Frontline is a PBS documentary series that has consistently offered the best reporting on a huge range of topics for over 25 years. Since 1983, Frontline has produced more than 480 documentaries on everything from politics to religion to personal finance. I can enthusiastically say Frontline produces documentaries I like, though I will caution that their war coverage in recent years has been so grim that it’s often hard to watch.
Starting in 1995, Frontline took much of its programming online, producing in-depth websites as companion pieces to the televised documentaries. You can watch tons of Frontline programs in high-quality streaming video online — for free! (Go PBS.) Go check out the Frontline archives, or pick one of my favorites:
A Class Divided (1985)
One day in 1968, Jane Elliott, a teacher in a small, all-white Iowa town, divided her third-grade class into blue-eyed and brown-eyed groups and gave them a daring lesson in discrimination. This is the story of that lesson, its lasting impact on the children, and its enduring power thirty years later.
Read more about A Class Divided or just dive in and watch it.
HEAT (2008)
A global investigation into one of the greatest crises that mankind has ever faced — Can we roll back global warming?
Melting glaciers, rising sea levels, fires, floods and droughts. On the eve of a historic election, award-winning producer and correspondent Martin Smith investigates how the world’s largest corporations and governments are responding to Earth’s looming environmental disaster.
“I have reported on the Cold War, the breakup of the Soviet Union, the rise of Al Qaeda, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” says Smith. “But nothing matches climate change in scope and severity.”
Secret History of the Credit Card (2004)
In “Secret History of the Credit Card,” FRONTLINE and The New York Times join forces to investigate an industry few Americans fully understand. In this one-hour report, correspondent Lowell Bergman uncovers the techniques used by the industry to earn record profits and get consumers to take on more debt.
“The almost magical convenience of plastic money is critical to our famously compulsive consumer economy,” Bergman says. “With more than 641 million credit cards in circulation and accounting for an estimated $1.5 trillion of consumer spending, the U.S. economy has clearly gone plastic.”
Read more about Secret History of the Credit Card or watch it.
Do you have a favorite (or least favorite) Frontline program? Share it in the comments!
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I absolutely love Frontline! My favorite episodes/series were:
The Farmer’s Wife
The Way the Music Died
Cheney’s Law
The Man Who Knew
The New Asylums
And a bunch of others that I can’t recall…
posted by monica on 1-23-2009 at 10:56 am
I am also a Frontline fan. One of the senior editors is a friend of mine, and was nominated for an A.C.E. Eddie award for documentary editing for the episode “Bush’s War.”
Great series.
posted by bre on 1-23-2009 at 11:12 am
I’ve never forgotten the episode Merchants of Cool
posted by Ben on 1-23-2009 at 11:34 am
Lowell Bergman!! Sweet. I enjoy any Frontline, but the one that sticks out is the the one that explained how the WTC collapsed. All 9/11 truthers need to see that, and re-evaluate their opinions.
posted by Johnny Cat on 1-23-2009 at 11:49 am
I enjoy all the episodes of Frontline, I especially loved “The Farmers WIfe” I always wanted to know what eventually happend to Juantita.
“Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story”
“Country Boys”
“Inside The Teenagers Brain” this should be required viewing for all parents.
posted by mishelley on 1-23-2009 at 1:04 pm
Amen to the Merchants Of Cool.
posted by AaronGNP on 1-23-2009 at 1:04 pm
mishelley – the Lee Atwater one is AMAZING. I should have added that to my recommended list above!
posted by Chris Higgins on 1-23-2009 at 1:10 pm
I forget the name of it, but it’s a documentary on the invention of the computer and the history of the internet. It was pretty interesting, even if it was really, really, really long ( it took my middle school computer class a week or so to get through it all.)
Another one I liked (and can’t remember the darn name of) was a discovery channel study of the development of humans, specifically the psychological development of boys vs. girls.
posted by heather on 1-23-2009 at 2:16 pm
Yay- more global warming scare films. I’ll make sure to watch that as there hasn’t been enough of them. Pathetic.
posted by Hurricane on 1-23-2009 at 2:45 pm
Hurricane – you should actually watch the show before dismissing it as a “scare film.” Have you watched it?
posted by Chris Higgins on 1-23-2009 at 3:18 pm
I show either Medicating Kids or Inside the Teenage Brain to my Lifespan Development class each semester, along with Living Old. Living Old is probably the most depressing Frontline episode, but it opens up a lot of discussion.
posted by Allie on 1-23-2009 at 4:01 pm
The episode on Valerie Plame and the roll of journalism in the information age was timely and well done. A must-see in any journalism or media law class.
posted by Andrew on 1-25-2009 at 1:01 am