The Booze, Bets and Sex That Built America

The histories of several American companies are presented, but in a fashion that puts entertainment above information. Several factual mistakes are made, and many of the contributors tell the stories with an air of hind-sighted smugness. Yes, several of the products discussed have deleterious health consequences, but most of these consequences were not known at the time. The stories are presented in an almost reality series fashion with dramatizations that show every entrepreneur facing overwhelming odds and opposition from every direction. Had the focus of the series been directed more towards the impact these companies had on society, a better program would have been the result.

Each episode is two hours long and at about fourth-five minutes in I'm ready for it to be over. Each episode bounces around between multiple people doing different things and never seems to give much information or built a deep interest. Part of it is when discussing brands like Jack Daniels and Budweiser you can't build suspense with prohibition because obviously prohibition ended and both brands still exist. For others the show leaves out a lot of information: manufactures the first rubber condoms which leads me to questions like how thick was the condom, how likely was it to rip, how did he determine what size it should be, were there any problems with allergic reactions, where they sanitized in any way, how much did they cost. Some of those are questions I'd like to ask current condom companies. It also discusses gambling in what is referred to as a numbers game. I thought a numbers game was a type of business fraud so if it's a gambling game I'm curious to know how did someone play it, what were the odds, was it common, how and where did it start. One episode it's discussing how cigarettes are fringe and considered feminine and next episode it's discussing how they are so popular but never explains how. The numbers game becomes the state lottery but again that's all it says never gives any explanation history as to how or why, just kinda brushes over all that history. It kinda feels like propaganda that it discusses executing points but leaves out most of the story and important details that helps people understand the bigger point.

For a history channel show it sure seems to be missing a lot of historical facts and background information and seems more to be trying to tell a story and create tension to draw viewers from one episode to the next ignoring the fact is the company still exists there is no real tension that it might end because of government regulations or restrictions no matter how much they try to play it up.

The pace, choppy cuts, and incessant driving background music makes this documentary really hard to watch and absorb.

There's some good info, but the way they present it is very clockwork orange. For me, the editors killed any enjoyment.