Original release 27 avril 1997
Previous episode S1997E11 - F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great American Dreamer
Number S1997E12
Episode runtime 45 minutes
Country United States
Original language English
Genres Documentary, History
External links TheTVDB page
IMDB page
TheMovieDB page
Last update 8 novembre 2026 - 04:15
on 11 databases

Andy Griffith: Hollywood's Homespun Hero

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He is the face of small-town America, a man whose portrayal of Sheriff Andy Taylor created an enduring vision of a simpler, kinder world. But Andy Griffith’s path to Mayberry was paved with hard-fought success and a range of talent that extends far beyond the rocking chair on the front porch. This episode of BIOGRAPHY follows Griffith from his humble North Carolina roots to his explosive film debut in A Face in the Crowd and his reign as the master of the legal drama in Matlock. Discover the meticulous artist behind the easygoing grin—a man who transformed his own life into a piece of American mythology.

BetaSeries' opinion

Secrets d'histoire Season 20 Finale: Stéphane Bern's Messalina Episode Ends a Season About Reputations on Trial

Twenty seasons in, "Secrets d'histoire" can still surprise its audience. The Season 20 finale aired on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 9:10 p.m. on France 3, and Stéphane Bern closed the season with one of the most notorious women of antiquity: Messalina, the third wife of Emperor Claudius. If you watched it, you already know it was more than a parade of Roman scandal. It was a careful re-examination of a woman whose name has been shorthand for depravity for almost two thousand years. If you haven't caught up yet, this debrief shows why the episode, and the whole season, deserves a place in your watchlist.

A finale that puts history's verdict on trial

The question at the centre of the finale was simple: does Messalina deserve the brutal nickname history gave her? Roman writers handed down a woman driven by insatiable desire and a hunger for power. Bern's team took that portrait apart piece by piece. They asked who wrote the story, why they wrote it, and what they gained from it. This is the series at its best. It doesn't simply retell a legend. It looks into how the legend was made. Messalina's world gave the episode plenty of drama: Caligula, Nero, Agrippina and the freedman Narcissus all appear, each with their own agenda in the deadly politics of the Julio-Claudian court. Without spoiling anything for latecomers, the finale's real emotional pull comes from the gap between the caricature and the young woman caught up in a machine much bigger than she was.

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