The WORST episodes of Frontline

#1 - The Monster that Ate Hollywood

Season 2001 - Episode 18 - Aired 11/22/2001

The box office is booming. New international markets are opening weekly. Amazing advances in technology hold the promise of new delivery systems. Yet there's trouble bubbling just below the surface in Hollywood today as movie industry creative types struggle to adapt to new business realities. On the eve of one of the biggest weekends for new movie releases, FRONTLINE explores the changing Hollywood, revealing how once-fiercely independent studio bosses must now answer to the megacorporations that have swallowed the industry whole.

#2 - Drug Wars (2)

Season 2000 - Episode 14 - Aired 10/24/2000

In 1968, the federal drug enforcement budget was $60 million. By the end of fiscal year 1999, that same budget had exploded to more than $17 billion. Yet despite the United States' vast efforts during the past three decades to stop the flow of illegal drugs, the use of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and other illicit drugs remains essentially unchanged. FRONTLINE presents the first television history of America's war on drugs as told from both sides of the battlefield in a special four-hour report. In Part II of "Drug Wars," FRONTLINE examines the impact of crack cocaine on our city streets and our criminal justice system. The report also investigates Mexico's role in supplying drugs to meet American demand.

#3 - Real Justice (2)

Season 2000 - Episode 17 - Aired 11/18/2000

Homicides, drug arrests, car theft, assault and battery...it's all in a day's work for the prosecutors of Boston's criminal courts, where 50,000 cases are decided each year. In a two-part special report, FRONTLINE goes inside the halls of the Suffolk County courts to reveal the offers, counteroffers, deals, and compromises that keep cases moving through our crowded courts. Part II of this special report moves from District Court to Suffolk County Superior Court, where the crimes are serious and the stakes are high. From manslaughter to child abuse to murder, FRONTLINE's cameras follow the prosecutors, defense attorneys, victims, and defendants as they bargain and negotiate their way through the criminal justice system.

#4 - The Mormons (2)

Season 2007 - Episode 10 - Aired 5/1/2007

#5 - Organ Farm (1)

Season 2001 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/27/2001

Imagine a world where every patient who needed an organ transplant could receive one right away. Such a future is promised by xenotransplantation, the experimental process of transplanting genetically modified pig cells and organs into humans. But while a scientific breakthrough in cross-species transplants could offer hope to millions of desperately ill patients, such procedures could introduce new infectious agents into the human population, posing a public health risk to millions. Do the benefits of xenotransplantation outweigh the still-unknown dangers? FRONTLINE presents a rare inside look at the multi-billion dollar xenotransplantation industry, including a secret transgenic pig organ farm somewhere in North America. FRONTLINE presents extraordinary cutting-edge footage of the organs being developed and an unprecedented glimpse into a bio-secure, air-locked barrier world where science fiction may soon become science fact.

#6 - Medicating Kids

Season 2001 - Episode 8 - Aired 4/10/2001

Today, millions of American children are being prescribed powerful behavior modifying drugs such as Ritalin, Prozac, Adderall. But are these medications really necessary-and safe-for young children or merely a harried nation's quick fix for annoying, yet age-appropriate, behavior? FRONTLINE investigates the rapidly growing use of psychoactive drugs by children and the challenges of parenting and schooling in a world of high stress and increasing family disintegration. Through an intimate portrait of several families in an American suburb, the film explores how medication has increasingly become an integral part of caring for our kids. The documentary also examines the role of doctors, educators, pharmaceutical makers, and insurance companies in advancing this trend.

#7 - LAPD Blues

Season 2001 - Episode 9 - Aired 5/15/2001

All is not well inside the Los Angeles Police Department. The worst corruption scandal in the force's history has devastated a police department once epitomized by Dragnet's Joe Friday and the clean-cut crew of Adam-12. FRONTLINE correspondent and New Yorker writer Peter J. Boyer unravels the mysteries that swirl around recent reports of police brutality, departmental racism, and corrupt cops who take part in everything from dope deals to bank robberies.

#8 - Blackout

Season 2001 - Episode 10 - Aired 6/5/2001

Power shortages. Rolling blackouts. Skyrocketing utility bills. California's power disaster has made "energy" a national front-burner issue. The state's power crunch has affected everyone from homeowners and small businesses to the big-business consumers of electricity who originally pushed for deregulation. Now, the state's largest utility, PG& E, has filed for bankruptcy. But is California's energy crisis the result of flawed deregulation and the weather-or, as some charge, market manipulation by a new breed of power entrepreneurs? Or a bit of both? And could other states face similar energy shortages?

#9 - Target America

Season 2001 - Episode 12 - Aired 10/4/2001

Last month, the nation's top leaders gathered to decide the U.S response to the September 11 terrorist attack. Some of the same individuals were in Washington, DC, twenty-two years ago when the United States suffered its first humiliation at the hands of Islamic militants. U.S. embassy employees were taken hostage and held captive before the world. Over the decades, incident followed incident - the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, the killing of American soldiers in a Berlin nightclub, the downing of Pan Am 103, and the first attack on the World Trade Center. In "Target America," FRONTLINE uncovers a long-standing division within the nation's security apparatus about how to deal with an enemy that has been targeting America and Americans for decades.

#10 - Dangerous Straits

Season 2001 - Episode 14 - Aired 10/18/2001

Since the terrible events of Sept 11th, the United States has worked hard to put together a worldwide coalition against international terrorism. Where will China come down? FRONTLINE and The New York Times explore the tensions between the U.S. and China and the troubles the relationship presents for President Bush, who plans a visit to China in October. The dramatic U.S. spy plane incident off the coast of China in early 2001 reminded us of the dangerous suspicion that exists between the world's most powerful country and its most populous one. China has been supportive of some Islamic states that the U.S. counts as its enemies, and there is also the simmering question of Taiwan. American support for Taiwan means that if it declares independence, the U.S. could be drawn into an international dispute that might lead to war. The Straits of Taiwan have been described by one China expert as "one of the most dangerous places in the world."

#11 - Trail of a Terrorist

Season 2001 - Episode 15 - Aired 10/25/2001

On December 14, 1999, Ahmed Ressam was detained at the U.S./Canadian border when an alert customs agent became suspicious of Ressam's hesitant answers to her questions. When the trunk of his car was opened, agents discovered a powerful bomb and a plot for a millennium attack on America. Ressam said nothing at his trial but, facing 130 years in prison, decided to testify against an accomplice. His chilling testimony reveals his motives, his methods, and his connection to an Algerian terrorist group that had already carried out bombings in Europe. Ressam described his training at the Osama bin Laden camps in Afghanistan, where he became skilled in urban warfare, sabotage, and covert operations. With access to Ressams testimony, police files, and officials in the U.S., Canada, and France, correspondent Terence McKenna follows the trail of a terrorist.

#12 - Gunning for Saddam

Season 2001 - Episode 16 - Aired 11/8/2001

As Americans are confronted by acts of bioterrorism, powerful forces in the nations capitol believe Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is to blame, for this and many other terrorist acts during the last decade. Many are lobbying to mobilize a military operation to oust Hussein when the next phase of the war on terrorism kicks in. Proponents of the plan, including former Clinton administration CIA director James Woolsey, contend Saddam Hussein was involved in the first World Trade Center bombing, the attempted assassination of President George H.W. Bush in 1993, and the ongoing state sponsorship of terrorist activities. Foes of this plan argue that attacking Saddam will destabilize other nations in the region, most prominently Saudi Arabia, and no doubt destroy the carefully crafted coalition presently hunting for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. FRONTLINE investigates Americas other enemy, Saddam Hussein.

#13 - Saudi Time Bomb?

Season 2001 - Episode 17 - Aired 11/15/2001

President Bush says that if the nations of the world are not with us in the war on terrorism then theyre with the terrorists. But what about the United States' supposed ally Saudi Arabia? After September 11th many Saudi citizens reportedly applauded native son Osama bin Laden as a hero. Then the monarchy hesitated to renounce the Taliban and they are still reluctant to allow U.S. warplanes to fly from their bases. Why have Saudi and other Gulf charities sent money to support Islamic fundamentalist schools that are encouraging jihad? And are the Saudis dragging their feet when it comes to assisting U.S. law enforcement agencies that are tracking down terrorists? Whose side are the Saudis on? FRONTLINE and The New York Times explore the fragile alliance with this ultra conservative fundamentalist kingdom upon which the U.S. depends for fifteen percent of the countrys oil needs.

#14 - Real Justice (1)

Season 2000 - Episode 16 - Aired 11/11/2000

Homicides, drug arrests, car theft, assault and battery...it's all in a day's work for the prosecutors of Boston's criminal courts, where 50,000 cases are decided each year. In a two-part special report, FRONTLINE goes inside the halls of the Suffolk County courts to reveal the offers, counteroffers, deals, and compromises that keep cases moving through our crowded courts. Part I of the documentary takes viewers inside District Court, where overworked and underfunded prosecutors and public defenders shuttle between different cases and different courts in a seemingly endless attempt to keep the wheels of justice turning.

#15 - Organ Farm (2)

Season 2001 - Episode 7 - Aired 4/3/2001

#16 - Storm Over Everest

Season 2008 - Episode 9 - Aired 5/13/2008

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...,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.

#17 - The Released

Season 2009 - Episode 9 - Aired 4/28/2009

This year, hundreds of thousands of prisoners with serious mental illnesses will be released into communities across America, the largest exodus in the nation's history. Typically, mentally ill offenders leave prison with a bus ticket, $75 and two weeks worth of medication. Within eighteen months, nearly two-thirds are re-arrested. In this follow up to the groundbreaking film The New Asylums, FRONTLINE examines what happens to the mentally ill when they leave prison and why they return at such alarming rates. The intimate stories of the released -- along with interviews with parole officers, social workers, and psychiatrists -- provide a rare look at the lives of the mentally ill as they struggle to stay out of prison and reintegrate into society.

#18 - Apocalypse! (2)

Season 1999 - Episode 17 - Aired 11/22/1999

In part II of the Apocalypse!, FRONTLINE traces the orgins of the Book of Daniel and how it continues to influence modern apocalyptic thinking. And, they exmamine the anti-Christs of recent history.

#19 - War in Europe (2)

Season 2000 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/29/2000

In the second hour of this analysis of a military effort hampered by diplomatic infighting, senior military leaders -- including Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark, in his first in-depth interview -- tell the story of political constraints, internal divisions and miscalculations that shaped the war in Bosnia.

#20 - Opium Brides

Season 2012 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/3/2012

Young farm girls are caught in the crossfire of attempts to eradicate Afghanistan's drug trade.

#21 - Nuclear Aftershocks

Season 2012 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/17/2012

FRONTLINE 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.

#22 - The Secret War

Season 2012 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/3/2012

A revealing look at the CIA’s drone program in Pakistan and covert support for elements of the Taliban by the Pakistani military and its intelligence service, the ISI. Contains updates not previously reported.

#23 - The Interrupters

Season 2012 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/14/2012

"The Interrupters" presents profiles in courage, as three former street criminals in Chicago place themselves in the line of fire to protect their communities. The 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. From director Steve James (Hoop Dreams) and bestselling author Alex Kotlowitz (There Are No Children Here), "The Interrupters" chronicles an intimate, year-long journey across the stubbornly violent landscape of our cities through the eyes of those fighting to sow peace and security.

#24 - Cell Tower Deaths

Season 2012 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/22/2012

The demand for better and faster cell phone service comes with a hidden cost. This joint investigation by FRONTLINE and ProPublica has found that the independent contractors who are building and servicing America's cellular infrastructure are 10 times more likely than an average construction worker to die on the job. Complex layers of subcontracting insulate the carriers against liability, despite the fact that they set the aggressive schedule that can force subcontractors to cut corners in order to meet deadlines.

#25 - Murdoch's Scandal

Season 2012 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/27/2012

The battle over the future of News Corporation and Rupert Murdoch's reputation is chronicled.