America: The Story of Us - Alchetron, the free social encyclopedia

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America: The Story of Us (also internationally known as America: The Story of the U.S.) is a 12-part, 9-hours documentary-drama television miniseries that premiered on April 25, 2010, on History channel. Produced by Nutopia, the program portrays more than 400 years of American history (with emphasis on how American creation of new technologies has had effects on the nation's history and, by implication, the world). It spans time from the successful English settlement of Jamestown beginning in 1607, through to the present day. Narrated by Liev Schreiber (Danny Webb for the international version), the series recreates many historical events by using actors dressed in the style of the period and computer-generated special effects. The miniseries received mixed reviews by critics; but it attracted the largest audiences of any special aired by the channel to date.

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Commentators

The following are commentators who appear on the miniseries (listed in alphabetical order):

Reception

The documentary received a 60% approval rating from Metacritic.com. Many criticized the series for having too many "celebrities" express their opinions about the United States, rather than having historians provide more insight and data about particular periods and events.

Critics praised the series' willingness to grapple with some of the difficult issues in US history, including African slavery, racial segregation and the genocide of the Native Americans. Mary McNamara, of the Los Angeles Times, wrote that "'America: The Story of Us' seems to draw its inspiration from Fox's '24' and the E! Channel." She continues, "[I]n the first hour, producer Jane Root seems more enamored of her ability to conjure, in glorious CG, the lifecycle of a tobacco plant or the brick-by-brick construction of New Amsterdam than anything so dull as explaining the complexities of actual history."

Critics generally commented that CGI effects were overused, as were clichéd soundbites and hyperbole that seemed intended to move the narrative along. Tom Shales of The Washington Post found seven repetitions of the notion that "What happened next would change the course of US history forever" within the first episode, and remarked: "Maybe everything that happens changes the course of something. Or maybe nothing that happens changes the course of anything. Simply saying 'everything changed forever' is really a substitute for thinking, not an example of it, but then 'America: The Story of Us' is basically a poor excuse for a documentary—even if it succeeds on the superficial level of, say, a lava lamp."

Surpassed by the series The Bible, which garnered over 13 million viewers of its first episode, America: The Story of US was watched by 5.7 million total viewers for its first episode and drew a 4.0 household rating. In conjunction with the broadcast, the History channel launched its largest educational outreach initiative, offering a series DVD to every school and accredited college in the United States.

America: The Story of Us has been nominated for four Emmy Awards for the episode "Division", which traced the growing tensions between the North and South, as well as contrasts between plantation and urban economies. The nominations were in the categories for non-fiction programming of "Outstanding Cinematography", "Outstanding Picture Editing ", "Outstanding Sound Editing" and "Outstanding Writing".

International edition

An Australian series based on the American series, titled Australia: The Story of Us, aired from February 25, 2015 on the Seven Network.

References

America: The Story of Us Wikipedia

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