The isolated nation of Bhutan was the last country on Earth without access to television – until 1999. This short documentary from the PBS investigative series Frontline, first aired in 2002, captures the small Buddhist kingdom as the impact of TV began to reverberate. Beaming in images from around the globe, the medium introduced not just a novel form of distraction, but, as one government official puts it, new desires for things the Bhutanese previously didn’t even know existed. As the film explores, this includes everything from emulating professional wrestlers to buying branded clothing. Throughout, the interviewees – including small children, businesspeople and Buddhist monks – seem, at some level, to be aware that this development is at once culturally corrosive, irresistible and, perhaps, inevitable.
Video by Frontline
Producers: Alexis Bloom, Tshewang Dendup
22 October 2026