7.7/1018 votes#1 - The Anthrax Files
Season 30 Episode 1 - Aired 10/11/2011
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
7.3/1021 votes#2 - Lost in Detention
Season 30 Episode 2 - Aired 10/18/2011
Frontline investigates President Obama's enforcement strategies and immigrant detention - who is being detained and what is happening to these detainees.
Director: N/A
Writer: Rick Young
7.2/1021 votes#3 - Syria Undercover
Season 30 Episode 3 - Aired 11/8/2011
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.8/1054 votes#4 - A Perfect Terrorist
Season 30 Episode 4 - Aired 11/22/2011
Life of a Pakistani-American David Headley.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.2/1017 votes#5 - Opium Brides
Season 30 Episode 5 - Aired 1/3/2012
Frontline reports on the unexpected collateral damage of the counter-narcotics effort in Afghanistan.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.0/1034 votes#6 - Nuclear Aftershocks
Season 30 Episode 6 - Aired 1/17/2012
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.3/1076 votes#7 - The Interrupters
Season 30 Episode 7 - Aired 2/14/2012
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.1/1048 votes#8 - Inside Japan's Nuclear Meltdown
Season 30 Episode 8 - Aired 2/28/2012
An unprecedented account of the crisis inside the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.4/1038 votes#9 - Murdoch's Scandal
Season 30 Episode 9 - Aired 3/27/2012
Accounts of bribery, blackmail, and privacy invasions has prompted criminal investigations on both sides of the Atlantic.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.3/1039 votes#10 - The Real CSI
Season 30 Episode 10 - Aired 4/17/2012
How reliable is the science behind forensics? A Frontline investigation finds serious flaws in some of the best-known tools of forensic science.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.2/1021 votes#11 - Money, Power and Wall Street Parts I-IV
Season 30 Episode 11 - Aired 4/24/2012
Frontline tells the inside story of the global financial crisis. (four one-hour episodes, May 4 premier concluded).
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.8/109 votes#12 - Cell Tower Deaths / Six Billion Dollar Bet
Season 30 Episode 12 - Aired 5/22/2012
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: N/A
Writer: Travis Fox
6.9/1012 votes#13 - Al Qaeda in Yemen
Season 30 Episode 13 - Aired 5/29/2012
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.1/1018 votes#14 - Dollars and Dentists
Season 30 Episode 14 - Aired 6/26/2012
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.5/1016 votes#15 - Endgame: Aids in Black America
Season 30 Episode 15 - Aired 7/10/2012
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#16 - Fast Times at West Philly High / Middle School Moment
Season 30 Episode 16 - Aired 7/7/2012
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/1013 votes#17 - The Battle for Syria
Season 30 Episode 17 - Aired 9/18/2012
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.9/1015 votes#18 - Alaska Gold
Season 30 Episode 18 - Aired 7/24/2012
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#19 - Dropout Nation
Season 30 Episode 20 - Aired 9/25/2012
What does it take to save a student?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/1027 votes#20 - The Choice 2012
Season 30 Episode 21 - Aired 10/9/2012
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.1/1028 votes#21 - Climate of Doubt
Season 30 Episode 22 - Aired 10/23/2012
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.9/1013 votes#22 - Big Sky, Big Money
Season 30 Episode 23 - Aired 10/29/2012
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.3/1024 votes#23 - The Suicide Plan
Season 30 Episode 24 - Aired 11/13/2012
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#24 - Poor Kids
Season 30 Episode 26 - Aired 11/20/2012
Through the stories of three families told over the course of half a decade, FRONTLINE explores what poverty means to children in America.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
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!
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...
Genres:DocumentaryNewsTalk
Network:PBS
Season 30 Ratings Summary
"The Anthrax Files" is the best rated episode of "Frontline" season 30. It scored 7.7/10 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".