Frontline PBS Documentaries: Essential Context for Today's World (Free on YouTube)
I think every time US peasants watch an episode of Frontline, the country gets a little stronger.
ODE TO FRONTLINE
US peasants are well-aware (and have been for a while) that even though we are equal under the eyes of the law, a certain amount of money can buy you out of damn near everything. We’re also aware that the power in the country has mostly been stripped from We The People; you can see it right now in the feeble, or sometimes complete lack of, attempts to stop the apparent autogolpe by Dlon Mump.
Frontline is an epic, valuable, fun, WONDERFUL way to dig into one powerful person, company, or subject at a time. I won’t bore you with a long ode to Frontline (no matter how tempting), but I will tell you the reasons Americans across the country should be watching this show:
In-Depth Coverage: Whatever the title of the documentary, just know you’ll have A LOT more information about that after the episode; the show aims to give you the entire story, no matter how long it takes. Some of these documentaries are ~50 minutes long, while others run as long as 4 hours (split into episodes).
Balanced: While I haven’t seen all of them, and while Ad Fontes confirms a slightly left-leaning bias, I’ve found that they seem to try their darndest to give everybody they’re covering the fairest framing and the genuine benefit of the doubt… while also holding them to account.
The People Who Know: Every Frontline episode I’ve seen has been simply PACKED with politicians, white house aides, reporters, historians, economists, professors, family members (when it’s about a powerful person), lawyers and more… telling you in simple terms what the hell is going on, and how they know.
I think every time US peasants watch an episode of Frontline, the country gets a little stronger.
Think of this as a Frontline starter pack, with episodes chosen to help you better understand the moment we’re in and the people making decisions. Clicking on the image takes you straight to YouTube!
I wouldn’t recommend a 4-part documentary series if it wasn’t INCREDIBLE television.
My absolute favorite episode, and I’ve watched it an embarrassing amount of times (because it was the easiest way to be able to quote the economists I learned from).
I wish every federal employee could have watched this before having to make a decision on that illegal buyout offer; neither Trump or Musk are famous for treating their employeees well.
Another one I watched 5 or 6 times, simply to make damn sure I was understanding what happened; this was one of the documentaries that changed how I viewed corporate America forever.
He may have stepped down, but make no mistake; Mitch McConnell had such powerful and long-term influence over our country, this is worth your watch.
Considering he’s appointed for life and we have found out he’s buddy-buddy with a few Republican billionaire donors, Frontline did us the favor of doing a two-hour life story about Clarence Thomas. I’ve watched it twice; very good.
Put simply; it’s a three-part, long-ass documentary… and you’ll never look at big oil the same. I’ve watched this twice too.
It’s valuable to watch Pelosi’s Power for the same reason as Mitch McConnell; this is a person who’s been in power for a very long time, and had lasting influence on the course of our history. I certainly understand her better, but I see her in a harsher light now.
I must have watched this 10x (yes, there’s a pattern here and yes, I’m a nerd). The absolute heartbreak of the story, the harrowing footage, the fury from how preventable it was… next level.
An episode all about how the wealthy avoid paying taxes, and yes, it will make you angry.
This is a fascinating story about how, while America didn’t necessarily have exact details of what would happen on 9/11 or when, there was at least one man sounding the alarm at the FBI. It’s an excellent examination of genuinely bad things that can happen when there’s politicization, cliques, or distrust in the FBI… and I’m guessing you’ll understand why now is a good time to watch it.
For the record, if you don’t want to watch this one, I understand; that being said, it made the list because the extent of failure should never be forgotten.
HIGHLY useful for understanding foreign policy is this episode examining Putin’s relationship with Presidents Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden; it’s a well-known fact that Russia is always meddling in American affairs somehow, so it helps to understand relationships.
This is perhaps the best example on today’s list of Frontline’s ability to give you the fairest picture of the person, while still holding them to account; this helped me land on my decision that I can understand him as a person, but I can’t forgive him as a president.
This is the episode I was watching earlier today, but it was released the day after the election; you’ll get a full explainer of who Trump is and what motivates him, which may be helpful for the months ahead.
Enjoy!
Perhaps I should take a couple hours one day and figure out how many episodes of Frontline I’ve seen at this point! If you’re not a bona fide nerd, rest assured that you only have to watch the episodes once to gain the value of watching at all. I hope you find them as useful as I do!
You rock! 😀