1989: The Year that Made the Modern World • 2019 • 6 episodes • 2h:12m
No other year in recent history has played a more pivotal role in shaping the present than 1989. 30 years later, we look at the iconic events that defined this year and continue to dominate public conversation from fundamentalism and race to gender equality and the influence of the internet. The end of the Cold War... the dismantling of Apartheid, the launch of the World Wide Web? and the premiere of The Simpsons. If just one of these took place in 1989, it would be considered a watershed year. But these were just the beginning.
A year of revolution around the world; Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's new policies lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall; a government crackdown follows protests in Beinjing's Tiananmen Square; a power shift sweeps across Eastern Europe.
1/6 • 2019 • People
A look at tabloid journalism in the late 1980s; sensational TV shows focus on sex, scandal and celebrities, instead of politics; TV show hosts Larry King, Connie Chung and Maury Povich reveal how this new format blurred the lines.
2/6 • 2019 • People
James Brooks and Peter Guber peel back the curtain on the world of entertainment, revealing how the overnight success of Bart Simpson, Batman and the Little Mermaid turned the old show business model into the multifaceted modern industry it is today.
3/6 • 2019 • People
Chuck D and Arsenio Hall discuss the pop-culture revolution of 1989 that raised the collective social consciousness.
4/6 • 2019 • People
Filmmaker Kevin Smith and a host of tech insiders examine the dawn of the digital age in 1989, the year the first modern GPS satellites roamed above the earth, the Game Boy appeared, and the World Wide Web debuted.
5/6 • 2019 • People
From the protests of Tiananmen Square to the fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989 transformed global politics in profound ways that still resonate today; former Secretary of State James Baker and journalists provide eyewitness accounts.
6/6 • 2019 • People