
Jean Shepherd's America
In these humorous and affectionate television poems, humorist Jean Shepherd celebrates America in all its richness and diversity -- from cars to candy, baseball to beer, motels to money. Each week a different aspect of our national psyche is explored as Shepherd travels to the Okefenokee Swamp, Death Valley, Milwaukee, the Old South, and other far-flung locations -- using the PCP-90 portable camera.
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Cast
Seasons
- Ep 1
1.The Phantom of the Open Hearth Lives -- Somewhere in Indiana
11-04-197129mShep recalls the sights, sounds, and experiences of working in a steel mill at age 17, as the operations of a contemporary steel mill play out on screen.
- Ep 2
2....One Man's Version of Heaven Is a Super Howard Johnson's with 28 Flavors and No Lines for the Rest Room
18-04-197129mShep loses his bait but comes up with some tall tales on a fishing trip in Maine's backwaters on the banks of the Kennebec River, with a stop at the Skowhegan County Fair to meet B...
- Ep 3
3....The End of an Era -- Riding the 'City of Los Angeles' on Its Last Journey Across the American West
25-04-197129mWhile rumbling across Wyoming aboard a Union Pacific railroad car, Shep recalls a previous trip during his World War II Army days when he pulled KP duty on a troop train.
- Ep 4
4.A Bunch of the Boys Were Whooping It Up at the Malamute Saloon
02-05-197129mRecalling the origins of his interest in Alaska in the second grade, Shep journeys through the Alaskan frontier exploring the captivating landscape, the sights and sounds of an Esk...
- Ep 5
5.There's More to Life Than a Hostess Twinkie
09-05-197129mWhile he cracks lobster claws, Shep cracks jokes and stories about his crazy love affair with all manner of delicacies, from rainbow trout to pecan pie.
- Ep 6
6.And the Bad Guys Are Back on the Shore, Shaking Their Fists
16-05-197129mRecalling a comic-strip from his boyhood in which the hero escapes on a houseboat from the pursuing villains, Shep takes the helm of a houseboat and contemplates a nomadic life at...
- Ep 7
7.The Perpetual Swish of Windshield Wipers Is the Soundtrack of Our Lives
23-05-197129mShep gets behind the wheel and moves out on the turnpike of life, as he muses on the mystique of the open road.
- Ep 8
8.It Won't Always Be This Way
30-05-197129mShep contrasts man's "nesting" instinct with his desire for mobility in a vision of tomorrow's styles of living.
- Ep 9
9....From Its Golden, Ice-cold Depths Come the Echos of Lost Battles, the Sound of Ancient Victories, the Noise of a Million Ball Games
06-06-197129mBeer, considered by some to be the universal language, is the focus as Shep travels to the archetypal neighborhood tavern in Milwaukee and presents a poetic pastiche of beer commer...
- Ep 10
10.I Might Even Snag One for Old Ahab Himself
13-06-197129mShep talks with one of Florida's natural wonders: Sea Weed Ernie, a hermit who lives in an old wrecked boat in the middle of a watery nowhere, trades fish stories and casts a line...
- Ep 11
11.When There's No Place to Go But Up
20-06-197129mTall stories -- airborne. Shep takes off at the controls of his four-seater and visits a convention that features home-made airplanes built with some interesting components.
- Ep 12
12.Like All Great Inner-Tube Specialists, He Finally Made the Classic Mistake
27-06-197129mWhat happens when you let a guy like Jean Shepherd loose in a place like Hawaii? He has a luau, watches the surfers and talks about his old man, the All Time Inner-Tube Specialist...
- Ep 13
13.Make School or Die
04-07-197129mStranded during a blizzard in Wyoming, Shep and the crew romp in the snow outside the "Little America" motel while he recalls another childhood memory of cold mornings in northern...
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