Retro Report on PBS

News and Public Affairs Series / 1 Season

Retro Report makes sense of the present by revealing the past. Join journalists Celeste Headlee and Masud Olufani as they connect the present to the past through four distinct and varied stories, and New Yorker humorist Andy Borowitz adds his signature wit.

Watch Latest: S1 E8

10m 27s / TV-14

Smoke On The Water | Andy Borowitz

S1 E5 / 4m 11s / TV-14

New Yorker magazine humorist Andy Borowitz takes a look at America’s history of flammable water – most famously, the incident in 1969 when the polluted Cuyahoga River in Cleveland spontaneously combusted.

Could a Simple Intervention Fight a Suicide Crisis?

S1 E5 / 9m 29s / TV-14

Suicide rates have been rising steadily across the country, with U.S. service members and veterans at particular risk. One simple intervention – “caring letters,” messages of compassion and empathy – showed promise in the 1960s, but has been overlooked until now.

Born by Surrogate: Pathways to Parenthood

S1 E5 / 12m 5s / TV-14

Parenthood through surrogacy is widely accepted in the United States, but it's not closely regulated. It’s an issue that many state legislators won’t touch, because of what happened in the case of Baby M.

Episode 5

S1 E5 / 55m 10s / TV-PG

Texting could reduce suicides. Surrogate parenthood. Lead is banned but a toxic mess remains. Climate help may come from the Cold War. Long prison sentences based on old fears are being shortened. Andy Borowitz on a river that burst into flames.

Episode 4

S1 E4 / 53m 50s / TV-14

President Trump is taking on the press with a time-tested strategy. Explore the origins of the latest measles outbreak, pro sports free agency, and the consequences of a law meant to save wild horses. Andy Borowitz on the no-apology apology.

The Birth of Free Agency

S1 E4 / 12m 54s

The drama of modern free agency has become as much a part of professional sports as the games themselves. But it wasn’t always that way. Today’s free agents owe a big debt of gratitude to St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood.

How Fears Over the Measles Vaccine Took Hold

S1 E4 / 12m 24s

Vaccines are one of the greatest achievements in the history of public health. So why are we always hearing about the reappearance of a disease like measles that we thought had been eradicated? Skepticism and fear surrounding vaccines were fed by a flawed study done in 1998. The study was quickly discredited, but years later, we’re still dealing with the repercussions.

Trump's War Against the Press

S1 E4 / 11m 48s

Blasting the media has been a hallmark of President Trump. He has also championed the prosecution of those who leak White House secrets, threatening to do the same to journalists. He is following a playbook that dates to Richard Nixon, and was revised more recently by Barack Obama.

Horses: Wild, But Not Free

S1 E4 / 8m 52s

There are now so many wild horses on public land – nearly 100,000 – that they have become caught in a battle between the government, ranchers and environmentalists. That’s because of a law from the 1970s that had some unexpected consequences.

Sorry/Not Sorry | Andy Borowitz

S1 E4 / 4m 22s / TV-PG

New Yorker magazine humorist Andy Borowitz reviews the highly ineffective tropes and clichés that politicians use to cling to power after they have become mired in scandal.

LSD Gets Another Look | Full Report

S1 E3 / 11m 46s

Today psychedelic drugs are back in the lab, providing hope for people who suffer from anxiety, depression, and even addiction. LSD has long been associated with 1960s counterculture. But long before it hit the streets, LSD was being studied as a treatment in psychiatry.

The Garbage Barge That Helped Fuel a Movement | Full Report

S1 E3 / 11m 1s

In the 1980s, rising public awareness about waste was fueled by a bizarre news story: the story of New York’s meandering garbage barge. Today, Americans recycle about 68 million tons of trash.

Episode 3

S1 E3 / 54m 11s / TV-14

Why crime witnesses fail to act. A Naval officer who transformed the U.S. military. Psychedelic drugs like LSD are back in the lab. The meandering voyage of a trash barge that persuaded us to recycle. Andy Borowitz highlights lunar hoax theorists.

The Modern Bystander Effect | Full Report

S1 E3 / 11m 3s

Why would someone film an assault instead of intervening? And why didn’t those watching online call the police? A phenomenon social scientists call the “bystander effect” was first identified some 50 years ago after the murder of Kitty Genovese in New York City. That case can shed light on behavior in the digital age.

Were the Moon Conspiracy Theories Faked? | Andy Borowitz

S1 E3 / 4m 19s

50 years after Apollo 11, New Yorker magazine humorist Andy Borowitz looks at the evolution of the myth that the moon landing was faked, as well as other truth-adjacent conspiracy theories.

Episode 2

S1 E2 / 55m 15s / TV-14

Uncover crime evidence pulled from DNA websites. See how drug rules stem from a pill’s side effects. Learn.how a screen addiction cure is rooted in the past and why Americans are ambivalent about robots. Andy Borowitz objects to “no news.”

Where Did The News Go? | Andy Borowitz

S1 E2 / 4m 29s / TV-14

We hear a lot about fake news these days, but New Yorker magazine humorist Andy Borowitz wants to talk about another widespread phenomenon: no news. Every day on TV we’re assaulted with the empty news calories, the Pringles potato chips of news. But who was the evil genius behind this maddening trend?

Could D&D Help Fight Screen Addiction? | Full Report

S1 E2 / 11m 23s / TV-14

Parents worry about the latest video games, like Fortnite. A generation ago, Dungeons and Dragons was the game that seemed like a menace. But in a surprising twist, its role-playing strategies are now seen as a counterbalance to the problem of screen addiction.

New Clues From Old Evidence | Full Report

S1 E2 / 14m 32s / TV-14

DNA information that is available on genealogy websites is doing more than satisfying curiosity. Data collected from consumer DNA tests is helping the police to close cold case files, including a long-unsolved murder from the 1980s. But their use to solve cold cases is raising new concerns about privacy protection.

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