Frontline
1983
📺 45 Seasons
🎬 847 Episodes
📅 Returning Series
🌐 EN
⏱️ 55 min/episode
DocumentaryNews
Since it began in 1983, Frontline has been airing public-affairs documentaries that explore a wide scope of the complex human experience. Frontline's goal is to extend the impact of the documentary beyond its initial broadcast by serving as a catalyst for change.
Where to Watch (US)
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Amazon Video
Seasons
Season 1
Jessica Savitch's first and only season as on-air host. She died in a car accident in October.
Season 2
Judy Woodruff's first season as on-air host.
Season 3
Frontline takes a rare look inside the new Vietnam, 10 years after the fall of Saigon and the US pullout. While the Vietnamese celebrate their victory, the countryside remains scarred and war-torn. Frontline examines the legacies of the longest and most unpopular war in American history on the country where it was fought.
Season 4
While the whole world watched, 52 Americans were held hostage in Iran by Islamic revolutionaries for 444 days. On the fifth anniversary of their release, using never-before-seen footage from inside the American embassy compound in Tehran, the hostages tell the story of their long ordeal.
Season 5
One year after the Challenger disaster, Frontline examined the all-too-human side of the space program as seen through the eyes of the astronauts and engineers responsible for making it work. Correspondent James Reston tells the inside story of a program plagued by problems and politics.
Season 6
Many white South Africans claim that the entire country is theirs by right. No black man, they say, occupied South Africa before the first tiny Dutch settlement in 1652. Part 1 refutes this claim and traces the country’s colonial history, the emergence early in the 20th century of the African National Congress, the rise to power of Afrikaner nationalists, and the formal policy of apartheid.
Season 7
Judy Woodruff's final season as on-air host.
Season 8
The host-less era begins.
Season 9
Season 10
Season 11
Season 12
Season 13
Season 14
FRONTLINE investigates the April 1993 FBI siege of the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas. With access to secret government documents, audio and videotapes, correspondent Peter Boyer of "The New Yorker" probes the untold story of the fierce political infighting inside the FBI's Waco command center and in the corridors of power at the Justice Department in Washington.
Season 15
Season 16
Season 17
The story of the life of Jesus and the epic rise of Christianity. Said one critic: " It's a revelation of what television can be."
Season 18
Season 19
Season 20
For years this one man has taunted, threatened and frustrated the United States. But who is he? The U.S. government has tried to link him to nearly every act of Islamic terrorism against Americans in the 90s: from the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, to the bombings of U.S. military installations in Saudi Arabia, to the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa. [This is a post-9/11 update of an episode that originally aired on 4/13/1999.]
Season 21
For many Americans, the most difficult questions about 9/11 were not about politics, military strategy or homeland security. They were questions about God, about evil and about the potential for darkness within religion itself. What was it we saw on Sept. 11? Was it the true face of evil? Was it the face of religion? And where, if one is a believer, was God on that tragic morning?
Season 22
Did America rush into a war in Iraq for which is was unprepared? Could the volatility in Iraq have been prevented? FRONTLINE takes an in-depth, behind the scenes look at what some government officials said was the underlying cause of America’s problems in Iraq: prewar political infighting that hampered efforts to plan for an orderly postwar transition.
Season 23
Season 24
On October 3, 1995, an estimated 150 million people stopped what they were doing to witness the televised verdict of the O.J. Simpson trial. For more than a year, the O.J. saga transfixed the nation and dominated the public imagination. Ten years later, veteran FRONTLINE producer Ofra Bikel revisits the "perfect storm" that was the O.J. Simpson trial. Through extensive interviews with the defense, prosecution and journalists, FRONTLINE explores the verdict -- which, more than any other in recent history, measured the difference between being white and black in America.
Season 25
Nearly seven years after the Taliban were toppled, Al Qaeda and the Taliban continue to use Pakistan as a de facto base, virtually unchallenged and far out of America’s reach.
Season 26
For three decades, Vice President Dick Cheney has waged a secretive, and often bitter battle to expand the power of the presidency. Now in a direct confrontation with Congress, as the administration asserts executive privilege to head off investigations into domestic wiretapping and the firing of U.S. attorneys, FRONTLINE meticulously traces the behind-closed-doors battle within the administration over the power of the presidency and the rule of law.
Season 27
The compelling saga of one family's efforts to rebuild their homes, and their lives, in post-Katrina New Orleans.
Season 28
Frontline explores how the Internet and digital media have completely transformed contemporary life.
Season 29
At the center of the national death penalty debate today is the controversial case of Cameron Todd Willingham, put to death for the arson-murder of his three little girls. But was he guilty?
Season 30
Frontline, with ProPublica and McClatchy Newspapers, takes a hard look at the FBI's investigation of the country's most notorious act of bioterrorism.
Season 31
Examine the legacy of controversial former chancellor of Washington, DC, public schools, Michelle Rhee.
Season 32
FRONTLINE tracks an ongoing seven-year investigation into the largest insider trading scandal in U.S. history.
Season 33
FRONTLINE investigates how the NRA uses its unrivaled political power to stop gun regulation in America. With first-hand accounts of school killings in Newtown and Columbine, and the shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, "Gunned Down" examines why, despite the national trauma over gun violence, Washington hasn't acted.
Season 34
The inside story of the bitter clash between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Amid violence in the Middle East, the film traces Netanyahu's rise to power and his high-stakes fight with the president over Iran's nuclear program.
Season 35
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are two of the most polarizing presidential candidates in modern history. Veteran Frontline filmmaker Michael Kirk goes beyond the headlines to investigate what has shaped these two candidates, where they came from, how they lead and why they want one of the most difficult jobs imaginable.
Season 36
The battle to drive ISIS out of Iraq’s second-largest city was brutal and grueling. Shot over the course of the nine-month battle, “Mosul” follows one Iraqi special forces unit as they lead the fight. Also in this two-part hour: “Inside Yemen” offers a rare, up-close look at the country that’s home to what the United Nations recently called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
Season 37
The inside story of what happened to immigrant children separated from their parents at the border. The film explores the impact of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, and how both Trump and Obama dealt with minors at the border.
Season 38
A year after the murder of columnist Jamal Khashoggi, FRONTLINE investigates the rise of Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. In a two-hour documentary, Martin Smith — who has covered the Middle East for FRONTLINE for 20 years — examines the crown prince's vision for the future of Saudi Arabia, his handling of dissent and his ties to Khashoggi's killing.
Season 39
An examination on how the COVID crisis has hit vulnerable immigrants and undocumented workers. The documentary follows the coronavirus pandemic’s invisible victims, including crucial farm and meat-packing workers who lack protections and have been getting sick.
Season 40
With press freedom under threat in the Philippines, we go inside the escalating war between the press and the government. The documentary follows Maria Ressa, a renowned journalist who has become a top target of President Duterte's crackdown on the news media.
Season 41
FRONTLINE and Retro Report tell the story of the 1967 killing of Wharlest Jackson Sr., a local NAACP leader in Natchez, Mississippi. The documentary follows Jackson’s family as they search for the truth about what happened and examines the history of white supremacy in Natchez. It is part of FRONTLINE's multiplatform Un(re)solved initiative.
Season 42
Investigating the powerful spyware Pegasus, sold to governments around the world by the Israeli company NSO Group. This two-part series from FRONTLINE and Forbidden Films examines how the hacking tool was used to spy on journalists, activists, the fiancée of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and others.
Season 43
Beyond Gaza, the power of Hamas, Hezbollah and other forces in the region. Correspondent Ramita Navai investigates militants in the West Bank and Lebanon, their ties to Iran and their role in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Season 44
FRONTLINE traces Donald Trump's return to the presidency, overcoming unprecedented obstacles and opposition. With insider interviews, the documentary examines defining moments over his life and career, his 2020 election loss, felony convictions and his historic comeback.
Network
PBS
Production
GBH, FRONTLINE
Keywords
investigative journalism