Plot Synopsis

Hosted by Shane Smith, founder of new-media company VICE, this newsmagazine showcases a mix of stories from around the globe, with each 30-minute episode exploring two issues.

Featured stories in Season 1 included: the out-of-control political assassinations in the Philippines; senior members of the Taliban manipulating children into carrying out suicide bombings; North Korean defectors using a modern-day underground railroad in South Korea; the precarious nuclear staredown in Kashmir; the sumo/Mixed Martial Arts craze that has swept Senegal; and many more. Bill Maher is an executive producer, while Fareed Zakaria is a consultant.

VICE returned for its sophomore season on Friday, March 14, 2014 at 11pm ET/PT on HBO, with stories about rampant U.S. military waste and corruption in Afghanistan and extortion, torture and killing in Rio de Janeiro's favelas. Subsequent episodes in Season 2 covered these stories: terrorist training in Dagestan; Evangelical Christians' support of Israel; high temperatures causing parts of Greenland to melt, raising sea levels; laborers working in Pakistan's brick kilns; and much more. Along with Shane Smith, 2014 correspondents include: VICE Media co-founder Suroosh Alvi; conflict-zone journalist, documentary filmmaker and author Ben Anderson; Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist Fazeelat Aslam; VICE Media editor-in-chief Rocco Castoro; artist David Choe; filmmaker and producer Vikram Gandhi; Iranian photojournalist and filmmaker Gelareh Kiazand; and longtime VICE correspondent Thomas Morton.

Season 3 premiered on Friday, March 6, 2015 at 11pm ET/PT on HBO. The season opener, "Our Rising Oceans," features a 45-minute extended report about Earth's rising waters. With human use of hydrocarbons skyrocketing waters around the globe are getting hotter, and now the warm sub-surface water is washing into Antarctica's massive western glaciers, causing them to retreat and break off. Antarctica hold 90% of the world's ice and 70% of its freshwater, so even if a small fraction of the ice sheet melts, the resulting sea level rise will completely remap the world. In the last decade, some of the most significant glaciers have tripled their melt rate. VICE founder Shane Smith travels to the bottom of the world to investigate the instability of the West Antarctic ice sheet and see firsthand how the continent is melting. VICE also follows the rising oceans to Bangladesh for a glimpse into the world's underwater future. From the UN Climate conference to the People's Climate March to the forces that deny the science of global climate change, this extended report covers all sides of the issue and all corners of the globe, ending in an interview with Vice President Joe Biden. Subsequent episodes in the show's third season explore topics like the state of American policing, the movement of families fleeing gang violence in Central America, and new drug trafficking routes from South America to Africa.

VICE returned for its fourth season on Friday, February 5 at 11pm on HBO. In the season opener featured two stories: Boko Haram: The terrorist group Boko Haram is responsible for thousands of deaths in Nigeria. Now, the government is determined to drive these militants from the country. But is the hunt for insurgents causing as much harm as it's preventing? Former Navy SEAL and new VICE correspondent Kaj Larsen travels to Nigeria to see what this cat-and-mouse game means for the people caught in the middle of the fight. Unnatural Selection: For centuries, scientists have been working to change the genetic traits of plants and animals. Now, a new gene-editing method called CRISPR has made that process astonishingly simple -- so simple that it could easily be used on humans. Isobel Yeung reports from Brazil, Scotland, China, and the United States on the technological advances that could reshape evolution as we know it.

On Friday, February 24, 2017 at 7:30pm and 11pm ET/PT, HBO premiered the 29-episode fifth season of the weekly series VICE. With a wide-ranging mix of international and domestic stories, the new season takes viewers from conflict zones in the Middle East and Africa to the frontlines of lifesaving medical and tech breakthroughs. The new season opens with correspondent Isobel Yeung traveling through regime-controlled Syria and VICE Media founder and CEO Shane Smith uncovering the true economic stakes of decades of climate denial. On the second edition, Emmy-nominated correspondent. Gianna Toboni meets U.S. families and doctors who are rewriting the rules as they decide when and how to start medical intervention before trans youth hit puberty. Veteran war correspondent Ben Anderson and rising stars Isobel Yeung and Gianna Toboni return for Season 5, which also features VICE Media founder Suroosh Alvi, Hamilton Morris and Thomas Morton. Eddie Huang, Wilbert Cooper, Charlet Duboc, Taylor Wilson, Cord Jefferson and Ben Ferguson join the team as correspondents this year.

HBO premiered the 30-episode sixth season of VICE on Friday, April 6, 2018 from 7:30-8:20pm ET/PT on HBO, as the series continues its commitment to covering under-covered global stories with exclusive reports from Iraq, Russia, the Central African Republic and China. Season 6 also focuses on the domestic issues dividing the nation, providing in-depth, trusted reporting on the major debates surrounding gun laws, immigration, economics, education, civil rights and America's place in the world. In a special season premiere, "Raised in the System," Michael Kenneth Williams takes a personal journey to expose the root of the American mass incarceration crisis: the juvenile justice system. The season opener offers a frank and unflinching look at people caught up in the system, exploring why the country's mass incarceration problem cannot be fixed without first addressing the juvenile justice problem, and investigates solutions communities are employing that are resulting in drastic drops in crime and incarceration. With more than 850,000 juvenile arrests a year and 48,000 kids sitting in lock-up daily, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of minors in the world. However, recent FBI statistics reveal that the highest arrest rates for violent crimes, including murder, robbery and car theft, come in late teenage years and then fall significantly. Having grown up in Brooklyn's Vanderveer projects, Williams has seen first-hand how family and close friends have been swept up in the criminal justice system at an early age. In this episode, Williams meets with his nephew Dominic, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for second-degree murder at age 19, and his cousin Niven, who entered the prison system age 14, was released with restrictions preventing him from returning to his family, and ultimately fell back into crime. In Baltimore, Williams reunites with Felicia 'Snoop' Pearson, his former co-star on THE WIRE, who describes how her life was transformed after being sent to a maximum security facility for adult women as a teenager. From Brooklyn and Toledo to Richmond and Baltimore, Williams meets young offenders stuck in the system, as well as the judges and community members trying to keep them out, while also listening to the heartbreaking accounts of young children in Newark striving to stay out of prison, despite living against a backdrop of family incarceration. Later in the season, George Polk Award winner Elle Reeve continues her coverage of the white supremacy movement in America, while Antonia Hylton reports on the gang violence devastating Chicago. Isobel Yeung gives audiences an unprecedented look inside the chaos and rebirth of societies across the Middle East, from Yemen and Libya to Iran and Iraq. Gianna Toboni continues her award-winning coverage of civil rights and documents the ongoing threats to Rohingya refugees who remain stateless and are at risk of repatriation to Myanmar. After years of covering front lines across the Middle East and Africa, Ben Anderson returns with stories of communities and ethnic groups who were displaced by violence and are now fighting for a home in contested lands from Afghanistan to the Central African Republic.

Moving to Showtime for its 13-episode seventh season, VICE premiered on Sunday, March 29, 2020 at 8pm ET/PT. In each half-hour episode, correspondents continue to pursue untold stories on the environment, social justice, civil rights and identity. This season, Isobel Yeung reports on the growing human rights crisis in India, where the government has directed the building of detention camps for targeted Muslims. In Dagestan, Alzo Slade explores why the Russian republic has become an incubator for the world's top wrestlers and MMA fighters. Closer to home, Paola Ramos investigates the Trump Administration's hardline "Remain in Mexico" immigration mandate that has turned asylum-seekers into a kidnapping commodity for the cartels and traffickers, and Gianna Toboni delves into the horrifying conditions at Mississippi's Parchman Prison, where more than a dozen inmates have died since last December. The VICE reporting team includes these journalists -- Suroosh Alvi, Krishna Andavolu, Ben Anderson, Charlet Duboc, Vikram Gandhi, Hind Hassan, Josh Hersh, Hamilton Morris, David Noriega, Paola Ramos, Alzo Slade, Gianna Toboni, Seb Walker and Isobel Yeung -- reporting from all corners of the globe. In the season premiere, "Keepers of the Caliphate & SIM Kids," VICE's team gained unique access at Camp al-Hol in Northeastern Syria, where tens of thousands of women and children who once lived under ISIS are currently being held. Correspondent Hind Hassan investigates how a power vacuum has left brigades of radicalized ISIS women revolting against Kurdish security personnel, fighting for a resurgence of the terror group in the region. The debut episode will also give an inside look at the hidden arena of cell phone hacking, as correspondent Krishna Andavolu investigates how young video-gamers-turned-criminals are devastating their victims' lives, stealing millions of dollars through an underground practice known as SIM swapping.

A 15-episode new season of VICE -- its eighth overall and second on Showtime -- debuted on Sunday, March 7, 2021 at 8pm ET/PT on Showtime. Eight episodes air weekly on Sundays leading to a midseason finale on April 25. The remaining seven episodes debut Fall 2021. The VICE reporting team includes a diverse group of award-winning journalists, including Isobel Yeung, Gianna Toboni, Alzo Slade, Paola Ramos, Hind Hassan, David Noriega, Krishna Andavolu, and Seb Walker. In the season opener, "Talibanistan & Armed and Black," the US signed a peace deal with the Taliban in 2020. Hind Hassan travels inside Taliban-controlled Afghanistan to speak with civilians and fighters and see what the future of Afghanistan could look like now that American troops are leaving after more than 19 years of war; In 2020, Black Americans purchased guns at a rate 60% higher than in 2019. Alzo Slade meets the major players arming up the Black community and talks with those who've seen first-hand how arming oneself as a Black person can carry unique and deadly risks. After a six-month break, VICE returned with new episodes on Sunday, November 14, 2021 at 8pm ET/PT on Showtime. In the fall premiere, "Cancer Alley & Cuba's New Revolution," VICE News' Alzo Slade travels to Cancer Alley, an 85-mile stretch in Louisiana where nearly 150 petrochemical plants and oil refineries line the Mississippi river, to speak with residents about how this industrial corridor has impacted their health; VICE News' Paola Ramos travels to Cuba to find out if the 62-year-old Communist dictatorship is losing a grip on its people.

On Sunday, May 1, 2022 at 8pm ET/PT, Showtime premiered a new season of VICE -- its ninth overall and its third on Showtime -- with the first of eight new episodes, leading to the mid-season finale on June 19. The remaining eight episodes of the season will air later in 2022. The VICE reporting team includes a diverse group of award-winning journalists, including Hind Hassan, Alzo Slade, Seb Walker, Paola Ramos, Gianna Toboni, Ben C. Solomon, David Noriega, and Krishna Andavolu. In the season opener, "Putin's Playbook & United States of Vigilantes," Hind Hassan reports on the Russian invasion of Ukraine from Kharkiv, one of the cities worst-affected by Putin's tactic of brutal and indiscriminate bombing; Paola Ramos travels the United States to understand how a new political tool is altering democracy. After a one-month break, VICE returned for its summer premiere on Sunday, July 31, 2022 at 8pm ET/PT on Showtime. In the mid-season debut, "Addiction in Afghanistan & Blurred Blue Line," Isobel Yeung is in Afghanistan, exploring the Taliban's ban on drugs -- and the issues with addiction; Vegas Tenold heads to the Midwest to see whether police officers can actually be trained to intervene in cases of police misconduct.
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VICE for a tenth season -- its fourth season on Showtime -- on Sunday, May 7, 2023 at 8pm ET/PT, with the first of eight new episodes. Eight additional Season 10 episodes will debut later in the season. VICE returns with a new slate of stories from its team of global correspondents. In the season opener, "Syrian Aftershock & Almost Intelligent," Hind Hassan travels to northwest Syria to investigate a recent devastating earthquake and what prevented critical humanitarian aid from getting to survivors in the region who needed it the most; Krishna Andavolu reports on rapid developments in artificial intelligence and learns why many in the tech industry worry that time is running out to uncover how these new AI systems really work -- before they become too powerful to control. Additional stories include: Paola Ramos investigating the newest form of methamphetamine called P2P, or "super meth," and its devastating effect on the country's homelessness and mental health crises; and more.