Highlights the talented, often provocative entertainers whose brilliance and rise to stardom transformed American popular culture.
TV-14 • Documentary • Series • 2024 • 1 season
Starring: Jon Armond
S1 E1 - 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.
Jun 23, 2024 • 42m
S1 E2 - 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.
Jun 30, 2024 • 42m
S1 E3 - 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.
Jul 7, 2024
S1 E4 - 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.
Jul 14, 2024
S1 E5 - 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.
Jul 21, 2024
S1 E6 - 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
Jul 28, 2024
S1 E7 - 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.
Aug 4, 2024
About This Show
The Icons That Built America
Highlights the talented, often provocative entertainers whose brilliance and rise to stardom transformed American popular culture.
TV-14 • Documentary • TV Series • 2024
Details
- Genre
- Documentary
- First aired
- Jun 23, 2024
- Last aired
- Aug 4, 2024
- Rating
- TV-14
- Status
- Ended
- Episodes
- 7
- Network
- History
- Studio
- Blackfin, CAP 2 Productions
- Language
- English
- Score
- 8.0 out of 10 from 1 votes