American Scandal
Episodes
The Osage Murders | A Shrinking Family | 1
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A woman's body is found at the bottom of a gorge. It belongs to a member of the Osage Nation, a tribe that's grown incredibly wealthy from oil. When t...
The Ice Pick Surgeon | Search for a Cure | 1
25 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Walter Freeman is devastated when he learns the truth about mental asylums. The medical care is barbaric, and for patients, everyday life is a nightma...
Lance Armstrong | The Boy from North Texas | 1
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Lance Armstrong enters the cutthroat world of professional cycling. But after a string of humiliating losses, he's left searching for a new way to win...
The Red Scare | Tail Gunner Joe | 1
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Joseph McCarthy dreams of a bigger life. He wants something beyond the farms of Wisconsin, something more important than cornfields and local disputes...
Bernie Madoff | Sins of the Father | 1
16 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Bernie Madoff is young and broke. And he's hungry for a big paycheck. So he sets out for Wall Street. But a market crash forces him to make a difficul...
The Feds vs. the Activists | Billie Holiday | 1
20 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Billie Holiday makes a decision. The jazz singer will perform "Strange Fruit," the protest song about lynchings, no matter what happens to her—and n...
Three Mile Island | The Domino Effect | 1
22 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On March 28, 1979, Bill Zewe hears an alarm at Three Mile Island. Something has gone terribly wrong at the nuclear power plant, in southern Pennsylvan...
The Breakup of Big Oil | Rise of Rockefeller | 1
11 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
John D. Rockefeller is a poor boy with a dream. He's going to become a businessman. And he's going to be wildly rich. Soon, he stumbles on the product...
Big Tobacco | Smoking Guns | 1
07 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Merrell Williams stumbles on a terrible secret, one that's been hidden for decades. Jeffrey Wigand starts a new job with the tobacco industry, only to...
Boston College Gambling Scheme | Against the Odds | 1
09 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Criminals in Pittsburgh have a plan. It involves gambling and manipulating the scores of college basketball games. But to pull it off, they'll first n...
Waco - The New Messiah | 1
24 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 1993, a massive conflict erupts in rural Texas. The federal government launches a siege against the Branch Davidians, a religious group based in th...
The Lenny Bruce Obscenity Trial - The Obscenity Circus | 1
03 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1960s, Lenny Bruce was a trailblazing standup comedian who took aim at American culture. Bruce clashed frequently with law enforcement, but his...
Volkswagen Diesel Scandal - Whatever It Takes | 1
28 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 2006, Volkswagen executive Martin Winterkorn hatches a plan to boost auto sales in America. The way to do it? Clean diesel cars. But VW's engineers...
The Plame Affair - Exposed | 1
17 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In 2003, America is at war with Iraq, as part of its global campaign on terror. Former diplomat Joe Wilson sharply criticizes the war, making him an e...
Enron - A Sense of Urgency | 1
27 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In the mid 1990s, Enron Corporation solidifies its position as the number one energy company in America. Investment manager Sherron Watkins lands a dr...
The Standoff at Wounded Knee - The Trail of Broken Treaties | 1
16 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In early 1973, the militant civil rights group the American Indian Movement (AIM) takes control of the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian R...
Tuskegee Syphilis Study - First, Do No Harm | 1
11 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In early 1930s America, segregation is the law of the land, and syphilis remains a grave public health concern. A handful of white government doctors ...
Payola - The $50 Handshake | 1
23 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The delicate system of secret bribes and kickbacks used to transform a mediocre record into a hit -- that’s payola. And on the eve of rock ‘n’ r...
The Hare Krishna Murders: Go West, Old Man | 1
26 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
An elderly swami from India captures the zeitgeist of 1960s counterculture in America with his message of peace and love. But his western discipl...
Exxon Valdez: Oil Meets Water | 1
22 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A supertanker carrying 53 million gallons of crude oil runs aground in Prince William Sound sparking the worst man-made ecological catastrophe in the ...
Iran Contra: Bud | 1
27 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In July of 1985, the National Security Advisor to President Reagan, Robert “Bud” McFarlane puts a plan in motion that could change the course of h...
New York State of Crime: Three Men in a Room | 1
23 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In 2006 Eliot Spitzer is elected governor on a promise to tackle corruption in the most dysfunctional state capital in the country--Albany, NY. He is ...
BALCO: Steroids and Snake Oil | 1
18 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A college dropout with no background in science turns himself into an expert on performance enhancing drugs. Soon he attracts some of the world’s be...