I was planning on writing a lot about "In Search of Al Qaeda", but I'll be brief and hope you watch "Frontline" tonight on PBS (check local listings).

It doesn't follow the standard format for series both in the way it was made and the style. Martin Smith and co-producer Marcela Gaviria filed email dispatches while they were still reporting and the rough edges remain in the finished documentary. There aren't any easy answers presented, but lots of troubling questions are raised.

This is the first time Smith has been the reporter. He has produced many documentaries including a number of the 9/11 related shows last season and the excellent "Drug Wars' which featured former "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman as the reporter.

This evening, an extensive website will go online including footage from the area near the Afghan border Pakistani authorities wouldn't give access to the "Frontline" crew because of the danger (Smith is warned he could become another Daniel Pearl). So they gave a small camera to a local journalist and he came back with 16 hours of footage.

Also see reviews in the Denver Post, Seattle Post Intelligencer, New York Times, and Boston Globe.

This originally appeared on TVBarn.