4 /10 1 Votes
Country of origin United States Original network Discovery Channel Network Discovery Channel Cast Matt Lauer, Randy Jackson | 3.9/10 IMDb Executive producer(s) Jason Raff First episode date 5 June 2005 Presented by Matt Lauer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Original release 5 June 2005 (2005-06-05) Similar De Grootste Nederlander, 100 Greatest Britons, The Greatest Canadian, Velikite Balgari, New Zealand's Top 100 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Greatest American was a four-part American television series hosted by Matt Lauer in 2005. The show featured biographies and lists of influential persons in U.S. history, and culminated in a contest in which millions in the audience nominated and voted for the person they felt was the "greatest American". The competition was conducted by AOL and the Discovery Channel and reported on by the BBC.
Contents
Nominations
Nominations were accepted through 31 January 2005. The seven-hour-long series was broken into four episodes: The first episode counted down the top 100 and introduced the top 25 nominees in alphabetical order. The second episode featured biographies of the top 25 nominees as well as commentaries from influential people such as celebrities and politicians. The third episode, called "The Great Debate", introduced the top five nominees and pitted the studio audience supporters of each of the nominees and a person selected to represent each of the top five candidates against a panel of three celebrities. In the finale the top five "Greatest Americans" were announced as well as what percentage of the votes each had received. Votes were taken through a toll free (if calling from a land line) phone number, through text messages from cell phones, and through online voting. Voters were allowed to vote three times per voting method, so anyone had a chance of voting at least nine times.
Top 25
- Ronald Reagan, (1911-2004) actor and 40th President
- Abraham Lincoln, (1809-1865) 16th President
- Martin Luther King, Jr., (1929-1968) minister and Civil Rights leader
- George Washington, (1732-1799) 1st President
- Benjamin Franklin, (1705-1790) author, printer, scientist and politician
- George W. Bush, (1946-) 43rd President
- Bill Clinton, (1946-) 42nd President
- Elvis Presley, (1935-1977) musician and actor
- Oprah Winfrey, (1954-) talk show host and actress
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, (1882-1945) 32nd President
- Billy Graham, (1918-) minister
- Thomas Jefferson, (1743-1826) writer and 3rd President
- Walt Disney, (1901-1966) animator and film producer
- Albert Einstein, (1879-1955) physicist
- Thomas Alva Edison, (1874-1931) inventor and businessman
- John F. Kennedy, (1917-1963) 35th President
- Bob Hope, (1903-2003) actor and comedian
- Bill Gates, (1955-) businessman
- Eleanor Roosevelt, (1884-1962) First Lady, activist and diplomat
- Lance Armstrong, (1971-) cyclist
- Muhammad Ali, (1942-2016) boxer
- Rosa Parks, (1913-2005) Civil Rights activist
- The Wright Brothers, inventors and aviation pioneers
- Henry Ford, (1863-1947) industrialist and businessman
- Neil Armstrong, (1930-2012) astronaut
Alphabetical list
On 18 April 2005, AOL and The Discovery Channel announced the top 100 nominees.
The remaining 75 nominees: