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Best Documentary TV Shows

Discover your next binge-worthy TV show. Filter by streaming service, genres, or release year.

244 results

244 results

1. Planet Earth: Blue Planet II

Jan 20, 2018 • Rated TV-G

Airing simultaneously on AMC, BBC America, IFC, SundanceTV, and WE tv, the seven-part mini-series takes a look at life in the world's oceans with narration by David Attenborough.

2. America to Me

Aug 26, 2018 • Rated TV-14

The 10-part documentary series from Steve James takes a year-long look at Chicago's Oak Park and River Forest High School as students and staff deal with a variety of issues, including race, at one of the most diverse suburban public high schools in the U.S.

3. O.J.: Made in America

May 20, 2016 • Rated TV-MA

The seven-and-a-half-hour documentary chronicles O.J. Simpson's rise from the San Francisco housing projects to football fame in college and the NFL to his post-football career and infamy with the 1995 trial for the killings of his ex-wife, Nicole, and Ron Goldman. The first episode will air on ABC with the subsequent four episodes airing only on ESPN.

4. Bo Burnham: Inside

May 30, 2021 • Rated TV-MA

The musical comedy special was filmed by the comedian over the past year by himself, with no crew or audience.

5. The U.S. and the Holocaust

Sep 18, 2022 • Rated TV-14

Narrated by Peter Coyote, the three-part documentry series directed by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein examines the United States' response to the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust through interviews, first-person accounts and archival footage.

6. Planet Earth II

Feb 18, 2017 • Rated TV-G

Narrated by David Attenborough, the sequel to the 2006 nature series features the use of 4K ultra high definition (UHD), aerial drones, and remote recordings to explore the habitats and animals on islands, mountains, jungles, deserts, grasslands and cities.

7. The Staircase

2004 • Rated TV-MA

An 8-part documentary series about the celebrated trial of Michael Peterson, a writer who is accused of murdering his wife, executive Kathleen Peterson, who was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their home.

8. City So Real

Oct 29, 2020 • Rated TV-14

The five-part documentary directed by Steve James looks at the city of Chicago and its residents as 21 candidates run for mayor of the Windy City in 2018-19.

9. Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé

Apr 17, 2019 • Rated TV-MA

The documentary film about Beyoncé's 2018 Coachella performance promises interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and information about the creation of her concept.

10. The Last Movie Stars

Jul 21, 2022 • Rated TV-MA

The six-part Ethan Hawke documentary about Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman features archival interviews of Woodward and Newman as well as new interviews with Sally Field, Melanie Griffith, and Martin Scorsese.

11. Frozen Planet

Mar 18, 2012 • Rated TV-PG

Narrated by Alec Baldwin, the BBC and Discovery coproduced documentary series goes north and south to cover life in the Arctic and Antarctic.

12. The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling

Mar 26, 2018 • Rated TV-MA

The two-part documentary by Judd Apatow about the comedian features interviews with over 40 friends and family, including James L. Brooks, Jim Carrey, Sacha Baron Cohen, David Coulier, Jon Favreau, Jay Leno, Kevin Nealon, Conan O’Brien, Bob Saget, Jerry Seinfeld and Sarah Silverman.

13. Last Chance U: Basketball

Mar 10, 2021 • Rated TV-MA

The documentary series expands to junior college basketball with the 2019-2020 season of the East Los Angeles College Huskies.

14. The Last Dance

Apr 19, 2020 • Rated TV-MA

The 10-part documentary series directed by Jason Hehir about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls' 1997-98 championship season includes interviews and never-before-seen footage.

15. How to With John Wilson

Oct 23, 2020 • Rated TV-MA

The comedic documentary filmed in New York City features commentary and advice on such topics like small talk, scaffolding, memory, check splitting, cooking risotto, and furniture coverings.

16. The Vietnam War

Sep 17, 2017 • Rated TV-MA

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick returns with a 10-part, 18-hour miniseries about the war features interviews, archival footage, home movies, photos, and audio clips.

17. Visible: Out on Television

Feb 14, 2020 • Rated TV-MA

The documentary series narrated by Janet Mock, Margaret Cho, Asia Kate Dillon, Neil Patrick Harris and Lena Waithe features archival footage and new interviews to look at LGBTQ characters on television and the impact of the LGBTQ movement on the medium.

18. Mind Over Murder

Jun 20, 2022 • Rated TV-MA

The six-part documentary series directed by Nanfu Wang examines the conviction (which was later overturned by DNA evidence in 2009) of six people who admitted to the 1985 murder of a 68-year-old grandmother in Beatrice, Nebraska.

19. The Roosevelts: An Intimate History

Sep 14, 2014 • Rated TV-14

The 14-hour documentary series from Ken Burns covers the history and influences the family had from the birth of Theodore Roosevelt in 1858 to the death of Eleanor Roosevelt in 1962.

20. Muhammad Ali

The four-part Ken Burns documentary about the life and career of the three-time heavyweight boxing champion features archival footage, photographs, and interviews with journalists, boxers, historians, as well as friends and family of Ali.

21. Springsteen on Broadway

Dec 16, 2018 • Rated TV-MA

The Boss tells personal stories and plays acoustic versions of some of his songs in his one-man show at Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre filmed July 17 and 18, 2018.

22. Lenox Hill

Jun 10, 2020 • Rated TV-MA

The eight-part docuseries follows four doctors at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital over an 18-month period as they juggle their personal lives while trying to save lives.

23. Boston Med

Filmed over four months at Massachusetts General, Brigham and Women's, and Children's Hospital Boston, go inside the daily lives of the doctors, nurses and patients there.

24. Prohibition

Ken Burns' latest documentary series focuses on the origins of the 18th Amendment and the eventual end of Prohibition.

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Titles with fewer than 7 critic reviews are excluded.