Ten Steps to Disaster

E1 Episode 1: Surfside Condo Collapse

• Now playing
• 45m
• Mar 26, 2023

During the night, the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside, Miami, collapsed, killing 98 people; revealing fatal mistakes that led to the disaster, including code violations, inadequate storm defenses, ignored warnings and a contaminant.

E2 Episode 2: Texas Blackout

• 45m
• Apr 2, 2023

A look at ten key factors that contributed to the 2021 Texas blackout, which left four million homes without power and heat, leading to roughly 700 deaths.

E3 Episode 3: Iranian Hostage Crisis

• 45m
• Apr 9, 2023

Iranian students invade the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 66 Americans hostage and triggering a crisis that will last 444 days; 10 key mistakes the United States made, including an ignorance of anti-U.S. sentiment and multiple security errors.

E4 Episode 4: Boston Marathon Bombing

• 44m
• Apr 16, 2023

April 15, 2013. Two explosions rock the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring over 260. The blasts are immediately identified as a terrorist act, but many questions remain. Who planted the bombs? Why did they do it? And most pressing of all: how did they pull off an attack at one of America's most celebrated events undetected? Through in-depth analysis and expert testimony, we list the missed opportunities, security failures, and other errors that allowed the devastating events to unfold before, during, and after the bombing.

E5 Episode 5: Mount St. Helens

• 44m
• Apr 23, 2023

A list of 10 key errors and missteps that were made before, during, and after the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state.

E6 Episode 6: The Opioid Crisis

• 45m
• Apr 30, 2023

Physicians and other experts examine the rise of an opioid crisis fueled by greed and misleading claims made by Purdue Pharma, makers of the highly addictive painkiller OxyContin.

E7 Episode 7: Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

• 45m
• May 7, 2023

In 2011, a preventable nuclear meltdown in Japan endanger tens of thousands due to multiple structural failures, a lack of emergency training and a persistent myth of infallible safety.

E8 Episode 8: Waco Siege

• 45m
• May 14, 2023