History The Greatest American Television Show

[Husky_Khan]

So back in 2005, AOL, NBC, the BBC and the Discovery Channel hosted a multiseries 'documentary' called The Greatest American which was a show that culminated in the accounting of the Top 100 Greatest Americans in history as voted on by millions of people (presumably American). Around the same time other similar 'Top 100' or 'Greatest' series going on with countries ranging from Britain to Romania.

Anyways, as expected, the list heavily skewed towards recent memory as well as towards individuals in pop culture and entertainment. During the airing of the four part series, there was a separate vote for the Top Five Americans, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. Ironically... I feel that MLK and Lincoln as well as Washington and Franklin split votes allowing Ronald Reagan to somewhat surprisingly become the Greatest American by popular demand.

The Greatest American - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And here are the top 25 vote getters.

1. Ronald Reagan, (1911–2004) actor and 40th President
2. Abraham Lincoln, (1809–1865) 16th President
3. Martin Luther King Jr., (1929–1968) minister and civil rights leader
4. George Washington, (1732–1799) general and 1st President
5. Benjamin Franklin, (1705–1790) author, printer, scientist and politician
6. George W. Bush, (1946–) 43rd President
7. Bill Clinton, (1946–) 42nd President
8. Elvis Presley, (1935–1977) musician and actor
9. Oprah Winfrey, (1954–) talk show host and actress
10. Franklin D. Roosevelt, (1882–1945) 32nd President
11. Billy Graham, (1918–2018) minister
12. Thomas Jefferson, (1743–1826) writer and 3rd President
13. Walt Disney, (1901–1966) animator and film producer
14. Albert Einstein, (1879–1955) physicist
15. Thomas Alva Edison, (1874–1931) inventor
16. John F. Kennedy, (1917–1963) 35th President
17. Bob Hope, (1903–2003) actor and comedian
18. Bill Gates, (1955–) businessman
19. Eleanor Roosevelt, (1884–1962) First Lady, activist and diplomat
20. Lance Armstrong, (1971–) cyclist
21. Muhammad Ali, (1942–2016) boxer
22. Rosa Parks, (1913–2005) civil rights activist
23. The Wright Brothers, inventors and aviation pioneers
24. Henry Ford, (1863–1947) industrialist and businessman
25. Neil Armstrong, (1930–2012) astronaut

Don't worry, it becomes more hilarious when you see the next 75 individuals who are unranked.

• Maya Angelou, (1928–2014) poet and writer
• Susan B. Anthony, (1820–1904) women's rights activist
• Lucille Ball, (1911–1989) actress and comedian
• Alexander Graham Bell, (1847–1922) inventor and scientist
• Barbara Bush, (1925–2018) First Lady
• George H. W. Bush, (1924–2018) 41st President
• Laura Bush, (1946–) First Lady
• Andrew Carnegie, (1835–1919) industrialist and philanthropist
• Johnny Carson, (1925–2005) comedian and talk show host
• Jimmy Carter, (1924–) 39th President
• George Washington Carver, (1860s–1943) botanist and inventor
• Ray Charles, (1930–2005) musician
• César Chávez, (1927–1993) labor leader and activist
• Hillary Clinton, (1947–) politician
• Bill Cosby, (1937–) comedian
• Tom Cruise, (1962–) actor
• Ellen DeGeneres, (1958–) comedian and talk show host
• Frederick Douglass, (1818–1895) writer and abolitionist
• Amelia Earhart, (1897–1937) aviator
• Clint Eastwood, (1930–) actor and film director
• John Edwards, (1953–) politician
• Dwight D. Eisenhower, (1890–1969) general and 34th President
• Brett Favre, (1969–) football player
• Mel Gibson, (1956–) actor and film director
• Rudolph Giuliani, (1944–) politician
• John Glenn, (1921–2016) astronaut and politician
• Alexander Hamilton, (1757–1804) statesman and 1st Secretary of the Treasury
• Tom Hanks, (1956–) actor
• Hugh Hefner, (1926–2017) magazine publisher
• Katharine Hepburn, (1907–2003) actress
• Howard Hughes, (1907–1979) businessman, film producer and aviator
• Michael Jackson, (1958–2009) musician
• Steve Jobs, (1955–2011) businessman and inventor
• Lyndon B. Johnson, (1908–1973) 36th President
• Michael Jordan, (1963–) basketball player
• Helen Keller, (1880–1968) author and activist
• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, (1929–1994) First Lady
• Robert F. Kennedy, (1925–1968) politician
• Rush Limbaugh, (1951–) radio talk show host
• Charles Lindbergh, (1902–1974) aviator
• George Lucas, (1944–) film director
• Madonna, (1958–) musician
• Malcolm X, (1925–1965) civil rights activist
• Phil McGraw, (1950–) psychologist and television personality
• Marilyn Monroe, (1926–1962) actress
• Michael Moore, (1954–) documentary filmmaker
• Audie Murphy, (1925–1971) soldier
• Richard M. Nixon, (1913–1994) 37th President
• Barack Obama, (1961–) politician (became 44th President after airing)
• Jesse Owens, (1913–1980) track and field athlete
• George S. Patton, (1885–1945) general
• Colin Powell, (1937–) politician and general
• Christopher Reeve, (1952–2004) actor
• Condoleezza Rice, (1954–) politician and diplomat
• Jackie Robinson, (1919–1972) baseball player
• Theodore Roosevelt, (1858–1919) writer, explorer, naturalist and 26th President
• Babe Ruth, (1895–1948) baseball player
• Carl Sagan, (1934–1996) astronomer and writer
• Jonas Salk, (1914–1995) medical researcher
• Arnold Schwarzenegger, (1947–) actor and politician
• Frank Sinatra, (1915–1998) musician and actor
• Joseph Smith, Jr., (1805–1844) religious leader
• Steven Spielberg, (1946–) film director
• James Stewart, (1908–1997) actor
• Martha Stewart, (1941–) businesswoman, writer and television personality
• Pat Tillman, (1976–2004) football player and soldier
• Harry S. Truman, (1884–1972) 33rd President
• Donald Trump, (1946–) businessman (became 45th President after airing)
• Harriet Tubman, (1822–1913) abolitionist
• Mark Twain, (1835–1910) writer and humorist
• Sam Walton, (1918–1992) businessman
• John Wayne, (1907–1979) actor
• Tiger Woods, (1975–) golfer
• Chuck Yeager, (1923–) aviator

Ahhhh.... so much has changed in fifteen years. This is the problem I suppose with adding entertainers/athletes and other general public figures who don't have a built in legacy to draw off of to the list I suppose. All of this fame is fleeting. Like seriously there is at least a dozen people on here... who probably wouldn't even be considered on anything close to this list nowadays with revelations in the past fifteen years.

So... clearly the above list is flawed and with the discussions of the National Garden of Statuery, it makes one wonder who would be put in a top 100 list today and if it'd be as distorted as this one (it would be if not conducted by The Sietch of course).

And honestly... and I'm only semi serious here... we should have a Greatest American ballot taken every ten years alongside the Census just to see how stupid us Americans are and how times have changed every so often.

 

[Doomsought]

Honestly, actors, musicians and film makers shouldn't be on the list unless it is at least 50 years later and someone who can't name any of the actors in their favorite movie still knows their name. Preferably a hundred years, but I'll leave it at 50 so Clint Eastwood can stay on the list.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Honestly, actors, musicians and film makers shouldn't be on the list unless it is at least 50 years later and someone who can't name any of the actors in their favorite movie still knows their name. Preferably a hundred years, but I'll leave it at 50 so Clint Eastwood can stay on the list.

Yeah I was trying to think of famous actors in living modern memory who might be included and Clint Eastwood is the only one I can think of since so much time has passed since he had started his career. But even then I'd be chancy on it. I do think Charlton Heston might be one of the Greatest Americans (at least as far as entertainers are concerned) and he was doing films almost right until the end. Like he had film appearances even on this side of the millennium. Maybe in a few more decades someone like Steven Spielburg could be considered or the like but I dunno.

With entertainers in general, it's always tricky. It's all so transitory.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Ronald Reagan beat out George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Huh.

 

[Doomsought]

I do think Charlton Heston might be one of the Greatest Americans (at least as far as entertainers are concerned) and he was doing films almost right until the end.

The problem with that nomination is that I don't know who he is. A Russian hermit that lives so deep in siberia that they don't know that the Soviet era ended knows who Clint Eastwood is.

 

[Husky_Khan]

The problem with that nomination is that I don't know who he is. A Russian hermit that lives so deep in siberia that they don't know that the Soviet era ended knows who Clint Eastwood is.

As one film critic noted (though nowadays incorrectly): "Heston made at least three movies that almost everybody eventually sees: Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments and Planet of the Apes." Charlton Heston had a career over sixty years and a hundred films and a lot of them were 'historical epics' like Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, El Cid, The Fall of the Roman Empire (which was the later basis for the Ridley Scott film Gladiator) and Khartoum. But he also did a lot of scifi films like Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green and The Omega Man (which was a big deal when it was released in 1971 because his love interest was a Black woman).

In addition to that he was very active in the Civil Rights movement having marched with various Civil Rights leaders and then later in his life became politically active with the Conservative/Republican Party and became the President of the National Rifle Association and a proponent of gun rights. But yeah his main legacy was as a prolific actor of numerous epic and trailblazing films.

Ronald Reagan beat out George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Huh.

Yeah the thing is... there was a long campaign to get votes for the Top 100 and then the top five vote getters, Lincoln, Franklin, Washington, MLK and Reagan were put on their own separate poll to determine the greatest of the bunch as the four part documentary aired.

I think most people were (rightly) expecting Abraham Lincoln to win but I think Lincoln and MLK Jr split the votes and allowed Reagan to get the nod as the Greatest American.