As of July 2026, Frontline Season 2 aired in 1984 with 24 episodes — streaming now on PBS. Full episode guide and where to watch below.

Frontline Season 2 poster

← Back to Frontline

Frontline Season 2

1984 24 Episodes Documentary · News ⭐ 7/10

Frontline Season 2 has built a real following on and among viewers who want documentaries that actually inform. The show says what it needs to say in a single season, no filler. 57 viewers have already rated it on TMDB — the kind of consensus that does not happen by accident. Rigorous in a way documentary storytelling does not always commit to. Put it on tonight and see for yourself.

Frontline Season 2 is not trying to be everything to everyone, and that focus is exactly what makes it work. Frontline Season 2 approaches its subject with the rigour that makes documentary storytelling worth taking seriously. Judy Woodruff's first season as on-air host. Will Lyman and Judy Woodruff lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was aired in 1984. Frontline Season 2 lets its subjects speak for themselves rather than shaping them into a predetermined narrative. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

Anyone after documentary work that genuinely informs rather than confirms will value Frontline Season 2. It rewards viewers regardless of what else is in their watch history. Best experienced as a single, sustained watch if your schedule allows. The access the production gets is remarkable, and the storytelling does full justice to it. Worth watching in order, from the beginning.

📡 Where to Watch Frontline Season 2

🇺🇸 United States

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

PBS America Amazon Channel

🎬 Frontline Season 2 — Episode Guide

Crisis at General Hospital

Investor-owned for-profit hospital chains are aggressively marketing themselves to treat only the insured or wealthy patient. But most Americans assume government and charity programs enable everyone -- no matter how poor -- to receive treatment for serious health problems.

As American corporations begin to adopt a Japanese management style stressing worker involvement in a family-like corporate environment, Frontline looks at the darker side of Japanese labor relations at the Nissan Motor Company in both Japan and Smyrna, Tennessee.

The Old Man and the Gun

Viewing the conflict in Northern Ireland through the eyes of Irish Americans who support the IRA and its strategy of violence. Profiles Michael Flannery, Grand Marshal of New York City's St. Patrick's Day Parade, who participated in an ambush on British troops in Ireland some 50 years ago.

Give Me That Big Time Religion

Investigating whether the tens of millions of dollars raised through the appeals of television evangelists like Jimmy Swaggart goes more to doing God's work or to keeping the preachers on TV. Should the government regulate religious fundraising?

The Campaign for Page One

On the eve of the 1984 New Hampshire primary, the first of four national election reports. Correspondent Richard Reeves looks behind the scenes at the presidential candidates and the political reporters who cover them -- the story behind the story and who writes it.

The Mind of a Murderer (1)

Kenneth Bianchi, who killed two women in Bellingham, Washington, and was one of the Hillside Strangler murderers in Los Angeles, almost escaped punishment for these crimes because he convinced a group of experts that he had multiple personalities and was not mentally competent to stand trial.

The Mind of a Murderer (2)

Amid questionable use of psychiatric evidence in criminal proceedings, Kenneth Bianchi is revealed to be an accomplished faker.

The Struggle for Birmingham

A special election report focuses on Birmingham, Alabama -- famously a battlefield for black civil rights. Frontline correspondent Richard Reeves examines black political power today and the struggle for the heart and soul of the black voter.

Captive in El Salvador

Filmmaker Ofra Bikel takes us into the heart of El Salvador -- a tiny Central America nation about which we know so much, and yet so little -- to examine the politics and the people the U.S. government supports there.

Chasing the Basketball Dream

Charlie Cobb looks at young men who make it big playing basketball, and many who will not. College recruiters promise an education in exchange for play, but 75% of players never obtain a degree. Are colleges too busy with their big-time sports programs to be concerned with educating their players?

The Other Side of the Track

An insider's look at the 'sport of kings' focused on tracks at Belmont, NY, where the rich indulge their interest in horse-racing, and at Great Barrington in Massachusetts where infirm horses run for purses that can barely pay the feed bill. This is America's number one spectator sport, in which ten...

Return of the Great White Fleet

Profiling Navy Secretary John Lehman and the growing debate inside the Navy establishment to build a multi-billion-dollar fleet which critics warn may not be suited to the kind of wars the nation is most likely to fight.

Warning from Gangland

Explores what Los Angeles is trying to do about its gang problem. It's the worst in the nation, killing more than 1,000 people over the past three years -- the majority of whom were not even gang members.

Bread, Butter and Politics

Examines findings from a presidential commission and several private advocacy groups on hunger in America, and the extent to which they capture the human story as well as the political environment surrounding the issue.

Man's Best Friends

Examining ethical arguments over the use of animal testing in American laboratories, hospitals, and medical schools. While some animal rights groups break into labs to 'liberate' research animals, many scientists claim any significant restriction on animal testing would end medical progress.

So You Want to Be President

Following the 1984 presidential campaign of Gary Hart to reveal presidential politics as it has never before been seen on television -- from the early days of lonely ambition, through the months of promise, to the day of denial.

Welcome to America

The bittersweet story of four unforgettable people who flee repression in Poland to find a better life in Chicago. They succeed, fail, fight, love, laugh, and confront an America unlike anything they had ever imagined.

Not One of the Boys

As more women are voting and running for elected office, correspondent Judy Woodruff looks at women and politics in 1984 through the eyes of accomplished women like UN Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and vice-presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro.

Living Below the Line

It could never happen to you. One day it happened to Farrell Stallings. After 28 years at the same job, he was laid off-a victim of the recession. Now he's broke, afraid, and at the mercy of the welfare system. Frontline follows him into the maze of the bureaucracy.

The Arab and the Israeli

Two men, a Palestinian and an Israeli, born thirty miles apart, journey to America. In synagogues and universities, on television talk shows and interviews, they try to project a message: that a solution for the West Bank is possible.

🎭 Cast of Frontline Season 2

Will Lyman

Self - Narrator (voice)

Judy Woodruff

📋 All Seasons of Frontline

Season 1 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 Season 7 Season 8 Season 9

Never Lose Track of Frontline

TV Butler Pro lets you search every streaming service in seconds, tracks what you've watched, and works completely free. No app download needed.

🎩 Try TV Butler Pro Free