Frontline (Season 39)

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.

COVID's Hidden Toll (Episode 1)
Air date: 2020-07-21
Overview: An examination on how the COVID crisis has hit vulnerable immigrants and undocumented workers. The documentary follows the coronavirus pandemic’s invisible victims, including crucial farm and meat-packing workers who lack protections and have been getting sick.
United States of Conspiracy (Episode 2)
Air date: 2020-07-28
Overview: How trafficking in conspiracy theories went from the fringes of U.S. politics into the White House. Frontline examines the alliance of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Trump advisor Roger Stone, and the president, and their role in the battle over truth and lies.
Love, Life & the Virus / Undocumented in the Pandemic (Episode 3)
Air date: 2020-08-11
Overview: Two intimate stories of immigrant families whose lives were upended by the coronavirus. "Love, Life and the Virus" follows Zully, a 30-year-old mother, who is diagnosed with COVID-19 — and gives birth while on a ventilator. “Undocumented in the Pandemic” tells the story of an family’s struggle to stay together, as a father is detained by ICE in a facility where COVID-19 is spreading.
Growing Up Poor in America (Episode 4)
Air date: 2020-09-08
Overview: The experience of childhood poverty against the backdrop of a pandemic and a national reckoning with racism. Set in Ohio, the film follows children and their families navigating issues of poverty, homelessness, race and new challenges due to COVID-19.
Policing the Police 2020 (Episode 5)
Air date: 2020-09-15
Overview: George Floyd's killing triggered mass demonstrations nationwide calling for racial justice and police accountability in the United States. In the wake of those protests, New Yorker writer and historian Jelani Cobb returns to a troubled police department he first visited four years ago to examine whether reform can work, and how police departments can be held accountable.
The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden (Episode 6) 10.0
Air date: 2020-09-22
Overview: In this 2-hour special from veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk and his team, hear from friends, family, colleagues and adversaries about the challenges that shaped Trump and Biden’s lives and could inform how they confront the crises facing the nation at this pivotal juncture.
America's Medical Supply Crisis (Episode 7)
Air date: 2020-10-06
Overview: Why was the United States left scrambling for critical medical equipment as the coronavirus swept the country? With the Associated Press and Global Reporting Centre, FRONTLINE investigates the fragmented global medical supply chain and its deadly consequences.
Whose Vote Counts (Episode 8)
Air date: 2020-10-20
Overview: As America chooses its next president in the midst of a historic pandemic, Frontline investigates whose vote counts — and whose might not. New Yorker writer Jelani Cobb reports on allegations of voter disenfranchisement, how unfounded claims of extensive voter fraud entered the political mainstream, rhetoric and realities around mail-in ballots, and how the pandemic could impact turnout.
American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil (Episode 9)
Air date: 2020-11-17
Overview: A FRONTLINE post-election special on the lives, fears and hopes of Americans, from the pandemic to the polls. This documentary was filmed around the U.S. for much of the year, following Americans as they dealt with COVID-19 in their communities this spring, responded to George Floyd’s killing this summer, and then experienced this divisive election and its aftermath this fall.
Return From ISIS (Episode 10)
Air date: 2020-12-15
Overview: The story of an American mother who takes her son to the ISIS-controlled city of Raqqa. A special report three years in the making investigating how the family ended up in Syria and what happened when they came home to the United States.