Aerial America

I absolutely love all the episodes of Aerial America!

But.....The background music is so loud I can't hear the narrator!

It's not my TV. This is the only show that the sounds too loud.

Thanks for listening!

I can't believe I just watched the very final episode of "Aerial America," the one documentary show to be seared on my mind for eternity. It's impossible to encompass the staggering beauty and unassuming grace of the entire United States of America, but in a bid to bring us glimpses of it, the series has created a new genre in its own right, and an unmitigated masterpiece at that. From the breathtaking photography to Jim Conrad's commentary to the soundtrack, everything is pitch-perfect.

There are many episodes in the later seasons that are mostly a sort of compilations made up of footage from the previous episodes, and they tend to feel repetitive, but these actually add to how profoundly informative and educational this series can be.

It's America's greatness on full display, both man-made and natural.

The people of America will forever be in Smithsonian Channel's debt for such a magnificent celebration of the greatest nation on earth.

The scenery is what you come for and get. But, their fucos was really poor. They'll spend 10 minutes of an episode on a farm or a music labels location and then they'll skip entire cities.

Florida, they focus on Miami for half an hour and the development of the east coast (Flagler) then you get on random shot of Clearwater while they're talking about the role Tallahassee (the state capitol) played in the Bush/Gore election. They basically brush over the surface of Orlando, Tampa & Jacksonville for maybe 10 seconds. They miss a lot in Florida.

Michigan, they spend the entire episode on Detroit, they barely brush the surface of Lansing, Sleeping Bare dunes and the Mackinaw Bridge/Sue St. Marie but they don't show any of West Michigan, battle creek doesn't count.

Wonder if the California episode will even show San Diego or if it will focus on L. A. for half an HR and then show the golden gate bridge and maybe a shot of silicon valley & some wine and call it good... Smh.

These episodes should have been part of the aerial city series, not the state, they really don't have a clue about the states they're filming, it was clearly done by people from out of state. I'll bet folks from any state would pick they're state to watch and finish with a huge scoff & a shake of the head.

I absolutely LOVE all the episodes of Aerial America,but the background music over powers the narration. The music is nice but overpowers the gentleman talking,we have to turn up the volume than the music is to loud. The show is fantastic, wish they had this to show in American history classes in the sixties and seventies,hopefully they use it in schools today.

The show is great,keep up the good work and hopefully the music volume can be adjusted.

I have so many favorite episodes it's hard to pick just one. I first discovered the show on the history channel, and now I am able to see it more often on the Smithsonian channel. Thank you,Michael.

This is a great series, informative and educational. I can see why some reviewers on here think that it's "politically liberal" but that's because it's made by educated people at Smithsonian; who get their knowledge from academic science and historical research, not from ill-informed people on Twitter.

The big flaw is the level of background music on some (but not all) of the episodes. My guess is that the sound mixer monitored his/her mix at loud levels in the dubbing area, using high quality loudspeakers etc. That's great and probably impresses the client but if you don't pull back the music a lot more when the narrator speaks then this happens: On your massive monitors you can easily hear the narration under the music but at home, where the real customers are, they're probably listening on a tv with lower quality speakers, maybe even on something with compressed audio output. That's where all sounds are treated almost equally and the music and narration blur into one. Ever wondered why the narration is more audible on some episodes but not on others? It's nothing to do with your age.