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© 2026 The Couch Critic
Browse 111 movies from FRONTLINE
Investigating the U.S.-led efforts to degrade and destroy ISIS. Reporting from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey, the film examines the successes, failures, and challenges of the fight, as ISIS loses ground in the region but strikes out abroad.
Oct 2016
As the Russian invasion begins, a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war's atrocities.
Jul 2023
More than a decade ago, the Emmy-nominated documentary "Poor Kids" explored poverty in the United States as it’s rarely seen: through the eyes of children. "Born Poor" tells the stories of the same children, now grown, chronicling their lives from childhood to the present day. The 90-minute documentary follows Kaylie, Johnny and Brittany across three chapters of their lives as they grow from kids to teenagers to adults, trying to pursue their dreams while dealing with an economy where they face more obstacles than opportunities — and trying to overcome the grinding poverty that shaped their childhoods.
Oct 2025
The incredible saga of the Chinese immigrant Sung family, owners of Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, New York. Accused of mortgage fraud by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., Abacus becomes the only U.S. bank to face criminal charges in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The indictment and subsequent trial forces the Sung family to defend themselves – and their bank’s legacy in the Chinatown community – over the course of a five-year legal battle.
Jan 2017
What does it take to save a student? Every year, hundreds of thousands of teenagers in the United States quit high school without diplomas – an epidemic so out of control that nobody knows the exact number. What is clear is that massive dropout rates cripple individual career prospects and cloud the country’s future. At Houston’s Sharpstown High, once a notorious “dropout factory,” a high-stakes experiment is underway to rescue students from the edge. FRONTLINE spent a semester immersed in Sharpstown High to produce an unforgettable portrait of four students in crisis and the teachers, counselors, and principal waging a daily, personal struggle to get them to graduation. A troubling and inspiring journey through the maze of an inner city high school, Dropout Nation investigates the causes, challenges, and potential solutions of a national emergency.
Sep 2012
An undercover investigation focuses on the Taliban's crackdown on women in Afghanistan.
Aug 2022
On the night she broke up with her boyfriend, a Florida deputy sheriff, Michelle O'Connell was found dead from a gunshot in the mouth. Next to her was her boyfriend's semi-automatic service pistol. The sheriff's office called it suicide, but was it? FRONTLINE and The New York Times investigate this death of a young, single mother, and what can go wrong when the police are faced with domestic violence allegations within their own ranks.
Nov 2013
FRONTLINE spent months on the ground in West Africa, tracing the Ebola outbreak’s path through Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia in 2014 and 2015 and uncovering the hidden story of what happened before the world started paying attention. The documentary shared firsthand accounts from survivors and victims’ family members — from the forest region of Guinea to the bustling Liberian capital of Monrovia — including the father of a one-year-old Guinean child who was believed to be the first person to die in the outbreak.
May 2015
The documentary investigates the lives and characters of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as they seek the presidency. In a historic election, those who know the candidates best reveal key moments that shape how they would lead America. Award-winning filmmaker Michael Kirk and his team sat down with Trump and Harris’ friends, advisors and critics, as well as authors, journalists and political insiders to present deeply reported narrative arcs of both candidates’ lives, going all the way back to their childhoods. What emerges in FRONTLINE's "The Choice 2024: Harris vs. Trump" is the story of two fighters: One seeking vindication and promising a return to greatness, and the other seeking to move beyond the past and promising a greater future.
Sep 2024
Using rare on-the-ground access in Iran and in-depth forensic analysis, FRONTLINE, The Washington Post, Evident Media and Bellingcat conduct an immersive investigation of Iran’s nuclear program in the aftermath of the U.S. and Israeli strikes.
Dec 2025
This FRONTLINE documentary was first broadcast on PBS on April 18, 1983. It was filmed at a clinic in Chester, Pa., a small city which at that time had a 30% unemployment rate. The clinic was chosen because it was representative of abortion clinics in the United States. The clinic also offered individual counseling in which the reasons behind the decision are explored. During their five months at the clinic, the film's producers met with hundreds of women. The two whose abortions are shown in this film are single, white and young -- as are the majority of women who have had abortions in the United States over the past 30 years.
Apr 1983
Rubio. Vance. Wiles. Gabbard. Hegseth. Miller. These are some of the key players behind President Donald Trump's expansive use of the U.S. military. FRONTLINE examines the inner circle of advisors and officials trying to project U.S. power, from clashes with allies, to taking out foreign leaders, to waging war in the Middle East. • "The War Cabinet"
May 2026
Around the country and across the world, the threat of a recession is looming and economic uncertainty is rising as markets, businesses and individuals adjust to a new reality: the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates and pulling back on its epic monetary experiment that started with the Great Financial Crisis. From the award-winning team behind "The Facebook Dilemma" and "Amazon Empire," the two-hour documentary "Age of Easy Money" investigates how the Fed’s experiment has changed the American economy and what it means that the era may be over.
Mar 2023
More than two decades after the Clean Water Act was supposed to make America’s waters clean enough for swimming and fishing again, two iconic waterways — the great coastal estuaries of Puget Sound and the Chesapeake Bay — are in perilous condition. With polluted runoff still flowing in from industry, agriculture and massive suburban development, scientists fear contamination to the food chain and drinking water for millions of people. A growing list of endangered species is also threatened in both estuaries. As a new president, Congress and the states set new agendas and spending priorities, FRONTLINE correspondent Hedrick Smith examines the rising hazards to human health and the ecosystem, and why its so hard to keep our waters clean.
Apr 2009
Jeff Bezos is not only one of the richest men in the world, he has built a business empire that is without precedent in the history of American capitalism. His power to shape everything from the future of work to the future of commerce to the future of technology is unrivaled. As politicians and regulators around the world start to consider the global impact of Amazon — and how to rein in Bezos’ power — FRONTLINE investigates how he executed a plan to build one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world.
Feb 2020
How did PFAS chemicals once used in popular stain-resistant carpets end up in the water and environment in parts of Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina? FRONTLINE, The Associated Press, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Post and Courier and AL.com investigate what happened with these forever chemicals and the ongoing health impacts. The joint investigation draws on thousands of pages of documents and court depositions and interviews with former regulators and industry insiders, as well as doctors, scientists and people who have the kinds of illnesses that researchers have linked to PFAS contamination.
Feb 2026
Why has it been so hard for Washington to fix our country's broken immigration system? In "Immigration Battle," a special two-hour feature film presentation from FRONTLINE and INDEPENDENT LENS, acclaimed independent filmmakers Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini take viewers behind closed doors in Washington's corridors of power to explore the political realities surrounding one of the country's most pressing and divisive issues.
Oct 2015
FRONTLINE investigates how El Paso, Texas became the Trump administration’s immigration policy testing ground, and then the target of a white supremacist. Interviews with current and former officials, Border Patrol agents, advocates and migrants tell the inside story from the epicenter of the border crisis.
Jan 2020
A look inside one of the most brutal campaigns of state repression in modern history - told by those who endured it and those who enforced it.
Jun 2025
The documentary traces Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long campaign to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities and counter its proxy forces, the conflict with the Palestinians, and the role of the U.S. through decades of difficulty in the region. Drawing on new, insider interviews, this two-hour special examines how long-running and escalating tensions between Israel and Iran erupted into all-out war in June 2025. The film also explores how multiple U.S. presidents have tried to manage the volatile issues at play.
Mar 2026