Frontline backdrop
Documentary•News

The Best Episodes of Frontline Season 26

Every episode of Frontline Season 26 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Frontline Season 26!

Binge this in 23h 26m•Peaking at 8.5/10

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

Airs on
PBS
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons45

All123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445

Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Frontline Season 26 Episode 5 - Growing Up Online
    8.5/10(119 votes)

    S26:E5

    What does it mean to be part of the first generation coming of age in the Internet era? This report received a 2009 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Informational Program.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  2. Frontline Season 26 Episode 6 - A Dangerous Business Revisited
    8.4/10(101 votes)

    S26:E6

    Five years ago, FRONTLINE and The New York Times joined forces to investigate death and dismemberment in one of America's most dangerous industries -- the iron pipe foundry business. One company stood out, the McWane Corporation. It had more health and safety violations than all of its competitors combined, and there were a number of environmental violations as well. In the five years since our original broadcast, federal prosecutors obtained indictments against and juries convicted the company in five cases in four states. Today McWane says it has made a dramatic turnaround and that worker safety and environmental protection are now high priorities. FRONTLINE revisits its original broadcast with correspondent Lowell Bergman who then reports on what has changed at McWane and whether the company has become a less dangerous business.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  3. Frontline Season 26 Episode 9 - Bush's War (2)
    8.1/10(217 votes)

    S26:E9

    The inside story of the war that will define a presidency -- a war that no one expected, and no one planned for.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  4. Frontline Season 26 Episode 7 - Rules of Engagement
    8.0/10(25 votes)

    S26:E7

    What happened that November day in Haditha, Iraq gets to the heart of the war U.S. troops are fighting. This report received a 2009 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Investigative Journalism - Long Form.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  5. Frontline Season 26 Episode 10 - Bad Voodoo's War
    8.0/10(44 votes)

    S26:E10

    FRONTLINE captures the realities of war through a "virtual embed" with a National Guard platoon serving in Iraq.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  6. Frontline Season 26 Episode 12 - Storm Over Everest
    8.0/10(37 votes)

    S26:E12

    As darkness fell on May 10, 1996, a fast moving storm of unimaginable ferocity trapped three climbing teams high on the slopes of Mount Everest. The climbers, exhausted from their summit climb, were soon lost in darkness, in a fierce blizzard, far from the safety of High Camp at 26,000 feet. World-renowned climber and filmmaker David Breashears, who aided the rescue efforts back in 1996, now returns to Everest to tell the fuller story of what really happened on that legendary climb. Through remarkably intimate interviews with the climbers and Sherpas many who have never spoken before on American television Breashears sheds new light on the worst climbing tragedy in Mount Everest s history.

    Director:David Breashears
    Writer:David Breashears

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 BEST Episodes of Frontline

    READ
  7. Frontline Season 26 Episode 14 - The Choice 2008
    8.0/10(24 votes)

    S26:E14

    This two-hour program examines the rich personal and political biographies of John McCain and Barack Obama and goes behind the headlines to discover how they arrived at this moment and what their very different candidacies say about America.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  8. Frontline Season 26 Episode 8 - Bush's War (1)
    7.9/10(78 votes)

    S26:E8

    On the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, FRONTLINE unfolds the full saga of the war in a two-part, definitive broadcast.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  9. Frontline Season 26 Episode 11 - Sick Around the World
    7.9/10(45 votes)

    S26:E11

    In the debate over health care, what might the U.S. learn from the successes and failures of five other capitalist democracies?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  10. Frontline Season 26 Episode 4 - The Medicated Child
    7.6/10(27 votes)

    S26:E4

    Millions of U.S. children are taking psychiatric drugs, most never tested on kids. Good medicine - or an uncontrolled experiment?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  11. Frontline Season 26 Episode 1 - Cheney's Law
    7.5/10(61 votes)

    S26:E1

    For three decades, Vice President Dick Cheney has waged a secretive, and often bitter battle to expand the power of the presidency. Now in a direct confrontation with Congress, as the administration asserts executive privilege to head off investigations into domestic wiretapping and the firing of U.S. attorneys, FRONTLINE meticulously traces the behind-closed-doors battle within the administration over the power of the presidency and the rule of law.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  12. Frontline Season 26 Episode 2 - Showdown With Iran
    7.5/10(56 votes)

    S26:E2

    As the U.S. and Iran compete for influence across the Middle East, FRONTLINE examines how U.S. efforts to install democracy in Iraq have served to strengthen Iran’s position as an emerging global power.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  13. Frontline Season 26 Episode 13 - Young & Restless in China
    7.5/10(32 votes)

    S26:E13

    A remarkably intimate look into the lives of nine young Chinese coming of age in a society changing as fast as any in history.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  14. Frontline Season 26 Episode 15 - Heat
    6.6/10(40 votes)

    S26:E15

    For years, big business -- from oil and coal companies to electric utilities to car manufacturers -- have resisted change to environmental policy and stifled the debate over climate change in America and around the globe. Now, facing rising pressure from governments, green groups and investors alike, big business is reshaping its approach to the environment. With the election looming, FRONTLINE producer Martin Smith investigates what some businesses are doing to fend off new regulations and how others are repositioning themselves to prosper in a radically changed world.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  15. Frontline Season 26 Episode 3 - On Our Watch
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S26:E3

    The world vowed “never again” after the genocide in Rwanda and the atrocities in Srebrenica, Bosnia. Then came Darfur. In On Our Watch, FRONTLINE asks why the United Nations and its members once again failed to stop the slaughter.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  16. Frontline Season 26 Episode 16 - The War Briefing
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S26:E16

    The next president of the United States will inherit some of the greatest foreign policy challenges in American history -- an overstretched military, frayed alliances, and wars on two fronts. FRONTLINE gives viewers a hard, inside look at the real policy choices the next president will face. The report features strategists and diplomats giving their best advice about how to correct past failures and how to shape a realistic foreign policy approach in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  17. Frontline Season 26 Episode 17 - Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S26:E17

    In the wake of yet another hard-fought and bitter presidential campaign, FRONTLINE presents a spirited and revealing biography of Lee Atwater, the charming, Machiavellian godfather of modern, take-no-prisoners Republican political campaigns. Through eye-opening interviews with Atwater's closest friends and adversaries, the film explores the life of the controversial political operative who mentored Karl Rove and George W. Bush, led the GOP to historic victories, and wrote the party's winning playbook. The story tracks Atwater's rise from his beginnings in South Carolina as a high school election kingmaker all the way to the White House and his subsequent battle with cancer and final search for forgiveness and redemption. To Democrats, Atwater was a political assassin who one Congresswoman dubbed "the most evil man in America," but to Republicans he remains a hero for his deep understanding of the American voter and his unapologetic vision of politics as warfare.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  18. Frontline Season 26 Episode 18 - The Hugo Chavez Show
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S26:E18

    FRONTLINE looks at Venezuela's controversial and outspoken president Hugo Chavez and the revolution he claims is turning his country into an anti-capitalist beacon for Latin America and the world. Through the lens of his unique weekly program "Al Presidente" and the eyes of the Venezuelans who know him well, FRONTLINE digs below the surface of his presidency and his personality to try to understand the mercurial leader.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

Season 26 Ratings Summary

"Growing Up Online" is the best rated episode of "Frontline" season 26. It scored 8.5/10 based on 119 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/22/2008. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "A Dangerous Business Revisited".