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The Best Episodes of Frontline

Every episode of Frontline ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Frontline!

The Best Episodes of Frontline

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...
  1. Background image for Al Qaeda's New Front
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #1 - Al Qaeda's New Front

    S23:E7

    Al-Qaeda's New Front is PBS documentary on Islamic terrorist network in Europe and its relationship to Islam and Al-Qaeda.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for A Thousand Cuts
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #2 - A Thousand Cuts

    S40:E1

    With press freedom under threat in the Philippines, we go inside the escalating war between the press and the government. The documentary follows Maria Ressa, a renowned journalist who has become a top target of President Duterte's crackdown on the news media.

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  3. Background image for Harvest of Fear
    9.2/10(19 votes)

    #3 - Harvest of Fear

    S19:E14

    No description available

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for The Triumph of Evil
    8.9/10(20 votes)

    #4 - The Triumph of Evil

    S17:E10

    No description available

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for The Man Who Knew
    8.9/10(18 votes)

    #5 - The Man Who Knew

    S21:E3

    When the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001, among the thousands killed was the one man who may have known more about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda than any other person in America: John O'Neill.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for Israel's Next War?
    8.9/10(21 votes)

    #6 - Israel's Next War?

    S23:E11

    A shocking documentary about the growing number of Jewish extremists in Israel.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
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  8. Background image for The Real Stuff
    8.8/10(8 votes)

    #7 - The Real Stuff

    S5:E1

    One year after the Challenger disaster, Frontline examined the all-too-human side of the space program as seen through the eyes of the astronauts and engineers responsible for making it work. Correspondent James Reston tells the inside story of a program plagued by problems and politics.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  9. Background image for Tabloid Truth: the Michael Jackson Story
    8.8/10(49 votes)

    #8 - Tabloid Truth: the Michael Jackson Story

    S12:E10

    No description available

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for Blackout
    8.8/10(9 votes)

    #9 - Blackout

    S19:E16

    No description available

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for Country Boys: Part 2
    8.8/10(23 votes)

    #10 - Country Boys: Part 2

    S24:E6

    David Sutherland, acclaimed producer of The Farmer’s Wife, returns to rural America with Country Boys, an epic tale of two boys coming of age in eastern Kentucky’s Appalachian hills. Viewers meet Cody Perkins and Chris Johnson, classmates at an alternative high school who inhabit the same world yet are light years apart. Through intimate cinematography and extraordinary sound design that puts the viewer inside the skin of the story’s colorful and memorable characters, Country Boys traverses the emotional terrain of two boys who are about to become men, documenting their struggles to overcome hardship and poverty and find meaning in their lives.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for Country Boys: Part 3
    8.8/10(54 votes)

    #11 - Country Boys: Part 3

    S24:E7

    David Sutherland, acclaimed producer of The Farmer’s Wife, returns to rural America with Country Boys, an epic tale of two boys coming of age in eastern Kentucky’s Appalachian hills. Viewers meet Cody Perkins and Chris Johnson, classmates at an alternative high school who inhabit the same world yet are light years apart. Through intimate cinematography and extraordinary sound design that puts the viewer inside the skin of the story’s colorful and memorable characters, Country Boys traverses the emotional terrain of two boys who are about to become men, documenting their struggles to overcome hardship and poverty and find meaning in their lives.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for Busted: America's War on Marijuana
    8.7/10(188 votes)

    #12 - Busted: America's War on Marijuana

    S16:E12

    No description available

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for In Search of Al Qaeda
    8.7/10(10 votes)

    #13 - In Search of Al Qaeda

    S21:E7

    In December 2001, as American forces blasted mountain hideouts in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan, hundreds of Al Qaeda soldiers fled seemingly disappearing into thin air. In this 2002 documentary, FRONTLINE investigates what happened to the fighters who survived.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? (Updated)
    8.7/10(25 votes)

    #14 - Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? (Updated)

    S22:E5

    No description available

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  16. Background image for From China With Love
    8.7/10(252 votes)

    #15 - From China With Love

    S22:E6

    No description available

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for Law & Disorder
    8.7/10(25 votes)

    #16 - Law & Disorder

    S28:E11

    Behind the enduring images of heroic rescues undertaken by the New Orleans Police Department in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there is another story of law enforcement in crisis, even out of control. Law & Disorder a year-long, ongoing collaboration among FRONTLINE, ProPublica and the New Orleans Times-Picayune, investigates charges that NOPD officers inappropriately used lethal force against New Orleans citizens and then tried to cover up their actions. Airing days before the fifth anniversary of one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history and drawing from reports published in a real-time online investigation, FRONTLINE takes a fresh look at how the NOPD performed when the rules of civilized society collapsed.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for WikiSecrets
    8.7/10(8 votes)

    #17 - WikiSecrets

    S29:E15

    The inside story of Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange (WikiLeaks) and the largest intelligence breach in U.S. history.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  19. Background image for United States of Secrets (1)
    8.7/10(286 votes)

    #18 - United States of Secrets (1)

    S32:E9

    The history of the National Security Agency's unprecedented surveillance program is investigated.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for Plastic Wars
    8.7/10(122 votes)

    #19 - Plastic Wars

    S38:E15

    With the plastic industry expanding like never before, and the crisis of ocean pollution growing, FRONTLINE and NPR investigate the fight over the future of plastics.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela
    8.6/10(9 votes)

    #20 - The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela

    S17:E16

    An intimate portrait of one of the 20th century's greatest leaders.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for The War Behind Closed Doors
    8.6/10(12 votes)

    #21 - The War Behind Closed Doors

    S21:E13

    No description available

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  23. Background image for The Pot Republic / Doctor Hotspot / The Atomic Artists
    8.6/10(7 votes)

    #22 - The Pot Republic / Doctor Hotspot / The Atomic Artists

    S29:E17

    The Pot Republic: FRONTLINE and The Center for Investigative Reporting team up to investigate California's marijuana market. Doctor Hotspot: Dr. Jeffrey Brenner and his team are pioneering a practice called “hotspotting,” in which medical care is focused on the hardest-to-treat to improve their health and dramatically reduce costs. The Atomic Artists: FRONTLINE with PRI’s The World meet Chim?Pom, a provocative group of young artists using art to challenge the status quo and ask Japan to rethink their way of life.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  24. Background image for Children of Syria
    8.6/10(32 votes)

    #23 - Children of Syria

    S34:E6

    The story of one Syrian family struggling amid war, from the siege of their city, to the kidnapping of their father, to the shock of becoming refugees.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  25. Background image for A Class Divided
    8.5/10(203 votes)

    #24 - A Class Divided

    S3:E9

    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 30 years later.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  26. Background image for Memory of the Camps
    8.5/10(295 votes)

    #25 - Memory of the Camps

    S3:E18

    Forty years ago, Allied troops invaded Germany and liberated Nazi death camps. They found unspeakable horrors which still haunt the world's conscience. Frontline presents the world broadcast of a 1945 film made by British and American film crews who were with the troops liberating the camps. The film was directed in part by Alfred Hitchcock and is broadcast for the first time in its entirety on Frontline.

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    Director:Unknown

Best Episodes Summary

"Al Qaeda's New Front" is the best rated episode of "Frontline". It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/25/2005. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "A Thousand Cuts".