Two American Families in order

Intimate stories of one Rust Belt city's struggle to recover in post-recession economy. 5 films, 7h 8m in all, in release order.

Minimum Wages: The New Economy
Minimum Wages: The New Economy
1992 · 57 min
Bill Moyers takes a piercing look at how global economic changes are destroying the lives and livelihoods of hardworking Americans. The documentary follows several individuals and their families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as they fight to make ends meet in the “new economy.” In sheer numbers, more jobs were created than lost in America during the last decade, but a look behind those numbers reveals a shortage of jobs that pay enough to support a family. The program intimately portrays the lives of workers and their families as they struggle to make it in today’s job market.
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Living on the Edge
Living on the Edge
1995 · 56 min
Bill Moyers tells the story of several hardworking Milwaukee families struggling with low-paying jobs after previous employers downsized their operations. Filmed over a period of five years, these families were first featured in Moyers’s 1992 documentary ‘Minimum Wages: The New Economy.’ FRONTLINE chronicles the families’ emotional and financial strains, their search for better jobs and job retraining, and looks at Milwaukee’s efforts to adapt to an ever-shrinking industrial sector.
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Surviving the Good Times
2000 · 117 min
The dramatic story of two blue-collar Milwaukee families over two decades. As they struggle to find their place in the new economy, living from paycheck to paycheck through good times and bad, the Neumanns and Stanleys confront choices for themselves and their families that have far-reaching consequences for the American way of life.
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Two American Families
2013 · 84 min
A TV documentary following two American families from 1991 to 2013, chronicling their struggles while trying to maintain their place in the American middle class
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Two American Families: 1991–2024
2024 · 114 min
It’s a central premise of the American dream: If you’re willing to work hard, you’ll be able to make a living and build a better life for your children. But what if working hard isn’t enough to get ahead — or even to ensure your family’s basic financial stability? Two American Families: 1991-2024, a special, two-hour documentary filmed over more than 30 years, is a portrait of perseverance from FRONTLINE, Bill Moyers, and filmmakers Tom Casciato and Kathleen Hughes that raises unsettling questions about the changing nature of the American economy and the impact on people struggling to make a living. This is the saga of two families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — one Black, the Stanleys, and one white, the Neumanns — who have spent the past 34 years battling to keep from sliding into poverty, and who refuse to give up despite the economic challenges that their stories reveal.
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Frequently asked questions

What order should I watch Two American Families in?

1. Minimum Wages: The New Economy (1992), 2. Living on the Edge (1995), 3. Surviving the Good Times (2000), 4. Two American Families (2013), 5. Two American Families: 1991–2024 (2024).

How long does it take to watch all of Two American Families?

About 7h 8m across 5 released films.

Do any Two American Families films have post-credit scenes?

None are listed on TMDB.