The BEST episodes of The New York Times Presents season 1
Every episode of The New York Times Presents season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The New York Times Presents season 1!
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 our time.
#1 - Segregated City
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 10/20/2019
New York's school system is among the most segregated in the country. Student activists are demanding change. A new school's chancellor seeks to deliver equal opportunities for all.
#2 - Open Arms
Season 1 - Episode 30 - Aired 3/20/2020
American arms manufacturers are supplying bombs in a war that is considered the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Schools, hospitals and mosques are often targets. Why does the U.S. allow this? The Trump administration believes it creates jobs.
#3 - Balaraba
Season 1 - Episode 29 - Aired 3/13/2020
Meet the Woman Who Outsmarted Boko Haram: Kidnapped and ordered to carry out suicide bombings, Balaraba intentionally botched her missions, buying time before her dramatic rescue.
#4 - The Sicario
Season 1 - Episode 28 - Aired 2/28/2020
An epidemic of violence in Mexico and endemic corruption pushed a police chief to try something new — an off-the-books witness protection program for assassins willing to turn on their cartels.
#5 - The Promise
Season 1 - Episode 27 - Aired 2/21/2020
Decades after children endured inhumane treatment at a notorious state institution, some of them were abused again at a group home for adults.
#6 - Fire and Water
Season 1 - Episode 26 - Aired 2/14/2020
How a Hong Kong Campus Became a Fiery Battlefield, from behind the front lines of the police crackdown on protesters at Hong Kong Polytechnic University last year.
#7 - The Endorsement
Season 1 - Episode 25 - Aired 1/19/2020
For more than a century, The New York Times editorial board has endorsed a presidential candidate every four years. And now, for the first time, their decision-making process will be filmed & revealed to the public in this exclusive episode of The Weekly.
#8 - My Blood
Season 1 - Episode 24 - Aired 1/12/2020
A 16-year old girl is the youngest person to receive an experimental treatment that could be the first genetic cure for a common disease. If it works, millions of people around the world could benefit.
#9 - The Gallagher Effect
Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 12/27/2019
Law enforcement interviews with Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher's fellow SEALs shed new light on the war-crimes case that created a clash between the Navy and President Trump.
#10 - The Hot List
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 12/1/2019
When a big bear of a man in flip-flops showed up with a bottle of Japanese whiskey promising to deliver evidence implicating some of the world’s richest and most powerful men in an epic cover-up of sexual misconduct, our reporters were hooked. The man went by a pseudonym, Patrick Kessler, and he said he had terabytes of video surveillance from Jeffrey Epstein’s residences and other materials that, if true, would validate theories Epstein was engaged in an extensive blackmail operation. Kessler said he would share it all with The New York Times.
#11 - Fake Believe
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 11/24/2019
Over several months, “The Weekly” embedded with a team of creative young engineers developing the perfect deepfake — not to manipulate markets or game an election, but to warn the public about the dangers of technology meant to dupe them. The team picked one of the internet’s most recognizable personalities, the comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan, who unwittingly provided the inspiration for the engineers’ deepfake moonshot. Can they perfect the technology before someone else pulls off the ultimate scam? Or do they risk introducing a tool that can forever be used to cloud the truth?
#12 - El Chapo's Son: The Siege of Culiacán
Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 11/17/2019
When Mexican forces came to arrest the son of the notorious drug lord, "El Chapo", it was the spark that ignited all-out war on the streets of Culiacán. Using never-before-seen video, and exclusive accounts from eyewitnesses, The Weekly investigates how the Sinaloa Drug Cartel took on the Mexican army, and won.
#13 - Hands On
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 11/10/2019
A yoga studio combines a power hierarchy, sweaty bodies, intimate touching and an absence of dialogue. The Weekly investigates the culture of sexualized yoga, unwelcome adjustments and outright assault in one of the most accessible, affordable forms of group fitness in America.
#14 - Guilty By Machine
Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 11/3/2019
On the program: police breathalyzers. The Weekly investigates one of the most widely used forensic tools in law enforcement.
#15 - Mr. McGahn
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 10/27/2019
Most Americans don't know Donald McGahn's name. But they will be living with his legacy for decades to come. The Weekly tells the story of one of the most influential people in the Trump administration.
#16 - The Education of T.M. Landry
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 6/2/2019
A tiny school in rural Louisiana attracted national attention for sending students to the Ivy League. But a New York Times investigation shows that the viral success stories were full of deception, and that the truth was much darker.
#17 - Rudy! Rudy?
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 10/13/2019
After 9/11, he was a national hero: America's Mayor. Now his back-channel work in Ukraine has helped spark an impeachment process that may forever tarnish both him and his client, President Trump. What happened to Rudy Giuliani?
#18 - V. Johnson & Johnson
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 10/6/2019
Johnson & Johnson insisted that its baby powder was safe. However, asbestos within the company was linked to ovarian cancer. Reporters Tiffany Hsu and Roni Caryn Rabin investigate.
#19 - The Blueprint
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 9/8/2019
Russia's meddling in the 2016 U.S. election felt like a bolt from the blue. But Moscow reportedly used crude versions of the same tactics, to great effect, a decade earlier in Estonia.
#20 - Apple's Gold
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 9/1/2019
Blood diamonds. Blood smartphones. We investigate a supply chain, uncovering how the gold in your smartphone might trace back to violent paramilitary groups that extort, and sometimes kill, Colombian miners.
#21 - The Six Million Dollar Claim
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 8/25/2019
What happens when the medicine a family needs to survive costs $1.5 million a year? Who pays the bill? And who's reaping the profits?
#22 - The Memo
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 8/18/2019
An investigation into an overlooked moment when top U.S. law enforcement officials had an opportunity to take on the drugmaker that was planting the seeds for the opioid crisis -- but instead chose a less aggressive path.
#23 - The Rabbit Hole
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 8/11/2019
An examination of the role YouTube played a role in the election of a right-wing president in Brazil. If YouTube can influence a huge country's trajectory, what else can YouTube do?
#24 - Hard Left
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 8/4/2019
A look at the young activists who are trying to push the Democratic party further to the left.
#25 - Connecting the World
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 7/28/2019
A tragic story about Facebook scammers who pose as American servicemen and prey on vulnerable women – and the tech company that does little to stop it.