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Frontline Season 39 Episodes
Season 39 Episode Guide
21 Episodes 2021 - 2021
Episode 1
A Thousand Cuts
Fri, Jan 8, 202199 mins
With press freedom under threat in the Philippines, A Thousand Cuts goes inside the escalating war between the government and the press. The documentary follows Maria Ressa, a renowned journalist who has become a top target of President Rodrigo Duterte's crackdown on the news media.
Episode 2
President Biden
Tue, Jan 19, 2021
This FRONTLINE episode tells the story of how crisis and tragedy prepared Joe Biden to become America's 46th president. It describes the searing moments that shaped President Biden and what those challenges reveal about how he will govern.
Episode 3
Trump's American Carnage
Tue, Jan 26, 202153 mins
In the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, FRONTLINE investigates how Donald Trump's presidency laid the groundwork for bitter divisions, violence and ultimately insurrection. From his first days as president to his last, Trump stoked division, violence and insurrection. "Trump's American Carnage" investigates Trump's siege on his enemies, the media and even the leaders of his own party, who for years ignored the warning signs of what was to come.
Episode 4
China's COVID Secrets
Tue, Feb 2, 202183 mins
The untold story of the start of the COVID pandemic and how China responded. Chinese scientists and doctors, international disease experts and health officials reveal missed opportunities to suppress the outbreak and lessons for the world.
Episode 5
Iraq's Assassins / Yemen's COVID coverup
Tue, Feb 9, 2021
FRONTLINE's Ramita Navai investigates allegations that Iranian-backed Shia militias are threatening and killing critics with impunity and targeting U.S. interests. Also a look at how COVID is worsening Yemen's humanitarian crisis.
Episode 6
Death Is Our Business
Tue, Mar 23, 2021
Death Is Our Business examines in intimate and moving detail how Black funeral homes in New Orleans have had to adapt to the devastating impact of COVID-19 in their community.
Episode 7
American Insurrection
Tue, Apr 13, 202184 mins
In the aftermath of the assault on the U.S. Capitol, FRONTLINE examines how far-right groups were emboldened and encouraged by former President Trump and how individuals were radicalized and brought into the political landscape.
Episode 8
The Virus That Shook the World, Part 1
Mon, Apr 26, 2021115 mins
The epic story of how people around the world lived through the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, from lockdowns to funerals to protests. Filming across the globe and using extensive personal video and local footage, FRONTLINE documented how people and countries responded to COVID-19 across cultures, races, faiths and privilege.
Episode 9
The Virus That Shook the World, Part 2
Tue, Apr 27, 202155 mins
The epic story of how people around the world lived through the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, from lockdowns to funerals to protests. Filming across the globe and using extensive personal video and local footage, FRONTLINE documented how people and countries responded to COVID-19 across cultures, races, faiths and privilege.
Episode 10
Escaping Eritrea
Tue, May 4, 202153 mins
An unprecedented undercover investigation into one of the world's most repressive regimes - Eritrea. Exclusive secret footage and testimony sheds light on shocking allegations of torture, arbitrary detention and forced conscription.
Episode 11
Supreme Revenge: Battle for the Court
Tue, May 21, 201953 mins
With the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett days before the 2020 presidential election, conservatives solidified a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court - and the chance to shape American life and policy for a generation. Behind it all was a powerful Republican from Kentucky: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, for whom Barrett's confirmation was a crowning achievement in a hard-fought, decades-long effort to transform the nation's highest court. "Supreme Revenge: Battle for the Court" tells the inside story of that effort, and how it was sparked in part by a 30-year-old grievance. With McConnell elected to another six year term and President-elect Joe Biden preparing to take office in January, the film offers both a gripping political narrative and critical context on the state of America's judiciary at the dawning of the Biden administration.
Episode 11
The Healthcare Divide
Tue, May 18, 2021
FRONTLINE and NPR investigate the growing inequities in American healthcare exposed by COVID-19. The Healthcare Divide examines how the pressure to increase profits, structural racism and uneven government support is widening the divide between rich and poor hospitals in the U.S., endangering care for low-income populations.
Episode 12
The Jihadist
Tue, Jun 1, 2021
Over most of two decades, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani's life has been a road-map of Islamist militancy in Iraq and Syria. Designated a terrorist by the United States, the powerful Syrian militant now seeks a new relationship with the West. In his first interview with an American journalist, the former Al Qaeda commander tells FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith his fight is with Syrian President Assad, not the U.S.
Episode 13
Germany's Neo-Nazis & the Far Right
Tue, Jun 29, 202153 mins
FRONTLINE investigates the re-emergence and rise of far-right extremism and violence in Germany. The documentary traces how extremists have carried out terror plots and attacks on Jews and migrants, infiltrated the security services, and what authorities are doing to confront the growing problem.
Episode 14
The Power of the Fed
Tue, Jul 13, 2021
FRONTLINE investigates how the central bank's actions have played out over the years on Wall Street versus Main Street - in a gripping new documentary. This film traces how an experiment the Fed began after the 2008 crash has been dramatically changing the American economy - exploring criticisms that, while well-intentioned, the Fed's efforts have contributed to wealth inequality, helped today's financial world grow far removed from the real-world economy, and prompted fears of growing inflation and an impending crash.
Episode 15
Leaving Afghanistan / India's Rape Scandal
Tue, Jul 20, 2021
FRONTLINE investigates the consequences of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan. With exclusive access to a militant wing of the Taliban, correspondent Najibullah Quraishi tells the story of Iran's growing influence across Afghanistan. Also, FRONTLINE correspondent Ramita Navai investigates a wave of shocking rape cases in India - some of them drawing in politicians from the country's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party - and allegations of cover-ups, despite the fact that the government has vowed zero tolerance.
Episode 16
In the Shadow of 9/11
Tue, Aug 10, 2021111 mins
This film tells the story of how seven men in Miami were indicted for the biggest alleged Al Qaeda plot since 9/11. From the director of Leaving Neverland, this is the bizarre story of an FBI sting that led to a terror prosecution, though the men had no weapons or connection to Al Qaeda.
Episode 17
America After 9/11
Tue, Sep 7, 2021112 mins
From veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker and chronicler of U.S. politics, Michael Kirk and his team, this documentary traces the U.S. response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the devastating consequences that unfolded across four presidencies. Drawing on both new interviews and those from the dozens of documentaries Kirk and his award-winning team made in the years after 9/11, this two-hour special offers an epic re-examination of the decisions that changed the world and transformed America. From the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to the January 6 insurrection, America After 9/11 exposes the legacy of September 11 - and the ongoing challenge it poses for the president and the country.
Episode 18
Boeing's Fatal Flaw
Tue, Sep 14, 202152 mins
In an investigation with The New York Times, FRONTLINE examines the commercial pressures, flawed design and failed oversight behind Boeing's 737 Max jet and the crashes that killed 346 people. Caught short by its rival's gains, Boeing raced to update its workhorse jet rather than design a new one. Workers describe a hectic project but say they hadn't felt safety was compromised. But as it turned out certain aspects were overlooked like the MCAS system. This system that doomed two flights was expected to engage only rarely and originally used two sensors. Critical decisions were based on those factors, even when they no longer applied, employees said. Additionally, A Times investigation found that the F.A.A. regulatory process, which gave Boeing significant oversight authority, compromised the safety of the plane since the government has been handing over more responsibility to manufacturers for years with a new law which made it harder for regulators to review Boeing's work.
Episode 19
Growing Up Poor in America
Tue, Sep 8, 2020
Children and their families navigate poverty, homelessness, race, and new challenges brought on by COVID-19 in Ohio.
Episode 19
Taliban Takeover
Tue, Oct 12, 2021
As the Taliban take over Afghanistan, the threat of terrorist groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda have intensified since these groups can now again find a safe base to operate from and conduct attacks around the world. On the ground, reporter Najibullah Quraishi investigates uncertainty and fear among the Afghan people and revisits the lead-up to the U.S. defeat in Afghanistan and the Taliban's return.
Episode 20
Policing the Police 2020
Tue, Sep 15, 2020
Writer Jelani Cobb looks at race, policing and the prospects for reform in the aftermath of George Floyd's death.
Episode 20
Pandora Papers / Massacre in El Salvador
Tue, Nov 9, 2021
A massive leak of financial documents reveals hidden assets and deals of the world's wealthy and powerful. In collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, FRONTLINE, in Pandora Papers, examines secret finance overseas and in the U.S. that has enabled the wealthy to hide their assets from the government. Massacre in El Salvador examines the horrors of what happened when U.S.-trained and -equipped Salvadoran soldiers killed some 1,000 civilians, many of them children. FRONTLINE, Retro Report and ProPublica's investigation follows the ongoing fight for justice for the horrific 1981 attack on the village of El Mozote and surrounding areas, and how today the case against high-ranking military officials is faltering under Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
Episode 21
The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden
Tue, Sep 22, 2020114 mins
In the midst of the historic coronavirus pandemic, economic hardship, rising unemployment, race riots and growing insecurity, U.S. citizens were called upon to choose between incumbent President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden in November 2020. After four years in office, the Americans had again a choice of who should lead the nation in the future. But who are the two candidates? How was their life proceeding? How were they influenced and what distinguishes them? In this 2-hour TV special, veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk and his team use interwoven investigative biographies of both men to answer these questions with knowledge from friends, family, colleagues and adversaries about the challenges that affected Trump and Biden's lives and how it qualifies them to face up the crisis of the nation.
Episode 21
Shots Fired
Tue, Nov 23, 2021
Amid record police shootings in Utah, this film investigates the use of deadly force by various police departments in the state. With local journalism partner The Salt Lake Tribune, FRONTLINE examines police training, tactics and accountability, as well as racial disparities in the way force is used by the police in the state of Utah.
Episode 22
America's Medical Supply Crisis
Tue, Oct 6, 202053 mins
The U.S. was left scrambling for critical medical equipment as COVID-19 swept the country. FRONTLINE investigates the fragmented global medical supply chain and its deadly consequences during a crisis.
Episode 23
Whose Vote Counts
Tue, Oct 20, 202053 mins
In this documentary with Columbia Journalism Investigations and USA Today, New Yorker writer Jelani Cobb reports on allegations of voter disenfranchisement, how unfounded claims of extensive voter fraud entered the political mainstream, rhetoric and realities around mail-in ballots, and how the pandemic could impact turnout. With director June Cross, the Fred W. Friendly Professor of Media and Society at Columbia, and producer Thomas Jennings, Cobb scrutinizes one of the first elections held during the pandemic - Wisconsin's April 2020 primary, which saw long lines, claims of disenfranchisement, an unprecedented number of absentee ballots and dueling legal battles between Republicans and Democrats. The film places the election within the context of America's history around voting rights and suppression, and discovers lessons for the country as a whole as the November presidential contest approaches.
Episode 24
American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil
Tue, Nov 17, 202053 mins
Filmed across the country this past year by a production team headed by Mike Shum and Blair Woodbury, "American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil" captures the diverse perspectives of a number of people - a pastor, a barber, a doctor, an activist and more - as they deal with COVID-19 in their communities, respond to George Floyd's killing, and experience the 2020 election and its aftermath as COVID cases and deaths mount once again.
Episode 25
Return from ISIS
Tue, Dec 15, 2020
This is the story of an American mother and her kids which follows them from Indiana to Raqqa, the heart of the self-declared ISIS caliphate and back. A special report three years in the making, producer Josh Baker investigates how the family ended up in Syria and what happened when they came home to the United States of America.
