FRONTLINE: Generation Like

Manufacturer: ABC News

ABC News tells the story of Chris Merchant, who makes $8.50 an hour at an herb-packing plant. His fiance Eryn makes about $99 a week as a baby-sitter, when she's not taking care of their own two boys, aged one and three. The pair's combined household income amounts to $18,000 a year -- below the federal poverty line. Even with housing assistance, Medicaid for the kids, and occasional help from a social services agency, the Merchants live with the fear of becoming destitute. They talk about a sense of powerlessness over their own lives. Next viewers meet Susan Curry, who works a series of full- and part-time jobs all year, while trying to juggle her four children, ages 11-19, and maintain her house on $20,000 a year. Tax time for people in her income bracket comes early, in January or February, when they qualify for a tax credit because of their low-income status. So when H & R Block started running announcements saying people could come collect their refund and have it processed within two days, she went right away. But the devil is in the fine print: the refund is, in fact, a loan, with an interest rate between 75 and 400 percent. Although those details are laid out on paper, many working poor often miss reading them. Susan feels targeted because of her precarious financial situation and her desperate need for cash. Lastly, ABC News profiles Lisa Engelkins, a single mother caught in another typical loan scheme: payday loans. This are considered "predatory lending:" money l...

Manufacturer: PBS Model: 25938710

A troubling and inspiring journey through the maze of an inner city high school, Dropout Nation investigates the causes, challenges, and potential solutions of a national emergency.

Manufacturer: ABC News

ABC News' Bob Woodruff probes the mysteries of near death experiences and what people see, feel and hear when they describe crossing over from this world to the next - and return.Woodruff talks candidly about what he remembers in the terrible minutes after a vehicle in which he was traveling in Iraq in 2006 hit an improvised explosive device and he saw his body floating beneath him. He speaks with other people who report the same type of out-of-body experience, as well as with theologians, preachers, researchers and physicians who try to explain it.Regardless of age, religious beliefs or profession, many people report similar experiences after they face death or are pronounced medically dead. They describe what they believe are glimpses of a realm beyond this life, while scientists explore biological processes that may be responsible for these experiences.Airdate: 8/3/11When sold by Amazon.com, this product will be manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Manufacturer: PBS Model: 28843218

For decades, the United States has been fixated on incarceration, building prisons and locking up more and more people. But at what cost, and has it really made a difference? FRONTLINE goes to the epicenter of the raging debate about incarceration in America, focusing on the controversial practice of solitary confinement and on new efforts to reduce the prison population, as officials are rethinking what to do with criminals.

Manufacturer: MacNeil / Lehrer Productions

Five accomplished fiction writers discuss their work and the craft of writing. Novelist John Irving talks about the challenges of bringing his stories to the big screen and the differences between screenwriting and novel writing. Susan Sontag comments on how events in her life influenced her novel "In America." Israeli author Amos Oz discusses politics, love and humor amid the chaos of the Palestinian conflict. John Updike reflects on the early part of his career. And in a two-part interview Philip Roth discusses his acclaimed novel "The Plot Against America" and the writing process.When sold by Amazon.com, this product will be manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Manufacturer: PBS

For three decades, Vice President Dick Cheney has waged a secretive and bitter battle to expand the power of the presidency. Now in a direct confrontation with Congress, as the administration asserts executive privilege to head off investigations into domestic wiretapping and the firing of U.S. attorneys. FRONTLINE meticulously traces the behind-closed-doors battle within the administration over the power of the presidency and the rule of law.

Manufacturer: PBS

Every day, nearly 7,000 people die in America, and the rate of autopsies, the gold standard of death investigation, has plummeted. As a result, not only do murderers go free and innocent people go to jail, but the crisis in death investigation in America is also a threat to public health. FRONTLINE reports the results of a joint investigation with ProPublica, NPR, and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley.

Manufacturer: ABC News

In an unparalleled call to action, Diane Sawyer and the resources of ABC News look at the crisis of the foster care system and at ways children can be saved. Sawyer casts a light on young fractured lives, as she takes a rare look at foster care across the country. With unprecedented access -- bringing cameras where they have never been before - she explores a system many consider broken, but one that is struggling to change. According to the latest statistics, just over 800,000 children pass through the system every year, more than 500,000 of whom are taken into foster care. For them, the average length of stay is 31 months. A third are in the system for more than three years. In addition to "Primetime," the DVD contains this extended reporting:* Nightline's Cynthia McFadden follows young people who are aging out of foster care, with nowhere to go and few resources.* 20/20 takes a second look at a thriving program to help get foster children placed for adoption by having professionals photograph them.When sold by Amazon.com, this product will be manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.