FRONTLINE: the pbs documentary series not the flea medicine

the phone call with Pistolis, omg

where he offers the bribe?! astonishing. like he's actually pretty happy working for pro publica but wow thanks for the offer.

i want to know how he planned to help him with his career

he said something about how he would "talk" to him -- like maybe he was pretending to promise cooperation with a future piece of journalism? that's what i gathered at least.

like "i'll be your source just not right now"

that was the marine right?!

two hours of bone-chilling documentation of our national trainwreck https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/trumps-showdown/

2 hours? Right so the file sizes I was seeing it as were right, not overlarge.
Got a version taht didn't play or I'd've watched it earlier this week

Been watching through a few earlier ones recently too.

Credit Card one with Liz Warren still as a law professor.
American porn

& half watched a couple of others
Trouble with chicken
Antibiotics

lol "The Trouble with Chicken" remains one of my favorite titles of anything ever

it's not quite two hours but like 1:56 or something; veeeeery long, lots of awful shit to comb over in abundant detail

"The Facebook Dilemma" two-parter is worth watching just for that scene of a clearly uncomfortable Zuck sweating and stumbling when asked by Kara Swisher about privacy issues. Facebook's stepford spokesperson was clearly making me uncomfortable. 21st century tech businesses indistinguishable from a cult. Non-shocker, I know.

"We're an optimistic company."

--- Mark Zuckerberg ---

oh man it is definitely worth watching the two parter
he was so sweaty and totally unprepared for confronting with his own brain what facebook has done
their spokes people said more through the grimaces before and after each fake answer
the way they seem to always think "we're a tech company not a media company" (end discussion) was going to excuse them from each and every offense was pretty naive/ignorant imo.

Nothing says "holiday weekend coming up" like extended Frontline programming about hate in the USA

Documenting Hate: New American Nazis premieres tonight at a special time — 9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. CST — on PBS stations (check local listings) and online, followed by an updated rebroadcast of Documenting Hate: Charlottesville. Read related reporting at propublica.org.

I will watch this glutted with turkey the way a sane person watches the nfl

this one looks impossibly sad, idk if i can watch it
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/mentally-ill-new-york-living-independently-housing/

fuuuuuck

i will add that i thought the most recent "nazis in america" one was well done and i cant remember the name of the journalist but it's the same guy who did the last one, where the troll asked if he REALLY wanted to be working for propublica when he was talking with him on the phone in the car. the second installment has him going to a metal show and it's worth watching just for that. he wears a short sleeved shirt and does a decent job of looking reasonably incognito aside from the cameras that were following him :)

Premiered tonight -- "Predator on the Reservation" about an unchecked pedophile doctor is reminding me of the naming conventions started by Rape in the Fields and Rape on the Night Shift. On one hand. go for it -- call a spade a spade. Also, thank you for the warnings before the film (which is more than I can say for Netflix and Abducted in Plain Sight) In sum, I guess I really have to hand it to Frontline for clear unequivocal onomastics?

On the obvious downside, another unchecked pedophile :( :( :(

i saw the description of that ep pop up in the tivo and canceled it; cannot imagine it's conceivably watchable.
should i stay away from "Abducted"? Everyone's talking about it and i've avoided discussion but if it's just gonna be a trigger fest...

I would 100% stay away from "Abducted" if you are sensitive to sexual abuse -- the only warning of it that i can recall was the TV-14 "rating" which does not give any indication whatsoever of the (very disturbing) contents of the movie, esp wrt parental neglect. i watched it not knowing what i was getting myself into, which is what bothered me. it'd be nice if everyone followed the same warning conventions (not to get too PMRC about it but...)

thanks for the warning

<3 no prob
someone's gotta do it

frontine seems determined to bring us the most disturbing news the world has to offer
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/the-trial-of-ratko-mladic/

gotta hand it to em for clarity of purpose

holy shit

that one was really disturbing on a human nature level, esp when they interviewed the mladic hardline supporters.

in better news, new David Sutherland (Kind Hearted Woman, Country Boys) doc finally coming out!! his titles are getting longer: new one is "Marcos Doesn't Live Here Anymore"

ooh yay

and yeah, mladic was a touch watch all round but i am glad i watched, there was a lot i was not aware of at the time

*tough

will watch new sutherland no q's asked! It will be a frontline?

yup
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/marcos-doesnt-live-here-anymore/

premieres 4/15

Marcos Doesn't Live Here Anymore is definitely worth your time -- lots of food for thought, looming elephants in the room, awkward community meetings & very private personal conversations

ooh i forgot about this - must watch

curious what other people think about it
report back!

i still haven't been able to discuss this because no one i know has watched it
cmon ilx don't leave me hangin

plus upcoming one is about the neverending battle about legal abortion and i probably won't watch that tbh

I can't watch Frontline anymore, the daily news pushes me past the point I can bear watching anything except X-Files reruns or the Voyage of the Mimi

Caught the one covering the history of the Mueller report a couple of weeks back.
But having to d/ld them so only catching them when I see them upped.

i watched marcos. i had a lot of thoughts.

i worked on one of these once, "the future of war" in 2000. it was basically my one and only involvement with serious journalism, before i spent the rest of my 20s reviewing shit alt-country records. ah well.

Harbl I’d like to know your thoughts. I had some too. Lots actually. I can’t stop thinking about the lack of overt discussion in the film about language. How can they not talk about language? The communication difficulties between him and his wife were like a cloud hanging over the whole thing.

F hazel that makes me sad. I basically only get my news via local public radio and am on a strict no-opinion/no-prognostication diet. I get the aversion :(

i'm sleepy and not able to articulate these things well anyway but what i appreciated most about this one was it was not constructed in a way to be such a hopeful story like too many political documentaries are. it was just extremely complicated. and you say "how can they not talk about language" which is true but there are many things that were not talked about here that made it more interesting in a way. i am having trouble with how to explain this...having spent more time apart than together, their relationship had frozen in a honeymoon period in a way? these two had not enough experience being with each other. it is easy to long for a person when you talk on skype for one hour a day and spend all your other time fighting to get them back to you. together the language and other difficulties just turn sort of toxic. it was like there was a wall between them when they were together. in fact i felt that had he not been deported this may not have lasted. i feel bad for thinking that.

There are always huge elephants in the room in all the Sutherland docs I’ve seen— it’s why I love them! Language was just a small part of it. Culture was another part. Distance wasn’t so much of an elephant but an albatross they had to carry around. Thank you for your thoughts!

Sadly I thought for sure there wouldn’t be 4 kids if he hadn’t been deported but I am a romantic realist, not a romantic. His deportation characterized/epitomized their relationship in a way.

yup, i think you're right

At the same time, jfc can they let the guy back in to be with his veteran wife? Just say yes — that was all anyone had to do.

My nomination for most awkward scene was tied between them awkwardly walking around Mexico City and arguing about their (“luxury”) apartment wherever they were in the Yucatán.

"Trump's Trade War" = extremely boring imo, put me directly to sleep

That means it has its virtues, but I don't recommend watching it. Suuuuuuuuuper dull.

If you're like "this day/week/month/year is pretty nice, but what I really need right now is a way to freak out about the law of the land" then this Frontline is for you!
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/thirty-nine-supreme-revenge-interviews-on-the-record-at-your-fingertips/

i...don't think i'm gonna watch this one

same :(

new one about Saudi Arabia is suuuuper long (almost 2 hours) and O_O
haven't missed a frontline in years, why start now