First Aired: January 17th, 1983
Status: Continuing
Network: PBS
Summary: 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.
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Season 1986
Episode 1: Hostage in Iran
Air Date: January 21st, 1986
Summary: While the whole world watched, 52 Americans were held hostage in Iran by Islamic revolutionaries for 444 days. On the fifth anniversary of their release, using never-before-seen footage from inside the American embassy compound in Tehran, the hostages tell the story of their long ordeal.
Episode 2: Sue the Doctor?
Air Date: January 28th, 1986
Summary: For many doctors, practicing medicine has become a nightmare. Today, one out of every six American doctors faces a malpractice suit. Frontline takes an inside look at the fierce battle developing between doctors and lawyers over medical malpractice suits.
Episode 3: Growing Up Poor
Air Date: February 4th, 1986
Summary: The children of Chester, Pennsylvania are plagued by poor health, malnutrition, drugs, and family problems. Half of them live below the poverty line. Frontline follows them through the maze of social service programs available to them and discovers what it is like growing up poor.
Episode 4: Russia - Love it or Leave it
Air Date: February 11st, 1986
Summary: A unique look at the Soviet Union through the eyes of Americans as they attempt to escape the confines of a carefully managed Russian tour. They elude their government guides and search for their fellow man on the streets of the Soviet Union.
Episode 5: Tobacco on Trial
Air Date: February 18th, 1986
Summary: Life-long smokers who say their health has been destroyed by cigarettes are suing tobacco companies. Frontline correspondent Judy Woodruff takes an inside look at the preparation of these massive lawsuits, concentrating on a suit that would later reach the Supreme Court as well as presenting the emphatic denials of the tobacco industry, which says smoking is a simple question of personal choice and responsibility.
Episode 8: Aids - A National Inquiry
Air Date: March 25th, 1986
Summary: Fabian Bridges, a homosexual prostitute, bragged he had sex with six partners a night and refused to stop even though he knew he had AIDS. In a special broadcast, Frontline first follows Bridges' tragic journey across the US and later, a panel of national experts, led by Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson, discuss how Americans should respond to this urgent public health issue.
Episode 10: Inside the Jury Room
Air Date: April 8th, 1986
Summary: For the first time on American television, Frontline cameras move inside a jury room to record the deliberations in a Wisconsin criminal trial. The results yield a view of 12 Americans grappling with guilt, innocence, and the nature of justice as never before seen.
Episode 11: Taxes Behind Closed Doors
Air Date: April 15th, 1986
Summary: For more than a year, Frontline has been behind the scenes with congressmen and lobbyists covering the deals, dollars, and politics of tax reform. Correspondent William Greider investigates how Washington really works as seen through this exclusive access to the inner circles of Congress.
Episode 13: Visions of Star Wars
Air Date: April 22nd, 1986
Summary: Frontline and Nova combine resources for the first time to explore the Strategic Defense Initiative. The program contains the most comprehensive information on Star Wars ever produced. Correspondent Bill Kurtis interviews Russian and American scientists, arms-control experts, and politicians to reveal the scientific and political implications of what could become the world's most sophisticated military technology.
Episode 14: Hollywood Dreams
Air Date: May 13rd, 1986
Summary: Hollywood is called an industry, a place, a state of mind. But making it in Hollywood, and making movies, persists as part of the American dream. In the real world of agents, casting directors, aspiring actors, and studio executives, how are movies made? Frontline examines the fantasy and reality of Hollywood's five billion dollar a year industry.
Episode 15: The Bloods of 'Nam
Air Date: May 20th, 1986
Summary: A high percentage of men on the frontlines in Vietnam were young, poor, undereducated, and black. By most accounts, they had the highest casualties. But these young men say they were fighting two wars-against the enemy and against discrimination. Correspondent Wallace Terry, the author of 'Bloods,' the national bestseller on which this film is based, talks with black veterans who fought discrimination in Vietnam and who later confronted disillusionment when they came home.
Episode 16: A Matter of the Mind
Air Date: May 27th, 1986
Summary: Millions of Americans are mentally ill. They live in a world that is fragile and often frightening. Inside a halfway house in St. Paul, Minnesota, Frontline examines mental illness from the point of view of those who struggle with it as they fight their psychological demons and confront the social stigma of their disease.
Episode 18: Will There Always be an England?
Air Date: June 10th, 1986
Summary: England is a country divided. One in five workers in northern England is unemployed, while in the south of the country, power, privilege prevail. Ofra Bikel explores Britain's social structure, cultural values, and attitudes toward enterprise and work.
Episode 19: Assault on Affirmative Action
Air Date: June 17th, 1986
Summary: The Supreme Court ruled against a Memphis firefighter who successfully fought for an affirmative action plan for the hiring of fellow firefighters in 1984. As a result, the Justice Department asked 50 cities to tighten their affirmative action policies. Correspondent George Curry examines the 20 year conflict over these policies and reveals the point of view of those whom it affects.
Episode 20: Comrades I - The Education of Rita
Air Date: July 1st, 1986
Summary: Rita Tikhonova, 21, is a model Russian citizen. The lifestyle and ambitions of an outstanding Young Communist League member in Moscow are depicted as she completes her education at a prestigious school and begins her first teaching job.
Episode 21: Comrades II - Hunter and Son
Air Date: July 8th, 1986
Summary: For four months every year, Mikhail Kuzakov and his son, Yuri, leave the comforts of home for the Siberian wilderness, where they hunt on horseback for sable and other valuable fur animals. Frontline examines life in the taiga and follows the hunt of father and son.
Episode 22: Comrades III - All That Jazz
Air Date: July 15th, 1986
Summary: Sergei Kuryokhin is a popular Russian jazz and rock musician who is disapproved of by the state because his music is difficult to control. Made without the permission of Soviet authorities on a home video camera, Frontline takes a look at the Soviet music subculture and this one talented musician.
Episode 23: Comrades IV - The Trial of Tamara Russo
Air Date: July 22nd, 1986
Summary: Frontline examines the differences in Soviet and Western justice systems as it contrasts the lives of Tamara Russo, a 50-year-old hospital orderly on trial for theft in Soviet Moldavia, and Lyubov Bubulic, the female judge presiding over Russo's case.
Episode 24: Comrades V - Master of Samarkand
Air Date: July 29th, 1986
Summary: Abdugaffar Khakkulov is a master craftsman of Uzbek heritage who for 35 years has been restoring the great Islamic mosques in Samarkand. Frontline examines daily life in a Muslim community and explores the uneasy relationship between Islamic faith and Soviet power.
Episode 25: Comrades VI - Pacific Outpost
Air Date: August 5th, 1986
Summary: Frontline gained unique access in filming the inner workings of the local government system in Nakhodka, a town six thousand miles and seven time zones from Moscow. Here, Frontline profiles the workaholic lifestyle of Tatyana Naumova, a communist zealot and town official in Nakhodka, and the tensions it creates with her husband, who cares for their two daughters.
Episode 27: Comrades VIII - Doctor in Moscow
Air Date: August 19th, 1986
Summary: Svyatoslav Nilolaevich Fyodorov is an outspoken and provocative eye surgeon whose surgical technique for correcting nearsightedness has made him famous. He lives like a superstar with a chauffeur, a sumptuous apartment in Moscow, and a house in the country. Frontline follows Fyodorov through his day and reveals what life is really like for privileged Soviet Citizens.
Episode 28: Comrades IX - Baltic Chic
Air Date: August 26th, 1986
Summary: Fashion-conscious Estonians living on the Gulf of Finland are inspired by the Western styles of Dallas and Dynasty which are picked up from Finnish TV in Helsinki, fifty miles away. Frontline profiles Krista Kajandu, the chief designer of a fashion house in the town of Tallin the 'Paris of the North,' who tries to raise the design standards of the Soviet fashion industry.
Episode 29: Comrades X - Soldier Boy
Air Date: August 26th, 1986
Summary: For the first time on Western television, Frontline details a recruit's life inside a Soviet Army barracks. Frontline cameras follow Valera Krylov, 18, through the exertion and boredom of basic training in the military and focuses on his parents, who worry that in the next two years he may be fighting in Afghanistan.
Episode 30: Comrades XI - October Harvest
Air Date: September 2nd, 1986
Summary: The Kulinich family lives and works on a collective farm in southern Russia. Frontline follows the Kulinichs through their daily lives during harvest time and takes a close look at the workings of the collective farm system to find that they, like many other Russian peasants, have discovered their own version of the Communist way of life-Leninism with loopholes.
Episode 31: Comrades XII - Leningrad Movie
Air Date: September 9th, 1986
Summary: Soviet film directors have one advantage over Westerners - the state takes care of the budget. But in return, the state expects firm control over all productions. Dinara Asanova, one of the few female directors of Soviet features, knows how to bend the rules-departing from approved scripts and changing characters and locations, with controversial results.
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