Prohibition
PBS | Release Date: October 2, 2011
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
86
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandOct 3, 2011
Season 1 Review: Great historical documentaries not only enlighten us about the past, but tell us things about our own times as well, either directly or implicitly. Prohibition, the latest project by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, states the implicit links between the passage of the 18th Amendment and contemporary politics so loudly, you'd have to be drunk on bathtub gin not to get the message. Read full review
100
San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa TimesChuck BarneyOct 3, 2011
Season 1 Review: The lively script by Geoffrey Ward covers a lot of ground and offers keen insights via interviews, not only with experts but regular folk who lived through the era. Read full review
100
Uncle BarkyEd BarkOct 3, 2011
Season 1 Review: In the end, it may be the most fun you'll ever have with a Ken Burns film. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalDorothy RabinowitzSep 30, 2011
Season 1 Review: Taken together there is in these 5 1/2 hours, breathtaking in their scope and detail, nothing approaching a dull moment. Read full review
100
People WeeklyTom GliattoSep 30, 2011
Season 1 Review: Prohibition is a merry, bullet-sprayed study of the era's rampant criminality. [10 Oct 2011, p.40]
100
NewsdayVerne GaySep 29, 2011
Season 1 Review: An enthralling film. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesLori RacklSep 28, 2011
Season 1 Review: The 18th Amendment--that "Noble Experiment" that turned out to be one of the country's biggest civic failures--is the subject of a fascinating new documentary by Ken Burns. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyKen TuckerOct 3, 2011
Season 1 Review: Talking heads such as Daniel Okrent are eloquently pithy. And narrator Peter Coyote is as soothing as a tumbler of fine Scotch. Read full review
90
Philadelphia InquirerJonathan StormOct 3, 2011
Season 1 Review: More than any of Burns' documentaries except The Civil War, Prohibition provides viewers with a real feel for the times as well as new and surprising information. Read full review
90
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushOct 3, 2011
Season 1 Review: With deft detail, and the usual sparkling mix of vivid archival footage and jazzy period music, we're treated to an evocative portrait of a young nation wracked by alcoholism and a debauched saloon culture, taking drastic measures to ban the manufacture and sale of alcohol. Read full review
90
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GraySep 30, 2011
Season 1 Review: Prohibition is barely more than a gulp next to Burns benders like "Baseball" and "Jazz," but it packs a punch, both as a cautionary tale and as entertainment. Read full review
80
SlateTroy PattersonOct 5, 2011
Season 1 Review: Over three nights and five and half hours, Prohibition provides a very fine analytic survey of the noble experiment, and most criticisms of it are quibbles. Read full review
80
Boston GlobeMark FeeneySep 30, 2011
Season 1 Review: The series presents an often-engrossing look at a unique cultural moment in America, when high-mindedness was in the saddle yet lawlessness was never so pervasive. Read full review
80
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerSep 30, 2011
Season 1 Review: Mr. Burns and Ms. Novick, commendably, don't beat you over the head with the obvious lessons for those today who would legislate personal behavior; they largely let the story of Prohibition speak for itself. Read full review
80
TimeJames PoniewozikSep 30, 2011
Season 1 Review: Prohibition provides a detailed, engaging postmortem of a very, very bad idea. Read full review
80
VarietyBrian LowrySep 30, 2011
Season 1 Review: [It manages] to be extremely entertaining, packed with amusing details and highly relevant to today's politics. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleySep 29, 2011
Season 1 Review: What the show doesn't say, but wouldn't mind our noticing, is that even today we should be very careful about giving up some part of our freedom because someone tells us it will "solve" some other problem. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydOct 3, 2011
Season 1 Review: At something more than five hours, Prohibition, while interesting from moment to moment, is longer than it needs to be, and made even longer by Burns' habitual stateliness. Read full review
50
Washington PostHank StueverOct 3, 2011
Season 1 Review: It's rare for Burns and Novick to get lost in their own material, but it happens here. Read full review
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