Popular Documentary TV Shows on PBS
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Netflix
Amazon Prime Video
Apple iTunes
Apple TV Plus
Disney Plus
Google Play Movies
Paramount Plus
Hulu
HBO Max
YouTube
fuboTV
Peacock
Peacock Premium
Amazon Video
The Roku Channel
AMC+
AMC on Demand
Kocowa
Hoopla
The CW
Vudu
Starz
Showtime
PBS
Pantaflix
FXNow
Tubi TV
Kanopy
Comedy Central
Crunchyroll
Microsoft Store
Redbox
Sun Nxt
ABC
DIRECTV
Crackle
Fandor
Plex
The Boys from Brazil: Rise of the Bolsonaros
2022
star 7The remarkable rise of one of the world’s most controversial leaders, Jair Bolsonaro, from obscurity to the presidency of Brazil.NOVA
1974
NOVA
1974
star 7PBS' premier science series helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines. Along the way, NOVA demystifies science and technology, and highlights the people involved in scientific pursuits.Nature
1982
Nature
1982
star 7.8Consistently stunning documentaries transport viewers to far-flung locations ranging from the torrid African plains to the chilly splendours of icy Antarctica. The show's primary focus is on animals and ecosystems around the world. A comic book based on the show, meant to be used an as educational tool for kids, was briefly distributed to museums and schools at no cost in the mid-2000s.Great Performances
1971
Great Performances
1971
star 5.8The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.American Experience
1988
American Experience
1988
star 6.9TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.Finding Your Roots
2012
Finding Your Roots
2012
star 6.4Noted Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has been helping people discover long-lost relatives hidden for generations within the branches of their family trees. Professor Gates utilizes a team of genealogists to reconstruct the paper trail left behind by our ancestors and the world’s leading geneticists to decode our DNA and help us travel thousands of years into the past to discover the origins of our earliest forebears.American Masters
1986
American Masters
1986
star 7.4American Masters is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and others who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the United States.Independent Lens
1999
Independent Lens
1999
star 6.5This acclaimed Emmy Award-winning anthology series features documentaries and a limited number of fiction films united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement and unflinching visions of their independent producers and featuring unforgettable stories about a unique individual, community or moment in history.The American Revolution
2025
star 5.6The American Revolution was at once a war for independence, a war of conquest, a civil war, and a world war, fought by neighbors on American farms and between global powers an ocean or more away. It impacted millions from Vermont’s Green Mountains to the swamps of South Carolina, from Indian Country to the Iberian Peninsula. In defeating the British Empire and giving birth to a new nation, the American Revolution turned the world upside-down. Thirteen colonies on the Atlantic Coast united in rebellion, won their independence, and established a republic that still endures. The American Revolution will present the story of the men and women of the Revolutionary generation, their humanity in victory and defeat, and the crisis that they lived through.MotorWeek
1981
MotorWeek
1981
star 4.4This award-winning weekly automotive magazine provides unbiased, consumer-oriented car news with feature stories on related topics.Texas Parks and Wildlife
0000
A weekly outdoors/nature series focusing on the incredible diversity of wildlife, scenic locations and fascinating characters that make Texas unique.Rick Steves' Europe
2000
Rick Steves' Europe
2000
star 8.6Rick Steves, America's leading authority on European travel, returns to transport viewers to the continent's bustling cities, quaint villages and picturesque countryside.Secrets of the Dead
2000
Secrets of the Dead
2000
star 6.3Part detective story, part true-life drama, long-running series explores some of the most iconic moments in history to debunk myths and shed new light on past events. Using the latest investigative techniques, forensic science and historical examination, it shatters accepted wisdom, challenges prevailing ideas, overturns existing hypotheses, spotlights forgotten mysteries, and ultimately rewrites history.Christopher Kimball's Milk Street Television
2017
star 7.8Let’s stop doing things in the kitchen that made sense in the 19th century but not in the 21st. Milk Street travels the world to bring you the very best ideas and techniques with no lists of hard-to-find ingredients, strange cookware, or all-day methods to slow you down.Country Music
2019
Country Music
2019
star 7.3Explore the history of a uniquely American art form: country music. From its deep and tangled roots in ballads, blues and hymns performed in small settings, to its worldwide popularity, learn how country music evolved over the course of the 20th century, as it eventually emerged to become America’s music.The U.S. and the Holocaust
2022
star 8.3Inspired in part by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibition and supported by its historical resources, this documentary series examines the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, the eugenics movement in the United States, and race laws in the American south.Changing Seas
2009
Changing Seas
2009
Produced by South Florida PBS in Miami, Florida, Changing Seas gives viewers a fish-eye view of life in the deep blue. Join scientists as they study earth’s last frontier and discover the mysteries of our liquid planet.Nazi Megastructures
2013
Nazi Megastructures
2013
star 7.6In a quest for world domination, the Nazis built some of the biggest and deadliest pieces of military hardware and malevolent technology in history. This is the stories of the engineers who designed them and how these structures sparked a technological revolution that changed warfare forever.Colorado Experience
2013
Colorado Experience
2013
Rocky Mountain PBS flagship history series exploring the people, places, and events that have shaped Colorado's rich heritage.Civilisations
2018
Civilisations
2018
star 7.3The story of art from the dawn of human history to the present day—for the first time on a global scale. Inspired by Civilisation, Kenneth Clark’s acclaimed landmark 1969 series about Western art, this series broadens the canvas to reveal the role art and the creative imagination have played across multiple cultures and civilizations.
