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The Best Episodes of Wide Angle

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

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Wide Angle was an American documentary television series produced by Thirteen/WNET New York for broadcast on PBS and for worldwide distribution. The weekly one-hour series covered international current affairs and was last hosted by veteran

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Wide Angle Season 2 Episode 5 - Coca and the Congressman
    9.4/10(10 votes)

    #1 - Coca and the Congressman

    S2:E5

    The Prime Minister and the Press examines Silvio Berlusconi's rise to prominence, and explores what happens to public debate when extreme wealth and political power converge with media dominance.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Wide Angle Season 8 Episode 8 - Time for School 3 (Part 2)
    8.8/10(6 votes)

    #2 - Time for School 3 (Part 2)

    S8:E8

    The Season 8 finale features the conclusion of "Time for School 3," about the opportunities for basic education around the world, including in Afghanistan, Benin, Brazil, India, Japan, Kenya and Romania.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Wide Angle Season 5 Episode 1 - 18 with a Bullet
    8.7/10(21 votes)

    #3 - 18 with a Bullet

    S5:E1

    With unprecedented access to the lives of these self-proclaimed “homeboys,” "18 with a Bullet" uncovers the inner workings of a gang whose transnational membership numbers in the tens of thousands and which has captured the attention of U.S. law enforcement.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Wide Angle Season 3 Episode 7 - Hell of a Nation
    8.5/10(11 votes)

    #4 - Hell of a Nation

    S3:E7

    What could be more dangerous than trying to bring law and order to Colombia? "An Honest Citizen" follows Maria Cristina Chirolla, head of the attorney general's anti-money laundering office, as she struggles to fight the extraordinary reach of drug money in Colombia.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Wide Angle Season 4 Episode 1 - White Smoke
    8.5/10(8 votes)

    #5 - White Smoke

    S4:E1

    This episode of WIDE ANGLE chronicles the life of the Vatican in the days between the announcement of Pope John Paul II's death and the election of the new pope by a conclave, the group of more than 100 cardinals who gather in Rome's Sistine Chapel for this historic vote.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Wide Angle Season 8 Episode 1 - Crossing Heaven's Border
    8.0/10(6 votes)

    #6 - Crossing Heaven's Border

    S8:E1

    North Korean defectors take a life-threatening journey, traveling thousands of miles through China, Laos and Thailand, in the hope of settling as free citizens in South Korea. Intrepid South Korean journalists risk their own lives to capture the action and emotion.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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    7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 WORST Episodes of Wide Angle

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  7. Wide Angle Season 1 Episode 3 - Greetings from Grozny
    6.6/10(8 votes)

    #7 - Greetings from Grozny

    S1:E3

    The ruined cityscape of Grozny, Chechnya and the scarred roads and fields of the countryside bear witness to a conflict that has been marked both by brutal occupation and terrorist resistance. This film is a journey that leads the viewer behind the lines on both sides, and into the hearts of civilians and soldiers alike.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Wide Angle Season 1 Episode 1 - Saddam's Ultimate Solution
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - Saddam's Ultimate Solution

    S1:E1

    One of the world's least-known societies, Iraqi Kurdistan, is under ongoing genocidal attack by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. British filmmaker Gwynne Roberts shot inside Iraqi Kurdistan for five years to prepare this unique report on a group who may play a crucial role, equivalent to that of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, in any military attempt to overthrow Saddam's bloody regime.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Wide Angle Season 1 Episode 2 - To Have and Have Not
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #9 - To Have and Have Not

    S1:E2

    Once the home of the "iron ricebowl" and social equality for all, today China has joined the ranks of the World Trade Organization. This extraordinarily candid film introduces viewers to the unemployed, the working poor and the nouveaux riches alike.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Wide Angle Season 1 Episode 4 - Land of the Wandering Souls
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - Land of the Wandering Souls

    S1:E4

    "Land of Wandering Souls" follows a group of workers who are laying a high-tech fiber optic cable that will link Cambodia to the rest of Asia and Europe. This film provides a haunting glimpse into the lives of these indigent workers as they encounter the painful remnants of the past and labor to bring Cambodia into the modern age.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Wide Angle Season 1 Episode 5 - The Empty ATM
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - The Empty ATM

    S1:E5

    In December 2001, the Argentinian government defaulted on $155 billion in public debt. Since then, this once-wealthy country has gone through five presidents and watched its currency fall by more than 70 percent. How do people survive in a broken economy?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Wide Angle Season 1 Episode 6 - Bitter Harvest
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - Bitter Harvest

    S1:E6

    With the departure of the Taliban, the current opium crop in Afghanistan is among the largest ever. How will the world's drug control authorities deal with this fact of Central Asian life? And how will the United States resolve a dilemma that pits the war on terror against the war on drugs?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Wide Angle Season 1 Episode 7 - Growing Up Global
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #13 - Growing Up Global

    S1:E7

    Ten years ago, filmmaker Bruno Sorrentino began recording the lives of eight newborn babies from around the world. In 1992, world leaders met in Brazil for the Earth Summit on sustainable development. There they made plans and promises to conquer the global problems of overpopulation, over-consumption and poverty. In the ten years since, Sorrentino has revisited the children repeatedly and recorded how their lives have been affected by the issues discussed at Rio.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Wide Angle Season 1 Episode 8 - Cause for Murder
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - Cause for Murder

    S1:E8

    The election of President Vicente Fox in 2000 ended more than 70 years of single-party rule. This film examines the hopes that a new dawn has come in Mexico's history, and the fear that graft and corruption are immovable.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Wide Angle Season 1 Episode 9 - Media by Milosevic
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - Media by Milosevic

    S1:E9

    This investigative report will take the viewer inside the realm, and inside the mind, of one of the most effective and brutal tyrants of the past 50 years.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Wide Angle Season 1 Episode 10 - Soul of India
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - Soul of India

    S1:E10

    The bloody conflict between Hindus and Muslims in northwestern India is at the forefront of a struggle for India's identity. The film focuses in part on the efforts of India's supercop, K.P.S. Gill, a Sikh, sent by the federal government to quell the violence in Gujarat and on Harish Bhatt, a leader of the Bajrang Dal or Monkey Brigade, India's largest Hindu youth movement.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Wide Angle Season 2 Episode 1 - Exclusive to al-Jazeera
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Exclusive to al-Jazeera

    S2:E1

    WIDE ANGLE goes behind the scenes of Al-Jazeera's broadcast headquarters in the Arabian Gulf state of Qatar during its nonstop coverage of the war in Iraq. Watched by millions of people in the Arab world, the first Arabic all-news network had continuous access to events in Iraq.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Wide Angle Season 2 Episode 2 - Junoon: The Rock Star and the Mullahs
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - Junoon: The Rock Star and the Mullahs

    S2:E2

    WIDE ANGLE follows Salman Ahmed as he journeys to the tolerant, ancient city of Lahore and the fundamentalist stronghold of Peshawar to reveal the internal religious and political conflicts of nuclear-armed Pakistan.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Wide Angle Season 2 Episode 3 - AIDS Warriors
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - AIDS Warriors

    S2:E3

    WIDE ANGLE explores the role of the Angolan military, the only functioning arm of the state, in its bold attempt to combat the AIDS pandemic. The challenges it faces offer an arresting portrait of a nation at a crucial moment in history.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Wide Angle Season 2 Episode 4 - To Have and Have Not (Update)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - To Have and Have Not (Update)

    S2:E4

    WIDE ANGLE travels with Evo Morales to the stunning highlands of Bolivia as he fights to expand the amount of coca that can be legally grown by farmers. The pitfalls of a drug-based economy -- and the difficulty of finding suitable replacement crops to support peasant families -- are all part of the story.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Wide Angle Season 2 Episode 6 - The Prime Minister and the Press
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #21 - The Prime Minister and the Press

    S2:E6

    The film reveals the stark contrasts among the lives of South Africans almost ten years after the demise of apartheid. The clock is still clearly ticking to do even more to improve life for the black majority -- or face the consequences.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Wide Angle Season 2 Episode 7 - Road to Riches
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - Road to Riches

    S2:E7

    “Time for School” follows first graders in places around the world where free and compulsary education is not available to all children. Countries visited include Kenya, Benin, Brazil, Romania and India.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Wide Angle Season 2 Episode 8 - Time for School
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #23 - Time for School

    S2:E8

    This documentary tells the story of two teenage girls and their families as the girls prepare to participate in North Korea's Mass Games, an intricately choreographed display celebrating North Korea's statehood and revolutionary zeal in one of the last surviving Communist showcase pageants.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Wide Angle Season 2 Episode 9 - A State of Mind
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #24 - A State of Mind

    S2:E9

    "The Dammed" raises important questions about the costs and consequences of modernization and development, as the global community re-evaluates the social and environmental impacts of large dam projects.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Wide Angle Season 2 Episode 10 - The Dammed
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #25 - The Dammed

    S2:E10

    This two-hour WIDE ANGLE special explores the current worldwide boom in illicit migration. Focusing on five major stories whose journeys traverse 16 countries, this documentary will look into the circumstances that drove these migrants from their homes, describe the difficulties involved in their epic journeys and reveal what awaits them in their new world.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Best Episodes Summary

"Coca and the Congressman" is the best rated episode of "Wide Angle". It scored 9.4/10 based on 10 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 8/7/2003. This episode scored 0.6 points higher than the second highest rated, "Time for School 3 (Part 2)".