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The Best Episodes of Frontline Season 30

Every episode of Frontline Season 30 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Frontline Season 30!

Binge this in 6h 3m•Peaking at 8.4/10

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

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Frontline Season 30 Episode 1 - The Anthrax Files
    7.8/10(18 votes)

    #1 - The Anthrax Files

    S30:E1

    Frontline, with ProPublica and McClatchy Newspapers, takes a hard look at the FBI's investigation of the country's most notorious act of bioterrorism.

    Director:Michael Kirk
    Writer:Michael Kirk

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  2. Frontline Season 30 Episode 2 - Lost in Detention
    7.4/10(21 votes)

    #2 - Lost in Detention

    S30:E2

    Frontline investigates President Obama's enforcement strategies and immigrant detention - who is being detained and what is happening to these detainees.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Rick Young

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  3. Frontline Season 30 Episode 3 - Syria Undercover
    7.7/10(21 votes)

    #3 - Syria Undercover

    S30:E3

    Reporter Ramita Navai goes undercover for a rare look at the uprising from inside Syria. Plus a profile of the dictator who has managed to hold on longer than any amidst the Arab unrest—President Bashar al-Assad.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Frontline Season 30 Episode 4 - A Perfect Terrorist
    7.8/10(55 votes)

    #4 - A Perfect Terrorist

    S30:E4

    Life of a Pakistani-American David Headley.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Frontline Season 30 Episode 5 - Opium Brides
    7.2/10(17 votes)

    #5 - Opium Brides

    S30:E5

    Frontline reports on the unexpected collateral damage of the counter-narcotics effort in Afghanistan.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Frontline Season 30 Episode 6 - Nuclear Aftershocks
    8.0/10(35 votes)

    #6 - Nuclear Aftershocks

    S30:E6

    It’s been almost a year since a devastating earthquake and tsunami crippled Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, leaving the country’s once popular energy program in shambles. In response, Germany decided to abandon nuclear energy entirely. Should the U.S. follow suit? FRONTLINE correspondent Miles O’Brien examines the implications of the Fukushima accident for U.S. nuclear safety, and asks how this disaster will affect the future of nuclear energy around the world. In particular, he visits one emerging battleground: The controversial relicensing of the Indian Point nuclear plant, located only 38 miles from Manhattan. What lessons can be learned from the disaster in Japan?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Frontline Season 30 Episode 7 - The Interrupters
    8.3/10(80 votes)

    #7 - The Interrupters

    S30:E7

    The Interrupters presents unforgettable profiles in courage, as three former street criminals in Chicago place themselves in the line of fire to protect their communities. The two-hour film follows the lives of these “Violence Interrupters,” who include the charismatic daughter of one of the city’s most notorious former gang leaders, the son of a murdered father, and a man haunted by a killing he committed as a teenager. As they intervene in disputes to prevent violence, they reveal their own inspired journeys of struggle and redemption.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Frontline Season 30 Episode 8 - Inside Japan's Nuclear Meltdown
    8.2/10(51 votes)

    #8 - Inside Japan's Nuclear Meltdown

    S30:E8

    An unprecedented account of the crisis inside the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Frontline Season 30 Episode 9 - Murdoch's Scandal
    8.4/10(42 votes)

    #9 - Murdoch's Scandal

    S30:E9

    Accounts of bribery, blackmail, and privacy invasions has prompted criminal investigations on both sides of the Atlantic.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Frontline Season 30 Episode 10 - The Real CSI
    8.3/10(43 votes)

    #10 - The Real CSI

    S30:E10

    How reliable is the science behind forensics? A Frontline investigation finds serious flaws in some of the best-known tools of forensic science.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Frontline Season 30 Episode 11 - Money, Power and Wall Street Parts I-IV
    7.3/10(22 votes)

    #11 - Money, Power and Wall Street Parts I-IV

    S30:E11

    Frontline tells the inside story of the global financial crisis. (four one-hour episodes, May 4 premier concluded).

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Frontline Season 30 Episode 12 - Cell Tower Deaths / Six Billion Dollar Bet
    7.0/10(9 votes)

    #12 - Cell Tower Deaths / Six Billion Dollar Bet

    S30:E12

    Learn about the hidden cost of better and faster cell phone service, and about unreliable medical evidence in several child death cases. Six Billion Dollar Bet: Jon Corzine, former head of Goldman Sachs and political power broker, took over MF Global in the spring of 2010 and lost a massive bet on European debt, with more than a billion dollars of customer funds missing. FRONTLINE investigates how Corzine’s traders went around MF Global’s risk officers and how he swayed regulators in Washington to allow risky practices to continue.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Travis Fox

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  13. Frontline Season 30 Episode 13 - Al Qaeda in Yemen
    7.0/10(12 votes)

    #13 - Al Qaeda in Yemen

    S30:E13

    Frontline travels into the heart of Yemen's radical heartland, and shows how Al Queda is taking control of towns and cities in an attempt to establish its own state.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Frontline Season 30 Episode 14 - Dollars and Dentists
    7.4/10(19 votes)

    #14 - Dollars and Dentists

    S30:E14

    Dental care can be a matter of life and death. Yet millions of Americans cannot afford a visit to the dentist. An investigation by Frontline and the Center for Public Integrity reveals the shocking consequences of a broken safety net.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Frontline Season 30 Episode 15 - Endgame: Aids in Black America
    7.6/10(15 votes)

    #15 - Endgame: Aids in Black America

    S30:E15

    Nearly half of the one million people in the United States infected with HIV are black men, women and children. Trace the history of the AIDS epidemic through the experiences of individuals who tell their stories.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Frontline Season 30 Episode 16 - Fast Times at West Philly High / Middle School Moment
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - Fast Times at West Philly High / Middle School Moment

    S30:E16

    Fast Times at West Philly High: Students and teachers from West Philadelphia High School, a public high school serving one of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in Philadelphia, defy expectations as they design and build two super-hybrid cars for international competition and compete for the chance to be part of a technological revolution. Middle School Moment: New evidence that suggests the make-or-break moment for high school dropouts may actually occur in middle school. The film explores how one Bronx school is using a novel form of data collection and analysis to predict and prevent dropouts before they happen.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Frontline Season 30 Episode 17 - The Battle for Syria
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - The Battle for Syria

    S30:E17

    Frontline takes you inside the heart of the insurgency, where rebel groups are waging a full-scale assault on the forces of President Bashar al Assad.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Frontline Season 30 Episode 18 - Alaska Gold
    6.9/10(17 votes)

    #18 - Alaska Gold

    S30:E18

    Frontline probes the fault lines of a growing battle in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska, home to the world's last great wild sockeye salmon fishery-and enormous mineral deposits.[24]

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Frontline Season 30 Episode 20 - Dropout Nation
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - Dropout Nation

    S30:E20

    What does it take to save a student?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Frontline Season 30 Episode 21 - The Choice 2012
    7.9/10(27 votes)

    #20 - The Choice 2012

    S30:E21

    A journey into the places, people, and decisive moments that made the men who are competing for the presidency. Hundreds of hours of research and dozens of original interviews reveal new details and fresh insights about the two candidates — and our choice this November.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Frontline Season 30 Episode 22 - Climate of Doubt
    7.1/10(28 votes)

    #21 - Climate of Doubt

    S30:E22

    Four years ago, climate change was a hot issue and politicians from both sides seemed poised to act. Today public opinion on the climate issue has cooled considerably. Politicians either ignore it or proclaim their skepticism. What’s behind this massive reversal? FRONTLINE goes inside the organizations that fought the scientific establishment to shift the direction of the climate debate.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Frontline Season 30 Episode 23 - Big Sky, Big Money
    8.3/10(14 votes)

    #22 - Big Sky, Big Money

    S30:E23

    FRONTLINE travels to the remote epicenter of the campaign finance debate for a tale of money, politics, and intrigue. How has the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision changed campaigns in America? Ask Montana, which has tried to challenge the ruling in court, is investigating alleged campaign abuses and is playing host to a bitter race that could decide control of the U.S. Senate.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Frontline Season 30 Episode 24 - The Suicide Plan
    8.4/10(25 votes)

    #23 - The Suicide Plan

    S30:E24

    FRONTLINE explores the underground world of assisted suicide and takes viewers inside one of the most polarizing social issues of our time – told not only by the people choosing to die, but also by their "assisters," individuals and right-to-die organizations that put themselves in legal jeopardy by helping others to die.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Frontline Season 30 Episode 26 - Poor Kids
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #24 - Poor Kids

    S30:E26

    Through the stories of three families told over the course of half a decade, FRONTLINE explores what poverty means to children in America.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 30 Ratings Summary

"The Anthrax Files" is the best rated episode of "Frontline" season 30. It scored 7.8/10 based on 18 votes. Directed by Michael Kirk and written by Michael Kirk, it aired on 10/11/2011. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "Lost in Detention".