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Frontline Season 36 Episodes
Season 36 Episode Guide
21 Episodes 2018 - 2018
Episode 1
Exodus: The Journey Continues
Tue, Jan 23, 2018113 mins
The intimate stories of refugees and migrants, caught in Europe's tightened borders. Amid the ongoing migration crisis, the film follows personal journeys over two years, as countries become less welcoming to those seeking refuge.
Episode 2
The Gang Crackdown
Tue, Feb 13, 201853 mins
Some 25 dead bodies have been found on Long Island since 2016, all linked to the violent gang MS-13. Numerous immigrant teens are missing. As law enforcement tries to stop the gang, FRONTLINE goes inside the crackdown - investigating how the slew of gruesome killings led to many immigrant teens being accused of gang affiliation and unlawfully detained.
Episode 3
Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia (Part One)
Tue, Feb 20, 2018113 mins
Highlights the 40 year struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia for dominance in the Middle East, in part, on behalf the the Shite or Sunni factions of Islam.
Episode 4
Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia (Part Two)
Tue, Feb 27, 201853 mins
Frontliine explores the postulate that the current turmoil in the Middle East, particularly in Syria Iraq and Yemen, is a primarily a manifestation of a forty year power struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Episode 5
Weinstein
Fri, Mar 2, 201853 mins
An investigative report into the sexual harassment and misconduct allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein and the efforts made to silence his accusers.
Episode 6
Trump's Takeover
Tue, Apr 10, 201853 mins
President Donald Trump's time in office has been marked by ongoing turmoil - including in his own Republican Party, where presidential tweetstorms, inflammatory rhetoric and high-profile dissent have fueled open conflict. In Trump's Takeover, FRONTLINE's acclaimed political team tells the inside story of a president who vowed to take down the Washington establishment, and who has fought an intense war for control of the GOP. Through interviews with longtime Republican legislators like Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), House Freedom Caucus members including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), current and former senior White House officials including Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer, authors, and journalists, Trump's Takeover examines how the president is remaking the GOP in his own image, counter-punching when criticized and publicly attacking those who defy him. The film traces the president's relationship with the GOP-led Congress, from his Twitter attacks on fellow Republicans after the failed Obamacare repeal-and-replace effort, to a split over what many in the party said was the president's inadequate response to deadly violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, to when Congress ultimately delivered a major legislative victory for Trump with the passage of tax reform. Gripping and revealing, Trump's Takeover is a window into the potential lasting impact of the Trump era on the Republican Party and the American political system as a whole. It's the story of President Trump's takeover of the Republican Party - from the perspective of Republican lawmakers and insiders themselves.
Episode 7
McCain
Tue, Apr 17, 201853 mins
The complicated relationship between Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and President Donald Trump; John McCain's life and politics, from his experience in Vietnam to his vote against the Republican health care bill.
Episode 8
Trafficked in America
Tue, Apr 24, 201855 mins
Trafficked in America investigates how teenagers from Central America were smuggled into the U.S. by traffickers who promised them jobs and a better life-only to force them to live and work in virtual slavery to pay off their debt. This documentary shines new light on a labor trafficking case in which Guatemalan teens were forced by a third-party contractor to work against their will at Trillium Farms in Ohio, a major egg producer. The investigative team exposes a criminal network that exploited undocumented minors, the companies who profited from their forced labor, and how U.S. government policies and practices helped to deliver some teens directly to their traffickers.
Episode 9
Blackout in Puerto Rico
Tue, May 1, 201852 mins
More than seven months after Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, more than 100,000 Americans are still without power, as part of the worst blackout in U.S. history. FRONTLINE and NPR investigate how the federal response in Puerto Rico left millions of Americans in the dark for months - and the storm before the storm: how Wall Street, Puerto Rico's government, and Washington fueled a debt crisis that left the island's economy in ruins and its infrastructure crippled even before Maria hit. The investigative team uncovered a trove of insider documents that show a government relief effort in chaos, struggling with key contracts, basic supplies, and its own workforce. The film, produced with the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, uncovers a series of shortcomings after Maria, including how half of FEMA's staff on the island were trainees or unqualified, how contractors FEMA turned to failed to deliver hundreds of thousands of tarps, and how the Army Corps' temporary roof repair program was glaringly slow compared to other storms - putting up just 439 roofs in the first 30 days after the storm compared to more than 4,500 in the first month after Irma in Florida. Underpinning it all, Blackout in Puerto Rico delves into Wall Street's role in the island's economic demise - a crisis that left it dangerously vulnerable to a storm like Maria - and the relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S., including how Congress's withdrawal of a special tax break helped spur the Puerto Rican government's cycle of debt and borrowing. Gripping and riveting, Blackout in Puerto Rico is a must-watch look inside the ongoing recovery effort in Puerto Rico - and the economic crisis that devastated the island long before Maria.
Episode 10
Myanmar's Killing Fields
Tue, May 8, 201853 mins
Secret footage going back years shows the effort to kill and expel Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. With accounts from victims and witnesses, the film examines evidence that security forces committed crimes against humanity.
Episode 11
U.N. Sex Abuse Scandal
Tue, Jul 24, 201853 mins
An investigation into sex abuse by United Nations peacekeepers in world's conflict zones.
Episode 12
Separated: Children at the Border
Tue, Jul 31, 201853 mins
The inside story of what happened to immigrant children separated from their parents at the border. The film explores the impact of the Trump's "zero tolerance" policy, and how both Trump and Obama dealt with minors at the border.
Episode 13
Documenting Hate: Charlottesville
Tue, Aug 7, 201853 mins
In Documenting Hate: Charlottesville, FRONTLINE and ProPublica investigate the white supremacists and neo-Nazis involved in the 2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right rally. Our joint reporting has already shed new and troubling light on the events of August 11 and 12, 2017 - revealing that one participant in the violence, Vasillios Pistolis, was an active-duty Marine, and that another, Michael Miselis, worked for a major defense contractor and held a U.S. government security clearance. Now, correspondent A.C. Thompson goes even deeper, showing how some of those behind the racist violence nearly one year ago went unpunished and continued to operate around the country. This is the first in a series of two Documenting Hate films from FRONTLINE and ProPublica, with the second coming later this fall.
Episode 14
Our Man In Tehran, Part 1
Mon, Aug 13, 2018
On Monday, August 13 and Tuesday, August 14, FRONTLINE presents Our Man in Tehran - a revealing series on life inside Iran.
Episode 15
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Tue, Sep 12, 2017
The story of the only U.S. bank prosecuted after the financial crisis, and a Chinese immigrant family's fight to clear their names.
Episode 15
Our Man in Tehran - Part 2
Tue, Aug 14, 2018155 mins
More surprising encounters inside the closed society with NY Times correspondent Thomas Erdbrink.
Episode 16
North Korea's Deadly Dictator
Wed, Oct 4, 201753 mins
The assassination of Kim Jong-nam occurred on 13 February 2017 when two women attacked him with VX nerve agent, a lethal chemical weapon, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. Kim was the eldest son of deceased North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and the half-brother of current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. North Korean diplomats objected to any form of autopsy being conducted on Kim's body, but the autopsy proceeded as the they did not submit a formal protest. Following Malaysia's refusal to release the body immediately, North Korea's ambassador Kang Chol accused Malaysia of collaborating with the country's enemies over the assassination of Kim Jong-nam.
Episode 16
Left Behind America
Tue, Sep 11, 201853 mins
The economic and social forces shaping Dayton, Ohio, a once booming city that now struggles to recover in the post-recession economy.
Episode 17
War on the EPA
Wed, Oct 11, 201755 mins
Conservative political forces and causes, including skepticism about climate change, propel Scott Pruitt to become administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Episode 17
Trump's Showdown
Tue, Oct 2, 2018113 mins
President Donald Trump fights against the investigation of his campaign and the claim of obstruction of justice, waging a war against the special counsel, FBI and attorney general.
Episode 18
Mosul
Wed, Oct 18, 201753 mins
Described by some military commanders as the deadliest urban combat since World War II, the battle to drive ISIS out of Mosul as the terror group held civilians captive there was brutal and grueling. Shot over the course of the entire nine-month fight, this vivid documentary follows the experiences of four young soldiers in a team of Iraqi Special Forces tasked with leading the battle. Visceral footage of the fighting is interwoven with intimate and searching interviews with the young soldiers. Full of hope at the beginning of the campaign, the reality of fighting an elusive and vicious enemy in a city full of trapped civilians ultimately takes its toll: By the end of filming, one of the four soldiers is dead. And for the surviving soldiers, haunted by what they have seen and done, the war goes on. Mosul is a stunning look at the high cost of the Iraqi Army's victory over ISIS in the city, large parts of which have been destroyed, with hundreds of thousands of civilians still displaced.
Episode 18
The Pension Gamble
Tue, Oct 23, 2018
The Pension Gamble goes inside the volatile fight over pensions that's playing out in one state, and examines the broader consequences for teachers, police officers, firefighters and public employees everywhere.
Episode 19
The Facebook Dilemma: Part 1
Mon, Oct 29, 201855 mins
The promise of Facebook was to create a more open and connected world. But from the company's failure to protect millions of users' data, to the proliferation of "fake news" and disinformation, mounting crises have raised the question: Is Facebook more harmful than helpful? This major, two-night event investigates a series of warnings to Facebook as the company grew from Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room to a global empire. With dozens of original interviews and rare footage, The Facebook Dilemma examines the powerful social media platform's impact on privacy and democracy in the U.S. and around the world.
Episode 20
Putin's Revenge (I)
Wed, Oct 25, 201755 mins
How Vladimir Putin came to see the United States and Hillary Clinton in particular as enemies. Why he decided to target an American election.
Episode 20
The Facebook Dilemma: Part 2
Tue, Oct 30, 201855 mins
The promise of Facebook was to create a more open and connected world. But from the company's failure to protect millions of users' data, to the proliferation of "fake news" and disinformation, mounting crises have raised the question: Is Facebook more harmful than helpful? This major, two-night event investigates a series of warnings to Facebook as the company grew from Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room to a global empire. With dozens of original interviews and rare footage, The Facebook Dilemma examines the powerful social media platform's impact on privacy and democracy in the U.S. and around the world.
Episode 21
Putin's Revenge (II)
Wed, Nov 1, 201753 mins
With in-depth reporting from Moscow and Washington, DC, FRONTLINE tells the story of how Vladimir Putin came to see the United States as an enemy - and why he decided to target an American election. Against the backdrop of investigations by the FBI and Congress into the role Russia played in the 2016 U.S. election, this epic documentary draws on more than 60 interviews with diplomats, intelligence officials, political leaders, journalists, and primary sources to trace how Putin went from low-ranking KGB agent to long-serving president of a newly assertive Russia with the ability to wage cyber-war in the U.S. and across the globe. From Michael Kirk and the team behind The Choice 2016, Putin's Revenge is a riveting investigation of how the U.S. struggled to confront Vladimir Putin over Russian involvement in the 2016 election, how revenge may have motivated Putin to target American democracy, and the U.S. responses under Presidents Obama and Trump.
Episode 21
Documenting Hate: New American Nazis
Tue, Nov 20, 201853 mins
Exposing a neo-Nazi group that has actively recruited inside the U.S. military. An investigation with ProPublica shows the group's terrorist objectives and how it gained strength after the 2017 Charlottesville rally.
