David Fanning
Director
Frontline (1983)
Season 20
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 extend the impact of the documentary beyond its initial broadcast by serving as a catalyst for change.
Released Jan. 17, 1983
Episode 75 min
14+
Genres: Documentary, News
Keywords: tmdb.investigative-journalism, mdblist.has-trailer, imdb.political-superpower, imdb.u-s-military, imdb.armed-forces, imdb.one-word-title, imdb.american-politics + 5 more, imdb.public-affairs, imdb.investigative-journalism, imdb.military, imdb.power-politics, imdb.reenactment
Production Companies: WGBH Boston, Frontline
Network: PBS
Country: United States
Languages:
English
S20E1 - Hunting Bin Laden
For years this one man has taunted, threatened and frustrated the United States. But who is he? The U.S. government has tried to link him to nearly every act of Islamic terrorism against Americans in the 90s: from the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, to the bombings of U.S. military installations in Saudi Arabia, to the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa. [This is a post-9/11 update of an episode that originally aired on 4/13/1999.]
Sept. 13, 2001, midnight
S20E2 - Target America
None
Oct. 4, 2001, midnight
S20E3 - Looking for Answers
Sunday night, as U.S. bombers and cruise missiles attack targets in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden released a videotape calling on Muslims worldwide to join his war on America. Next to bin Laden was his close association, an Egyptian named Ayman al-Zawahiri, a man who is certainly as important to the terror network as bin Laden himself.
Tonight on FRONTLINE, the full story of these two men, the story of how the seeds of their hatred for America were sown not in Afghanistan but in two of the U.S.'s greatest allies in the Islamic world, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and the story of how they joined forces to pursue a common enemy.
Oct. 9, 2001, midnight
S20E4 - Dangerous Straits
None
Oct. 18, 2001, midnight
S20E5 - Trail of a Terrorist
None
Oct. 25, 2001, midnight
S20E6 - Gunning for Saddam
None
Nov. 8, 2001, midnight
S20E7 - Saudi Time Bomb?
None
Nov. 15, 2001, midnight
S20E8 - The Monster That Ate Hollywood
None
Nov. 22, 2001, midnight
S20E9 - An Ordinary Crime
None
Jan. 10, 2002, midnight
S20E10 - Inside the Terror Network
None
Jan. 17, 2002, midnight
S20E11 - Dot Con
In "Dot Con," award-winning FRONTLINE producer Martin Smith takes an inside look at the precipitous rise and fall of the Internet economy -- and examines the allegations that brokers at some of Wall Street's most prestigious firms manipulated the hot IPO market of the late 1990s. Wall Street, of course, would prefer to forget the past. But investors and investigators want to know: During the headiest days of the Internet bubble, did investment banks and venture capitalists betray the public's trust? Did "irrational exuberance" give way to fraud?
Jan. 24, 2002, midnight
S20E12 - Inside the Teenage Brain
None
Jan. 31, 2002, midnight
S20E13 - American Porn
Porn is one of the largest and fastest growing forms of media in the United States. The industry’s profits have skyrocketed as we become increasingly reliant on technology for our entertainment. Why has this happened, and will the trend continue?
Feb. 7, 2002, midnight
S20E14 - Roll Over: the Hidden History of the SUV
None
Feb. 21, 2002, midnight
S20E15 - Testing Our Schools
None
March 28, 2002, midnight
S20E16 - Battle for the Holy Land
None
April 4, 2002, midnight
S20E17 - Requiem for Frank Lee Smith
None
April 11, 2002, midnight
S20E18 - Modern Meat
None
April 18, 2002, midnight
S20E19 - Did Daddy Do It?
None
April 25, 2002, midnight
S20E20 - Terror and Tehran
None
May 2, 2002, midnight
S20E21 - Muslims
Muslims account for one-fifth of the world's population, but most Americans know little about their faith, Islam, which continues to be one of the fastest growing religions in the United States and around the world.
What does it mean to be a Muslim today? Does Islam deserve its reputation as a patriarchal, authoritarian, and anti-Western religion? What is the role of Islam in movements for political and social change?
FRONTLINE explores these and other questions in "Muslims," a special two-hour film examining the different faces of Islam's worldwide resurgence and the fundamental tenets of the faith. Reporting from Iran, Nigeria, Egypt, Malaysia, Turkey, and the United States, and drawing on the perspectives of leading scholars of Islam, this program tells the stories of Muslims struggling to define how Islam will shape their lives and societies.
May 9, 2002, midnight
S20E22 - The Siege of Bethlehem
None
June 13, 2002, midnight
S20E23 - Bigger Than Enron
In "Bigger Than Enron," FRONTLINE correspondent Hedrick Smith shines a spotlight on how the corporate watchdogs -- the bankers, lawyers, regulators, politicians, and above all, the accountants -- failed to prevent Enron and other scandals from happening. Through interviews with current and former SEC officials (including SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt and his predecessor, Arthur Levitt), Arthur Andersen executives (including former Andersen CEO Joseph Berardino), members of Congress (including Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut), investor advocates, and others, the report explores how the system of controls was eroded by conflicts of interest, as well as by congressional intervention that blocked efforts at protecting investors.
June 20, 2002, midnight
S20E24 - Shattered Dreams
How the Israeli-Palestinian peace process begun at Oslo was derailed.
June 27, 2002, midnight
Network: PBS
Episode Runtime: 75 min.
Season Runtime: 63525 min.
Released: Jan. 17, 1983
Last Air Date: Dec. 16, 2025, midnight
Status: Returning Series
Certification: TV-PG
Common sense age: 14+
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