Frontline — Season 22

Aired 9 October 2003

Did America rush into a war in Iraq for which is was unprepared? Could the volatility in Iraq have been prevented? FRONTLINE takes an in-depth, behind the scenes look at what some government officials said was the underlying cause of America’s problems in Iraq: prewar political infighting that hampered efforts to plan for an orderly postwar transition.

Aired 16 October 2003 • 57 min

FRONTLINE and The New York Times join forces to go deep inside the war on terror at home in "Chasing the Sleeper Cell." With remarkable access to top government officials and counterterrorism investigators -- and featuring an exclusive interview with a member of the alleged terrorist cell -- the report takes viewers inside a secret national security investigation to witness how America's intelligence agencies pursued an alleged Al Qaeda cell operating in the United States.

Aired 6 November 2003

Aired 13 November 2003 • 55 min

In "Dangerous Prescription," FRONTLINE® investigates the integrity of America's drug safety system. Through interviews with current and former FDA officials, critics, a pharmaceutical industry representative, and consumers, the one-hour documentary examines the FDA's handling of several drugs that were approved but later were pulled from the market after causing injuries and even deaths. The program also examines the role that drug companies play in the approval and monitoring of prescription drugs, and questions whether the FDA's current system is adequate for protecting the public.

Aired 20 November 2003

Aired 15 January 2004

Aired 22 January 2004

Aired 12 February 2004 • 57 min

Veteran investigative team Martin Smith, Marcela Gaviria and Scott Anger continued their reporting on Iraq, setting out on a five-week journey across the country, from the Kurdish north, through the Sunni Triangle, to the Shiite south, taking a hard look at the social and political reality beyond the political corridors of Baghdad.

Aired 19 February 2004 • 55 min

In "Tax Me If You Can," FRONTLINE correspondent Hedrick Smith investigates the rampant abuse of tax shelters since the late 1990s. Through interviews with government officials, tax experts, and industry insiders, Smith uncovers an avalanche of bogus transactions -- created by some of America's biggest and most-respected accounting firms, law firms, and investment banks -- that were then aggressively marketed to big corporations and wealthy individuals.

Aired 26 February 2004

Aired 1 April 2004

Aired 8 April 2004 • 56 min

Americans spend $40 billion a year on books, products, and programs designed to do one thing: help us lose weight. From Atkins to Ornish and Weight Watchers to South Beach, today's dieters have a dizzying array of weight loss programs from which to choose -- yet the underlying principles of these diets are often contradictory. In "Diet Wars," FRONTLINE examines the great diet debate. Viewers follow FRONTLINE correspondent Steve Talbot, whose discovery that those "few extra pounds" have put him perilously close to the clinical definition of obesity prompts him to evaluate the myriad diets now available to overweight Americans.

Aired 22 April 2004 • 56 min

The story of Abdurahman Khadr, who was raised to be an Al Qaeda terrorist (his father was a longtime friend of Osama bin Laden) yet became an anti-terror informant for the CIA.

Aired 29 April 2004

Aired 27 May 2004 • 55 min

In "The Way the Music Died," FRONTLINE follows the trajectory of the recording industry from its post-Woodstock heyday in the 1970s and 1980s to what one observer describes as a "hysteria" of mass layoffs and bankruptcy in 2004. The documentary tells its story through the aspirations and experiences of four artists: veteran musician David Crosby, who has seen it all in a career spanning 35 years; songwriter/producer Mark Hudson, a former member of the Hudson Brothers band; Hudson's daughter, Sarah, who is about to release her first single and album; and a new rock band, Velvet Revolver, composed of former members of the rock groups Guns N' Roses and Stone Temple Pilots, whose first album will be released in June.

Aired 17 June 2004

Nearly 95 percent of all cases resulting in felony convictions never reach a jury. They are settled through plea bargains in which a defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence. But what are the implications of a system that relies on pleas to expedite justice?