About this season
Based on his podcast 'The Way I Heard It', Mike Rowe tells true tales and unique back-stories about people, places and events with a unique twist. From code breakers to Hollywood bombshells, and unlikely inventors to naked bank robbers.
Episodes (13)
1. The 25 Million Dollar Kiss
Aired 7 May 2022 • 22 min
Hedy Lamar, known to the public only for her sensational beauty, creates the technology that makes our modern lives possible.
2. The Man Behind The Microphone
Aired 14 May 2022 • 22 min
In the middle of a baseball game, the newswire giving radio broadcasters the play-by-play goes down. So, the radio broadcaster, Ronald Reagan, makes up foul ball after foul ball while he waits on the signal to be resorted.
3. Fred's Final Wish
Aired 21 May 2022 • 22 min
Fred was tasked to create a potato chip that wouldn’t turn to crumbles in the bottom of a bag after shipping. Instead, he created a completely new package design and molded the iconic chip to fit it.
4. The Biggest Name In Town
Aired 28 May 2022 • 22 min
Small town girl, Peg Entwhistle, failed on Broadway and went to Hollywood to pursue her dreams. Her one movie bombed so she goes to the biggest name in town to have it out once and for all.
5. They Shook on It
Aired 4 June 2022 • 22 min
During the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, Bank of America founder, Amadeo Giannini, made a deal on a handshake with a garbage man to hire his son in the future that changes the course of history.
6. Can You Be There By Nine?
Aired 11 June 2022 • 22 min
Allen Hale Jr's odyssey to an audition that would change his life forever and give him a role in one of the most syndicated shows of all time.
7. A Very High Bar
Aired 18 June 2022 • 22 min
Jim Thorpe is one of history’s greatest athletes. He didn’t let his education, his heritage, or even someone stealing his shoes stop him from competing at his best.
8. 30 Minutes of Disappointing Television
Aired 25 June 2022 • 22 min
Charles Schultz was given creative control to create a half-hour Christmas program for CBS, however, upon screening the film, the executives thought it was a bomb. Boy, were they wrong.
9. The Code Breaker
Aired 2 July 2022 • 22 min
A young code breaker in the air force, intercepts a coded message that Stalin is dead. He turns the actual Morse code “dashes and dots” into the rhythm for one of the most well-known songs in history.
10. Keep Your Voice Down
Aired 9 July 2022 • 22 min
Former drill sergeant becomes a celebrity and icon as one of the most calming voices on television.
11. The Missiles of December
Aired 16 July 2022 • 22 min
A silent Christmas Eve in in 1955 at a strategic defense center is interrupted by a call on the single line red phone which started a Christmas tradition around the world.
12. He Really Stuck with It
Aired 23 July 2022 • 22 min
Experiment, after experiment, after experiment, a lonely inventor finally creates the fix-all compound.
13. Francisco's Flakes
Aired 30 July 2022 • 22 min
The creation, flop, and success of an iconic film and how it all hinged on fake snow.