: What's Going On 07 May 2008

E04 You Must Remember This - The Warner Bros. Story: You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet (1923-1935) 23 Sep 2008

E05 You Must Remember This - The Warner Bros. Story: Good War, Uneasy Peace (1935-1950) 23 Sep 2008

E06 You Must Remember This - The Warner Bros. Story: A New Reality (1950-1970) 24 Sep 2008

E07 You Must Remember This - The Warner Bros. Story: Woodstock Notions (1970-1989) 24 Sep 2008

E08 You Must Remember This - The Warner Bros. Story: The Big Tent (1980-Present) 25 Sep 2008

E09 The Brothers Warner 25 Sep 2008

► Season 21 9 episodes

Season page → 0/9 watched

E01 Novel Reflections on the American Dream 04 Apr 2007

E02 Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built 02 May 2007

E03 Les Paul: Chasing Sound 11 Jul 2007

E04 David Hockney: The Colors of Music 18 Jul 2007

E05 John James Audubon: Drawn from Nature 25 Jul 2007

E06 Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends 12 Sep 2007

E07 José Clemente Orozco: Man of Fire 19 Sep 2007

E08 Good Ol' Charles Schulz 29 Oct 2007

E09 Carol Burnett: A Woman of Character 05 Nov 2007

► Season 20 9 episodes

Season page → 0/9 watched

E01 John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker & the Legend 10 May 2006

E02 The World of Nat King Cole 17 May 2006

E03 Woody Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home 11 Jul 2006

E04 Marilyn Monroe: Still Life 19 Jul 2006

E05 Walter Cronkite: Witness to History 26 Jul 2006

E06 Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film (1) 20 Sep 2006

E07 Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film (2) 20 Sep 2006

E08 Sketches of Frank Gehry 27 Sep 2006

E09 Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens 03 Jan 2007

► Season 19 8 episodes

Season page → 0/8 watched

E01 James Dean: Sense Memories 11 May 2005

E02 Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice 29 Jun 2005

E03 George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey 13 Jul 2005

E04 Bob Newhart: Unbuttoned 20 Jul 2005

E05 Willa Cather: The Road is All 07 Sep 2005

E06 Ernest Hemingway: Rivers to the Sea 14 Sep 2005

E07 Bob Dylan: No Direction Home 27 Sep 2005

E08 Bob Dylan: No Direction Home (2) 27 Sep 2005

► Season 18 8 episodes

Season page → 0/8 watched

E01 Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan, & and the Blacklist: None Without Sin 04 Sep 2003

E02 James Brown: Soul Survivor 29 Oct 2003

E03 Balanchine: Master of The Dance 14 Jan 2004

E04 Judy Garland: By Myself 25 Feb 2004

E05 A Vision of Empire: Henry Luce and Time-Life's America 28 Apr 2004

E06 Cary Grant: A Class Apart 25 May 2004

E07 Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues 23 Jun 2004

E08 Julia! America's Favorite Chef 18 Aug 2004

► Season 17 8 episodes

Season page → 0/8 watched

E01 Willie Nelson: Still is Still Moving 02 Oct 2002

E02 Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces 30 Oct 2002

E03 Juilliard 29 Jan 2003

E04 Alice Waters and her Delicious Revolution 19 Mar 2003

E05 Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind 02 Apr 2003

E06 Muddy Waters: Can't Be Satisfied 23 Apr 2003

E07 Robert Capa: In Love and War 28 May 2003

E08 The Education of Gore Vidal 30 Jul 2003

► Season 16 8 episodes

Season page → 0/8 watched

E01 Samuel Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies 07 Oct 2001

E02 F. Scott Fitzgerald: Winter Dreams 14 Oct 2001

E03 Richard Rodgers: The Sweetest Sounds 04 Nov 2001

E04 Quincy Jones: In the Pocket 18 Nov 2001

E05 Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records 28 Nov 2001

E06 Merce Cunningham: A Lifetime of Dance 16 Dec 2001

E07 Ralph Ellison: An American Journey 19 Feb 2002

E08 Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer 03 Mar 2002

► Season 15 8 episodes

Season page → 0/8 watched

E01 Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows 27 Sep 2000

E02 Mailer on Mailer 04 Oct 2000

E03 On Cukor 22 Nov 2000

E04 Lucille Ball: Finding Lucy 03 Dec 2000

E05 Bob Marley: Rebel Music 14 Feb 2001

E06 Alfred Stieglitz: The Eloquent Eye 16 Apr 2001

E07 A Conversation with Gregory Peck 18 Apr 2001

E08 Edward Curtis: Coming to Light 23 Apr 2001

► Season 14 7 episodes

Season page → 0/7 watched

E01 Hitchcock, Selznick and the End of Hollywood 01 Nov 1999

E02 Norman Rockwell: Painting America 24 Nov 1999

E03 Ella Fitzgerald: Something to Live For 08 Dec 1999

E04 Paul Taylor: Dancemaker 05 Jan 2000

E05 Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light 02 Feb 2000

E06 Isaac Stern: Life's Virtuoso 12 Apr 2000

E07 The Source: The Story of the Beats and the Beat Generation 31 May 2000

► Season 13 7 episodes

Season page → 0/7 watched

E01 Leonard Bernstein: Reaching for the Note 28 Oct 1998

E02 Al Hirschfeld: The Line King 06 Jan 1999

E03 Paul Robeson: Here I Stand 24 Feb 1999

E04 Robert Rauschenberg: Inventive Genius 07 Apr 1999

E05 Dashiell Hammett: Detective, Writer 30 Jun 1999

E06 The Lives of Lillian Hellman 30 Jun 1999

E07 Yours for a Song: The Women of Tin Pan Alley 18 Aug 1999

► Season 12 6 episodes

Season page → 0/6 watched

E01 The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg 17 Sep 1997

E02 Vaudeville 26 Nov 1997

E03 Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy 04 Feb 1998

E04 Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart 29 Apr 1998

E05 Don Hewitt: 90 Minutes on 60 Minutes 01 May 1998

E06 Alexander Calder 17 Jun 1998

► Season 11 5 episodes

Season page → 0/5 watched

E01 Lena Horne: In Her Own Words 25 Nov 1996

E02 Danny Kaye: A Legacy of Laughter 10 Dec 1996

E03 Man Ray: Prophet of the Avant-Garde 09 Apr 1997

E04 Jack Paar: As I Was Saying... 07 May 1997

E05 Isamu Noguchi: Stones and Paper 25 Jun 1997

► Season 10 5 episodes

Season page → 0/5 watched

E01 Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval 29 Nov 1995

E02 William Styron: The Way of the Writer 22 Jan 1996

E03 Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light 24 Jan 1996

E04 Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud 10 Apr 1996

E05 Nichols & May: Take Two 22 May 1996

► Season 9 4 episodes

Season page → 0/4 watched

E01 Rediscovering Will Rogers 30 Nov 1994

E02 Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage 19 Dec 1994

E03 Plácido Domingo: A Musical Life 15 Feb 1995

E04 Edgar Allan Poe: Terror of the Soul 22 Mar 1995

► Season 8 2 episodes

Season page → 0/2 watched

E01 Benny Goodman: Adventures in the Kingdom of Swing 08 Dec 1993

E02 Martha Graham: Revolt and Passion 13 May 1994

► Season 7 3 episodes

Season page → 0/3 watched

E01 Paul Simon: Born at the Right Time 14 Mar 1993

E02 George Lucas: Heroes, Myths & Magic 17 Mar 1993

E03 D.W. Griffith: Father of Film 24 Mar 1993

► Season 6 9 episodes

Season page → 0/9 watched

E01 Helen Hayes: First Lady of the American Theatre 01 Jul 1991

E02 Miracle on 44th Street: A Portrait of the Actor's Studio 08 Jul 1991

E03 Albert Einstein: How I See the World 22 Jul 1991

E04 Sarah Vaughan: The Divine One 29 Jul 1991

E05 Frederic Remington: The Truth of Other Days 05 Aug 1991

E06 Yehudi Menuhin: A Family Portrait 12 Aug 1991

E07 Robert Motherwell and the New York School 26 Aug 1991

E08 Ray Charles: The Genius of Soul 03 Jan 1992

E09 Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol 10 Apr 1992

► Season 5 8 episodes

Season page → 0/8 watched

E01 Milos Forman: Portrait 20 Dec 1989

E02 Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer 02 Jul 1990

E03 John Cassavetes 09 Jul 1990

E04 Martin Scorsese Directs 16 Jul 1990

E05 You're the Top: The Cole Porter Story 23 Jul 1990

E06 Edward R. Murrow: This Reporter 30 Jul 1990

E07 John Hammond: From Bessie Smith to Bruce Springsteen 20 Aug 1990

E08 Sanford Meisner: The Theatre's Best Kept Secret 27 Aug 1990

► Season 4 10 episodes

Season page → 0/10 watched

E01 Harold Clurman: A Life of Theatre 03 Jul 1989

E02 Stella Adler: Awake and Dream! 10 Jul 1989

E03 Satchmo: The Life of Louis Armstrong 31 Jul 1989

E04 James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket 14 Aug 1989

E05 Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker 17 Aug 1989

E06 Neil Simon: Not Just for Laughs 21 Aug 1989

E07 Jasper Johns: Ideas in Paint 11 Sep 1989

E08 Mort Sahl: Shaping Laughter 18 Sep 1989

E09 W. Eugene Smith: Photography Made Difficult 25 Sep 1989

E10 Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius 15 Nov 1989

► Season 3 8 episodes

Season page → 0/8 watched

E01 Lillian Gish: The Actor's Life for Me 11 Jul 1988

E02 A Duke Named Ellington 18 Jul 1988

E03 Andre Kertész of The Cities 08 Aug 1988

E04 Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul 22 Aug 1988

E05 Rivera in America 29 Aug 1988

E06 Saint Gaudens: Masque of the Golden Bowl 05 Sep 1988

E07 Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of Group Theatre 26 Jun 1989

E08 Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre 26 Jun 1989

► Season 2 10 episodes

Season page → 0/10 watched

E01 Isaac in America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer 06 Jul 1987

E02 Directed by William Wyler 13 Jul 1987

E03 Rubinstein Remembered 20 Jul 1987

E04 Nik and Murray 27 Jul 1987

E05 George Gershwin Remembered 24 Aug 1987

E06 Maurice Sendak: Mon Cher Papa 31 Aug 1987

E07 The Negro Ensemble Company 14 Sep 1987

E08 Unanswered Prayers: The Life and Times of Truman Capote 21 Sep 1987

E09 The Algonquin Round Table: The Ten Year Lunch 28 Sep 1987

E10 Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow (1) 18 Nov 1987

► Season 1 12 episodes

Season page → 0/12 watched

E01 Arthur Miller: Private Conversations 23 Jun 1986

E02 Philip Johnson: A Self Portrait 30 Jun 1986

E03 Katherine Anne Porter: The Eye of Memory 07 Jul 1986

E04 Unknown Chaplin: Part 1 - My Happiest Years 14 Jul 1986

E05 Unknown Chaplin: Part 2 - The Great Director 21 Jul 1986

E06 Unknown Chaplin: Part 3 - Hidden Treasures 28 Jul 1986

E07 Billie Holiday: The Long Night of Lady Day 04 Aug 1986

E08 James Levine: A Life in Music 11 Aug 1986

E09 Aaron Copland: A Self Portrait 18 Aug 1986

E10 Thomas Eakins: A Motion Portrait 25 Aug 1986

E11 Georgia O'Keeffe 01 Sep 1986

E12 Eugene O'Neill: A Glory of Ghosts 08 Sep 1986