7.7/10455 votesLoading...#1 - Controlling Britney Spears
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 9/24/2021
Britney Spears has said that her conservatorship had become “an oppressive and controlling tool against her.” This New York Times investigation reveals much of how it worked, including an intense surveillance apparatus that monitored every move she made.
Director: Samantha Stark
Writer: N/A
7.4/1089 votesLoading...#2 - Dominic Fike, At First
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 8/7/2020
The making of a pop star in 2020: A young musician is plucked from obscurity -- jail, actually -- and given a multi-million dollar record deal. Meet Dominic Fike as he prepares for his first international tour and makes his debut album.
Director: Alexandra Garcia
Writer: N/A
7.1/10105 votesLoading...#3 - The Teenager Who Hacked Twitter
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 11/20/2020
Elon Musk. Bill Gates. Kanye West. Joe Biden. Barack Obama. They and dozens of others were being hacked recently, and Twitter appeared powerless to stop it. Who had brought the tech giant to its knees? A 17-year-old kid in Tampa.
Director: John Pappas
Writer: N/A
6.8/107,041 votesLoading...#4 - Framing Britney Spears
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 2/5/2021
Her rise was a global phenomenon. Her downfall was a cruel national sport. People close to Britney Spears and lawyers tied to her conservatorship now reassess her career as she battles her father in court over who should control her life.
Director: Samantha Stark
Writer: N/A
6.7/1077 votesLoading...#5 - Hurricane of Fire
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 9/18/2020
Perhaps a fitting start to 2020, Australia rang in the New Year with much of the country engulfed in flames. A few people decided to confront the blaze. Watch them stand face to face with one of the most ferocious infernos in history.
Director: John Pappas
Writer: N/A
6.7/10232 votesLoading...#6 - Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 11/19/2021
In 2004, a culture war was brewing when the Super Bowl halftime show audience saw a white man expose a Black woman's breast for 9/16ths of a second. A national furor ensued. The woman was Janet Jackson, and her career was never the same.
Director: Jodi Gomes
Writer: N/A
6.4/1065 votesLoading...#7 - Sin Eater: The Crimes of Anthony Pellicano (2)
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 3/10/2023
In Part 2 of this two-part series on Hollywood’s dirtiest P.I. Anthony Pellicano is out of prison – and he’s talking. Previously unseen evidence raises questions about why so few Hollywood stars faced consequences when Pellicano was exposed.
Director: John Pappas
Writer: N/A
6.3/1069 votesLoading...#8 - Sin Eater: The Crimes of Anthony Pellicano (1)
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 3/10/2023
Part 1 of this two-part series on Hollywood’s dirtiest P.I. uses never-before-heard recordings to reveal the extraordinary methods Anthony Pellicano employed to hide the sins of celebrities and their lawyers when they thought no one was looking.
Director: John Pappas
Writer: N/A
6.3/1052 votesLoading...#9 - Lie to Fly
Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 8/23/2024
A pilot's promising career takes a dark turn when he's accused of attempting to down a plane after taking psychedelic mushrooms; the film delves into pilot mental health protocols and urgent calls for reform within the aviation industry.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.2/1086 votesLoading...#10 - They Get Brave
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 7/10/2020
As the coronavirus ravages more and more American cities, we look back to the place hit hardest: New York City. Doctors and nurses documented their lives, capturing awe‐inspiring resolve in the face of a breakdown in the health‐care system.
Director: Samantha Stark, Alexandra Garcia, John Pappas, Lora Moftah
Writer: N/A
6.2/10104 votesLoading...#11 - The Killing of Breonna Taylor
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 9/4/2020
A New York Times investigation examines what happened at 3003 Springfield Drive in Louisville, Kentucky, just after midnight on March 13, when police executed a warrant that resulted in the death of Breonna Taylor.
Director: Yoruba Richen
Writer: N/A
6.1/1026 votesLoading...#12 - Weight of the World
Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 11/22/2024
As GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic soar in popularity for weight loss, following three people on their own GLP-1 journeys and exploring how decades of diet culture and society's relentless pursuit of thinness paved the way for their rise.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.0/1072 votesLoading...#13 - Move Fast & Vape Things
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 9/17/2021
Two Stanford graduate students had an inspired idea and an idealistic mission: create an e-cigarette that would help millions of people stop smoking. How did the founders of Juul lose their way and end up accused of addicting a whole new generation?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
5.9/1075 votesLoading...#14 - The Legacy of J Dilla
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 4/7/2023
In his short lifetime, J Dilla was a musician, producer and visionary who profoundly influenced rap and hip-hop. Given how prolific he was in his 32 years, why didn’t his accolades come sooner?
Director: Christopher Frierson, Esther Dere
Writer: N/A
5.7/1061 votesLoading...#15 - To Live and Die in Alabama
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 12/3/2021
Three police officers died in a shootout at a drug house in Alabama. One man was sentenced to death for the shootings, even though he was never accused of even touching the murder weapon. This is the story of Nathaniel Woods.
Director: Matthew Kay
Writer: N/A
5.4/10292 votesLoading...#16 - Elon Musk's Crash Course
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 5/20/2022
Elon Musk, the world's richest person, has claimed since 2015 that, for Tesla, technology for self-driving cars is a "solved problem," and made outlandish claims about Autopilot capabilities. But a New York Times investigation reveals the quixotic nature of Musk's pursuit of self-driving technology, and the tragic results.
Director: Emma Schwartz
Writer: N/A
5.4/1042 votesLoading...#17 - How to Fix a Pageant
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 9/29/2023
Decades of waning cultural credibility and recent scandals have left the Miss USA pageant in chaos. This film explores allegations that rotted the core of an iconic institution and questions if it has outlived its relevance.
Director: Nicole Rittenmeyer
Writer: N/A
5.1/1037 votesLoading...#18 - Broken Horses
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 4/26/2024
Churchill Downs, the cathedral of horse racing, turned into a horse graveyard at last year's Kentucky Derby. This film explores the sport beneath the pageantry, where a quest for faster horses is causing alarming breakdowns.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
4.9/1064 votesLoading...#19 - Who Gets To Be an Influencer?
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 6/4/2021
The New York Times follows the rise of Collab Crib, the first mainstream Black "creator mansion," exclusively documenting their whirlwind drive to achieve social media stardom in 90 days. The intimate, character-based film captures the influencers wrestling with a nagging, and profound, challenge: how can they succeed in a nascent industry that seems tilted to their disadvantage?
Director: Lora Moftah
Writer: N/A
4.9/1079 votesLoading...#20 - Superspreader
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 8/19/2022
Are you hesitant to get a Covid vaccine? This doctor opposes them. If you agree, he has some pet supplies he wants to sell you. Meet Dr. Mercola, perhaps the most influential spreader of Covid vaccine misinformation online.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of The New York Times Presents
Every episode of The New York Times Presents ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The New York Times Presents!
A series of standalone documentaries powered by the unparalleled journalism and insight of The New York Times, bringing viewers close to the essential stories of...
Genre:Documentary
Best Episodes Summary
"Controlling Britney Spears" is the best rated episode of "The New York Times Presents". It scored 7.7/10 based on 455 votes. Directed by Samantha Stark and written by N/A, it aired on 9/24/2021. This episode scored 0.3 points higher than the second highest rated, "Dominic Fike, At First".