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Frontline

PBS Documentary 5.0/5 · 6 votes

What it is

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..

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The Crown Prince & the President

s2026e10 · 2026-07-01

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Episode guide

18 this season · 1634 total
s19e01 The Clinton Years 2001-01-17 03:00

The Clinton Years

s19e01 · 2001-01-17 · 03:00

ABC's Chris Bury reviews “The Clinton Years” in this film crafted from reports produced by ABC's “Nightline.” The documentary combines “Nightline” segments from that era with post-Clinton interviews with administration figures. Among them: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; former labor secretary Robert Reich; former sreasury secretary Robert Rubin; former press secretaries Dee Dee Myers, Mike McCurry and Joe Lockhart; and ex-advisors Dick Morris, James Carville, George Stephanopoulos and Paul Begala, who calls Clinton “the smartest guy I ever met.”

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s19e02 Juvenile Justice 2001-01-31 03:00

Juvenile Justice

s19e02 · 2001-01-31 · 03:00

Should youngsters charged with serious crimes be tried as adults? Four cases in Santa Clara County, Cal., are examined. In March 2000, California voters approved a referendum mandating adult trials for some offenses, and the four defendants profiled here are charged with crimes committed in late 1999. “Each case has a set of facts that makes it a difficult call,” according to correspondent Michel Martin, who interviews prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges, as well as people involved in the cases.

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s19e03 Saving Elian 2001-02-07 03:00

Saving Elian

s19e03 · 2001-02-07 · 03:00

“Saving Elian” reviews the passions and conflicts that surrounded the 6-year-old boy who became a symbol of South Florida's struggle with Cuban Communism. The hour traces the seven-month tug-of-war over Elian Gonzalez, which began on Thanksgiving Day 1999. But mostly it explores the character of Miami's Cuban community to see why the tugging was so tenacious. As for Elian himself, the report isn't really about him. Nor was the tug of war, the hour claims. “He became a pawn in a political game,” says businessman Carlos Saladrigas. “And in the end everything mattered but Elian.”

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s19e04 Hackers 2001-02-14 03:00

Hackers

s19e04 · 2001-02-14 · 03:00

A primer on Internet vulnerability explores how hackers can break into personal, corporate and government computers, and charts some of the damage they've caused. Producer Neil Docherty reviews notorious cases (including that of a Florida 16-year-old who broke into NASA's computer system); visits a hackers convention; and interviews Government Accounting Office technologist Keith Rhodes, who tested the computer systems of 26 government agencies. How successful was his team at breaking into them? “We were always successful,” Rhodes says.

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s19e05 The Merchants of Cool 2001-02-28 03:00

The Merchants of Cool

s19e05 · 2001-02-28 · 03:00

In “The Merchants of Cool,” media commentator Douglas Rushkoff explores why teenagers buy what they tell themselves to buy (with a nudge from media conglomerates). The problem: “cool” is hard to find, and once marketers do find and market something that's “cool,” it ceases to be so. Rushkoff follows “cool hunters” as they track teen tastes, and marketers as they try to camouflage their intentions. His case studies: MTV and “Dawson's Creek.” His conclusion: “It's a giant feedback loop. The media watches kids and then sells them an image of themselves.”

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s19e06 Organ Farm 2001-03-28 03:00

Organ Farm

s19e06 · 2001-03-28 · 03:00

A two-part survey of the prospects for animal-to-human organ and cell transplantation begins with an assessment of its pros and cons (and graphic footage of a human-to-human heart transplant). The upside of xenotransplantation (as it's called): “If it works,” says narrator Will Lyman, “it will take transplant surgery from a life-saving therapy for a lucky few and make it available to everyone.” Of course, it doesn't work yet. There are also the concerns of animal-rights activists, not to mention, says neurosurgeon Galen Henderson, the existence of “so many unknowns.” A two-part report on prospects for animal-to-human transplantation concludes by focusing on the possibility of transmissible genetic viruses in organs taken from pigs. It's the fear, says Hugh Auchincloss of the FDA: “that you create AIDS 2.” Another downside---the rejection of animal organs by recipients---is seen being addressed with the cloning of “transgenic” pigs at a Wisconsin facility. The upside is seen in three case studies of patients whose lives were saved by experimental procedures.

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s19e07 Medicating Kids 2001-04-11 02:00

Medicating Kids

s19e07 · 2001-04-11 · 02:00

The effectiveness and necessity of stimulant drugs that are prescribed for children with attention-deficit disorder are weighed. On one side: Patti Johnson of the Colorado Board of Education. “Too many children are being diagnosed and labeled, and too many children are on these drugs,” she says. But parents of three of the four Denver-area youngsters profiled would disagree. Says one father: “The bottom line is that after [the] medication, we saw the results.”

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s19e08 Harvest of Fear 2001-04-25 02:00

Harvest of Fear

s19e08 · 2001-04-25 · 02:00

No episode summary is available.

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s19e09 LAPD Blues 2001-05-16 02:00

LAPD Blues

s19e09 · 2001-05-16 · 02:00

Reporter Peter J. Boyer explores allegations of corruption in the Los Angeles police department. His story begins with a 1997 road-rage incident involving two officers (one white and one black), and involves gangsta rappers, an antigang unit in the city's tough Rampart section and a rogue unit member who accused some 70 officers of misdeeds. Many of the charges haven't held up, but the bottom line, Boyer says, is that the LAPD “is considered so corrupt and brutal that it requires supervision by the Federal Government.”

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s19e10 Blackout 2001-06-06 02:00

Blackout

s19e10 · 2001-06-06 · 02:00

Correspondent Lowell Bergman explores the utility-deregulation disaster that has hit California and examines whether or not the rest of the U.S. will be next. Bergman also visits Pennsylvania, where a different form of deregulation hasn't led to consumer pain---yet; Washington, D.C. (interviewees include Vice President Dick Cheney); and Houston, where new energy “trading” companies are thriving. The report is a collaboration with the New York Times.

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s19e11 Hunting Bin Laden 2001-09-14 02:00

Hunting Bin Laden

s19e11 · 2001-09-14 · 02:00

From 2001: “Hunting Bin Laden” updates an April 1999 “Frontline” investigation of the August 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, and examines, says reporter Lowell Bergman, “the reasons why [Osama] Bin Laden and company do what they do.” The hour also assesses the U.S. retaliation to the bombings. Produced in conjunction with The New York Times, this update also includes information on Bin Laden's alleged role in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, interviews with Times reporters Judith Miller and James Risen, and an interview with former CIA official Larry Johnson. Introduction by Bill Moyers.

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s19e12 Target America 2001-10-05 02:00

Target America

s19e12 · 2001-10-05 · 02:00

Terrorism by Islamic militants over the last 20 years---and how the U.S. government has dealt with it---is explored. Included: “Frontline” archival material and new interviews.

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s19e13 Looking for Answers 2001-10-10 02:00

Looking for Answers

s19e13 · 2001-10-10 · 02:00

A report on terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, explores the failures of U.S. intelligence, Americans' conceptions and misconceptions about the Islamic world and reasons for anti-U.S. feelings among some Muslims. Bill Moyers hosts; Lowell Bergman is the correspondent.

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s19e14 Dangerous Straits 2001-10-19 02:00

Dangerous Straits

s19e14 · 2001-10-19 · 02:00

No episode summary is available.

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s19e15 Trail of a Terrorist 2001-10-26 02:00

Trail of a Terrorist

s19e15 · 2001-10-26 · 02:00

In “Trail of a Terrorist,” CBC journalist Terence McKenna profiles Algerian Ahmed Rossam, who was arrested in December 1999 with explosives in his car trunk as he tried to enter the U.S. from Canada. His plan: a New Year's Day attack on Los Angeles Airport. The hour traces Ressam's activities in Montreal and Afghanistan in the five years prior to his arrest and includes dramatizations of Ressam's testimony in the 2001 trial of an accomplice. Ressam didn't testify at his own trial, which resulted in a conviction in April 2001.

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s19e16 Gunning for Saddam 2001-11-09 03:00

Gunning for Saddam

s19e16 · 2001-11-09 · 03:00

An October 2001 report explores the pros and cons of a military campaign in Iraq in the light of the anthrax scares and the Sept. 11 attacks.

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s19e17 Saudi Time Bomb? 2001-11-16 03:00

Saudi Time Bomb?

s19e17 · 2001-11-16 · 03:00

Examining what producer Martin Smith terms the U.S.'s “fragile alliance” with the Saudi government, which bankrolls “an intolerant, anti-Western brand of Islam.” The reason for the U.S. government's “blind eye,” Smith adds, is simple: “We depend on them for oil and arms purchases.” Included: visits to religious schools in Pakistan funded by Saudis. Interviewed: former secretary of state James Baker; former U.S. ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke; and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia's long-time ambassador to the U.S.

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s19e18 The Monster That Ate Hollywood 2001-11-23 03:00

The Monster That Ate Hollywood

s19e18 · 2001-11-23 · 03:00

Exploring the economics of the megacorporation-dominated movie industry. The hour contends it has led to mediocre movies. Interviewees include Michael Douglas, movie executive Peter Gruber and Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart.

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