The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper (2023)
One whole hour. One whole story. Every week.
A collection of unique and immersive single subject, one-hour episodes from CNN’s longform storytelling team. The recurring weekly series showcases character-driven stories, special interviews, profiles, and investigative deep dives featuring reporting from CNN’s anchors and correspondents.
The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper: Season 1 - 26 Episode s
1x1 - The Trek: A Migrant Trail to America
April 16, 2023
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh travels with thousands of migrants through the jungles of South and Central America and tells their story of danger, grit, and determination to make it to America.
1x2 - How to Unscrew a Planet
April 23, 2023
CNN's Bill Weir travels the globe to meet extraordinary people with extraordinary solutions to help save the planet.
1x3 - The Reign Begins: Charles & Camilla
April 30, 2023
CNN's Erica Hill examines the role of the Royal family in British society and around the world, in an eye-opening special ahead of the coronation of King Charles III.
1x4 - Shaken: Baby Powder on Trial
May 7, 2023
Pamela Brown examines claims made by some of the thousands of women who say that Johnson & Johnson's now-discontinued talc baby powder is responsible for their cancers.
1x5 - What Happened to San Francisco
May 14, 2023
Sara Sidner visits San Francisco and explores its struggles with homelessness, drugs and crime.
1x6 - Surviving Uvalde: Inside a School Shooting
May 21, 2023
A year after the shooting at Robb Elementary School, Shimon Prokupecz gives an inside look into the reality of a school shooting by bringing together students who survived, parents of victims, Mayor Don McLaughlin and more.
1x7 - Indicted: The Case Against Trump
May 27, 2023
CNN looks into the charges that former president Trump faces and facts known about the case, as well as any additional need-to-know details about the investigation and how it could affect the presidential election.
1x8 - Magic Mushrooms: Can They Change Your Mind?
June 4, 2023
CNN Correspondent David Culver travels to Jamaica to explore the therapeutic benefits of medically supervised consumption of psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms.
1x9 - Deadly Adventure: Trip to the Titanic
June 11, 2023
CNN National Correspondent Randi Kaye investigates this story that has rapidly captured the world's attention. On June 18, 2023, five passengers on the Titan submersible dived 13,000 feet to view the Titanic on the ocean floor and perished in a "catastrophic implosion," authorities said Thursday, June 22. This bookended an astounding five-day international search operation near the site of the world's most famous shipwreck. Kaye unravels the timeline of events, starting with the Titan's initial descent and their last communication to the surface. As investigators continue to scour the ocean floor for debris trying to establish the circumstances of the Titan's fatal final voyage, Kaye breaks down everything we know now.
1x10 - Wired for Trouble
June 18, 2023
CNN Anchor and podcast host Audie Cornish delves into the perils of social media and chronicles the journey of three separate families, united by their efforts to hold social media companies accountable for the content published on their platforms.
1x11 - The Gilgo Beach Killer
July 23, 2023
CNN Correspondent Brynn Gingras dives deeply into the 13-year investigation into multiple murders of young women along Gilgo Beach and the man, Rex Heuermann, who has now been charged with these crimes. Last week, Heuermann was arrested and charged with murder in connection with the killings of three of the "Gilgo Four," a group of four women whose remains were found along a short stretch of Long Island's Gilgo Beach in 2010. He is also the prime suspect in the disappearance and killing of the fourth woman but has yet to be charged in that case. The alleged killer had been living a double life in a village a short drive from where their remains were found, prosecutors said.
1x12 - What Happened in Georgia?: The Trump Investigation
July 30, 2023
CNN Political Correspondent Sara Murray examines the case against former President Donald Trump over claims of election fraud and interference in Georgia and the chances of him being indicted again.
1x13 - Weed 7: A Senior Moment
August 6, 2023
Dr. Sanjay Gupta's duPont-Columbia Award-winning Emmy® nominated Weed series returns to explore the drug's risks and benefits in treating chronic issues such as pain, anxiety, and Alzheimer's disease in patients over 50.
1x14 - Restaurant Nation: What's Changed?
August 13, 2023
Celebrity chef Bobby Flay examines how the pandemic changed the restaurant industry and the unique ways chefs and restaurants across the country have adapted.
1x15 - Trump and the Georgia Conspiracy
August 20, 2023
1x16 - Without Roe: The New Abortion Landscape
September 3, 2023
A network of pilots and organizers helps women travel to doctors nationwide to access legal abortion procedures. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, at least 21 states have banned or restricted abortions, forcing countless women to travel hundreds of miles to seek care. "Without Roe: The New Abortion Landscape" examines the ongoing state-by-state struggle over whether abortion should remain accessible in America, featuring advocates coming together to protect access to the procedure while opponents try to restrict it.
1x17 - Hard Hits: Can Football be Safe?
September 10, 2023
CNN Sports Anchor and Correspondent Coy Wire marks the first week of the NFL season with an investigation into how new developments in the sport aim to make the game safer for players.
1x18 - Dancing in Defiance
September 17, 2023
CNN's Chief International Anchor, Christiane Amanpour, covers the remarkable story of Ukrainian ballet dancers who faced the wrenching decision to either leave their homes and show the world the face of Ukrainian culture or stay behind to continue performing in a war zone.
1x19 - Waiting for JFK: Report from the Fringe
September 24, 2023
CNN Correspondent Donie O'Sullivan presents a chilling year-long investigation into the devoted followers of a fringe conspiracy theory rooted in QAnon ideology.
1x20 - Terror in Israel
October 15, 2023
CNN Anchor Anderson Cooper provides an in-depth look at the devastating attack on The Nova Festival near the Gaza-Israel border. The outdoor music festival was supposed to be an all-night dance party, celebrating the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The rockets began around 6:30 a.m. as Gaza militants fired at the hundreds of attendees. The Nova Festival was one of multiple locations hit last Saturday morning by the most sustained and coordinated assault inside Israel ever carried out by Hamas militants. At least 260 bodies would later be found at the festival site, and some attendees were taken hostage, seen in social media videos being seized by their armed captors. Featuring new interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses of the attack and family members of kidnapped victims, Cooper breaks down everything we know so far about the deadly assault and how this surprise attack escalated into war.
1x21 - Inside Hamas
October 22, 2023
CNN Anchor and Senior National Correspondent Sara Sidner provides a comprehensive overview of the extremist group Hamas. Sidner explores the origins and philosophy of Hamas, including their current military capabilities and how the organization just inflicted the deadliest attack in Israel's 75-year history, overwhelming the most powerful and advanced military in the Middle East. Featuring archival CNN reporting in the region and interviews with CNN experts, including Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour, Senior International Correspondent Sam Kiley, and International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson, Sidner unravels the complicated history of Hamas and the catalysts that led to the terrorist attack on Israel.
1x22 - Hostage to Terror
October 29, 2023
CNN Anchor Anderson Cooper provides new reporting on the families of those kidnapped from Nir Oz in Southern Israel. A mile from Gaza, the Nir Oz kibbutz was targeted during the October 7 terrorist attack, and earlier this week, residents Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper were two of the hostages released by Hamas. Speaking with survivors and family members, Cooper reveals the devastating details about what happened on that fateful Saturday and how the survivors have been coping as more than a quarter of the people who lived in the kibbutz are dead or missing.
1x23 - Antisemitism in America
November 5, 2023
CNN Anchor and Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash delivers an in-depth examination of the rise of antisemitism in the United States, following the October 7 attack on Israel. Antisemitism was already on an alarming rise even before October 7 with near 60% of religious hate crimes perpetrated against the Jewish community, despite it making up just 2.4% of the American population according to the FBI. Bash investigates not just what the attacks against Jews are but why they are so pervasive right now. Antisemitism and its conspiracies and tropes run deep in society and has for millennia, but in modern times it has largely festered beneath the surface. In America, that changed in the last ten years with extremists from the hard right feeling emboldened by the political climate. But antisemitism has also been brewing on the hard left, masquerading as political free speech, especially at America's elite universities.
1x24 - Going Home: The War in Sudan
November 12, 2023
« Previous Ep. Next Ep. » CNN Chief International Investigative Correspondent Nima Elbagir reports a deeply personal dispatch from her home country Sudan. Millions of people have fled the country as stories of brutal war crimes leak from the capital. Still, Elbagir was determined to shed light on these atrocities and uncover how the people of Sudan are coping. From a refugee camp near the southern border where nearly 2.8 million people have fled the war, she travels north into war-torn Sudan, making a trek that very few Western media organizations have been allowed to make. Her destination is the capital city of Khartoum, one of two major areas where the fighting is concentrated and where her family home is located. But the journey will not be easy – she must circumnavigate dangerous checkpoints to avoid confrontation with paramilitary groups who do not want her in Sudan.
1x25 - Seeing Red: Running with the Bulls
November 19, 2023
CNN Senior National Correspondent David Culver reports a nail-biting account of the world-renowned and controversial running of the bulls from the streets of Pamplona, Spain.
1x26 - Homebirth Journey: Saving Black Moms
November 26, 2023