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Frontline Season 40 Episodes
Season 40 Episode Guide
16 Episodes 2022 - 2022
Episode 1
American Reckoning
Tue, Feb 15, 2022
American Reckoning is the latest component in FRONTLINE's ongoing "Un(re)solved" project - an unprecedented, multi-platform investigation of civil rights era cold case killings that includes a web interactive experience; podcast mini-series; augmented-reality installation that can tour schools, libraries, and museums; a companion educational curriculum; and events. This feature-length documentary draws on rarely seen footage filmed more than 50 years ago in Natchez, Mississippi, and follows the Jackson family's search for justice.
Episode 2
Putin's Road to War
Tue, Mar 15, 202253 mins
FRONTLINE tells the story of what led to Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine and examines the events that shaped the Russian leader, the grievances that drive him and how a growing conflict with the West exploded into war in Europe.
Episode 3
Pelosi's Power
Tue, Mar 22, 202284 mins
An examination of the powerful and polarizing Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, from veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker and chronicler of U.S. politics Michael Kirk and his team. Pelosi's Power traces Pelosi's life and legacy, how she has gained and wielded power across three decades, and how she has faced grave challenges to her leadership and to American democracy from Trump and his allies.
Episode 4
Plot to Overturn the Election
Tue, Mar 29, 2022
A year after President Joe Biden's inauguration, around two-thirds of Republican voters believe his election was illegitimate, and the idea that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump is now a defining issue of the Republican Party. Yet the story of how lies about election fraud made their way to the center of American politics has not been fully told. In a new investigative collaboration, FRONTLINE and ProPublica trace the hidden sources of misinformation about the 2020 election, demonstrating how a handful of people have had an out-sized impact on the current U.S. crisis of democratic legitimacy.
Episode 5
The Power of Big Oil - Part One: Denial
Tue, Apr 19, 2022193 mins
FRONTLINE does a deep dive into how oil companies like Exxon Mobil and Koch Industries knew about climate change and its potential consequences way back in the 1980s. And yet, to protect their business interests, they lied to the public, manipulated elected representatives, spent millions of dollars in negative advertisement campaigns to derail climate action, stopped research into alternative energy sources and energy storage technologies, funded climate change deniers/skeptics and destroyed the reputations of scientists trying to educate governments around the world regarding climate change. Their efforts continue to the present day.
Episode 6
The Power of Big Oil - Part Two: Doubt
Tue, Apr 26, 202254 mins
Part 2 takes off from where Part 1 ended starting with the Bush presidency. With a Texas oilman in the White House, oil companies like Exxon Mobil, Koch Industries etc. put a stop to any climate action for 8 years and weeded out several climate scientists working for the government. When the Obama presidency started and a renewed attempt at climate change legislation was made, the Koch bros. targeted Democrat and Republican senators to ensure that any such legislation doesn't pass. They then spread false information regarding climate change among the public and funded the election campaigns of lawmakers who thought climate change was a hoax. Their efforts succeeded in removing several lawmakers who were for climate change regulation from the U.S. congress which has stopped any meaningful climate change legislation from passing till date.
Episode 7
The Power of Big Oil - Part Three: Delay
Tue, May 3, 202254 mins
Part 3 of this series describes how the oil and gas companies delayed the adoption of clean and renewable energy technologies once it became clear to the American public and the U.S. government that climate change is real and was the result of human activities driven by fossil fuels. Oil companies, with the help of environmentalists, presented natural gas as a clean alternative to coal and developed fracking to extract it from the vast shale rock reserves in the U.S. However, widespread leakage of methane in natural gas from these fracking sites turbocharged global warming since methane traps orders of magnitude more heat than CO2. Instead of working to eliminate methane leakages, oil and gas companies didn't install methane leakage measuring devices, influenced successive U.S. administrations to push natural gas as a clean energy alternative, opposed any regulatory measures and ran a PR campaign to malign renewable energy sources like wind and solar. With the election of Trump, development of renewable energy sources was officially stopped, the U.S. was pulled out off the Paris climate agreement and several climate regulations were repealed including those for methane leakages.
Episode 8
Police on Trial
Tue, May 31, 202290 mins
FRONTLINE and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters from local journalism partner Star Tribune examine one of the most pivotal events in the history of race and policing in America in the documentary Police on Trial which draws on unique on-the-ground reporting and filming, from the earliest days after George Floyd's death, to documenting the trial and murder conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin, to ongoing struggles for police accountability and reform in Minneapolis.
Episode 9
Facing Eviction
Tue, Jul 26, 202254 mins
Examines the situations of the many people evictions after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Episode 9
Trump's Power & The Rule of Law
Tue, Jul 15, 202582 mins
FRONTLINE goes inside the high-stakes showdown between President Donald Trump and the courts over presidential power. Allies, opponents and experts talk about how he is testing the extent of his power, and the impact on the rule of law.
Episode 10
Ukraine, Life Under Russia's Attack
Tue, Aug 2, 202254 mins
In February 2022, Russia launched a military assault on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, and the Ukrainians refused to surrender. Filmed during the first three months of the unprovoked invasion, Ukraine: Life Under Russia's Attack provides a powerful inside portrait of the civilians and first responders who chose not to evacuate but to remain and defend the city, refusing to hand their country over to Vladimir Putin and taking a stand for democracy in the process. Commissioned by FRONTLINE (PBS) with Channel 4.
Episode 10
Ukraine, Life Under Russia's Attack
Tue, Aug 2, 202254 mins
In February 2022, Russia launched a military assault on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, and the Ukrainians refused to surrender. Filmed during the first three months of the unprovoked invasion, Ukraine: Life Under Russia's Attack provides a powerful inside portrait of the civilians and first responders who chose not to evacuate but to remain and defend the city, refusing to hand their country over to Vladimir Putin and taking a stand for democracy in the process. Commissioned by FRONTLINE (PBS) with Channel 4.
Episode 11
Afghanistan Undercover
Tue, Aug 9, 202254 mins
An undercover investigation into the Taliban's crackdown on women in Afghanistan.
Episode 12
Lies, Politics and Democracy
Tue, Sep 6, 2022
Investigates American political leaders and choices they've made that have undermined and threatened democracy in the U.S. In a two-hour documentary special premiering ahead of the 2022 midterms, this feature-length episode of Frontline examines how officials fed the public lies about the 2020 presidential election and embraced rhetoric that led to political violence.
Episode 13
Michael Flynn's Holy War
Tue, Oct 18, 2022
How did Michael Flynn go from being an elite soldier overseas to waging a "spiritual war" in America?
Episode 14
Putin's Attack on Ukraine: Documenting War Crimes
Tue, Oct 25, 202283 mins
With the help of harrowing testimonies from residents of the suburbs of Kiev, prosecutors and international experts, we follow the painstaking work of gathering evidence of the war crimes committed in Russia's war against Ukraine. In Butja, one of the hardest-hit suburbs, surveillance footage shows a direct link between the abuses and one of Russia's top generals.
Episode 15
Putin's War at Home
Tue, Nov 1, 202254 mins
Facing arrest and imprisonment, activists and journalists push back against Vladimir Putin's crackdown on critics of the war in Ukraine.
Episode 15
Putin's War at Home
Tue, Nov 1, 202254 mins
Facing arrest and imprisonment, activists and journalists push back against Vladimir Putin's crackdown on critics of the war in Ukraine.
Episode 16
Crime Scene: Bucha/After Zero Tolerance
Tue, Dec 6, 2022
Crime Scene: Bucha - FRONTLINE, The Associated Press and SITU Research team up to present an exclusive visual investigation of the atrocities committed in the Ukrainian town of Bucha during Russia's month-long occupation earlier this year. Drawing on hundreds of hours of CCTV footage, intercepted phone calls and a 3D model of Bucha, the collaborative investigation maps the scope of the carnage - more than 450 deaths in all - and with forensic detail charts how Russian soldiers ran "cleansing" operations; After Zero Tolerance - FRONTLINE tells the story of a Honduran family's struggle to reunite after being separated at the U.S.-Mexico border three years earlier under the Trump administration's immigration policies.
Episode 16
Crime Scene: Bucha/After Zero Tolerance
Tue, Dec 6, 2022
Crime Scene: Bucha - FRONTLINE, The Associated Press and SITU Research team up to present an exclusive visual investigation of the atrocities committed in the Ukrainian town of Bucha during Russia's month-long occupation earlier this year. Drawing on hundreds of hours of CCTV footage, intercepted phone calls and a 3D model of Bucha, the collaborative investigation maps the scope of the carnage - more than 450 deaths in all - and with forensic detail charts how Russian soldiers ran "cleansing" operations; After Zero Tolerance - FRONTLINE tells the story of a Honduran family's struggle to reunite after being separated at the U.S.-Mexico border three years earlier under the Trump administration's immigration policies.
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
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
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
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.