Plot Synopsis

THE BOOZE, BETS AND SEX THAT BUILT AMERICA is a three-episode docuseries that divulges surprising origin stories of the American alcohol, gambling, sex and tobacco industries and the ambitiously notorious entrepreneurs who built some of history's biggest fortunes on the nation's cravings. Each two-hour episode is packed with scintillating historical facts, riveting drama, expert interviews and compelling characters who operate on both sides of the law. Throughout the course of nearly a hundred years in the 19th and 20th centuries, the fight over alcohol, gambling, sex, and tobacco defines the American cultural experience and helps the country come of age. It is a time when condoms are illegal, smoking is pervasive, and alcohol is made illegal then legalized again; the great debate rages between the freedom to indulge and protection from the chaos of debauchery. From the 1860s to the 1930s and beyond, this series looks at innovators like Jasper "Jack" Daniel, Adolphus Busch, Buck Duke, Julius Schmid, Stephanie St. Clair and others who bring these pleasures out of the shadows and into the mainstream to build some of the biggest commercial empires in American history. Their successes and failures also lay the groundwork for the state lottery system, the Sexual Revolution and Sin City itself. The three, two-hour episodes are:

"Secrets & Sins" (Sunday, June 12, 2022 from 8-10pm): Jack Daniel pioneers American whiskey; Adolphus Busch creates an iconic beer; Buck Duke innovates the modern cigarette; and Julius Schmid skirts the law selling his new condoms...all while the temperance movement rises to battle against them.

"Empires Lost" (Sunday, June 19, 2022 from 8-10pm): One of the richest men in the world may lose his tobacco empire, while alcohol titans fight for their lives against the growing threat of Prohibition. And New York City becomes ground zero in the battle to legalize contraception, and a form of gambling that will eventually become the state Lottery.

"Sin Cities" (Sunday, June 26, 2022 from 8-10pm): The invention of the luxury resort casino helps birth Sin City; a Harlem woman goes to war for what will become the state lottery system; an alluring magazine like no other is launched; and one of the most famous cigarette brands in history is created.