2020s American documentary television series

The First 48 is an American documentary television series on A&E filmed in various cities in the United States, offering an insider's look at the real-life world of homicide investigators. While the series often follows the investigations to their end, it usually focuses on their first 48 hours, hence the title. Each episode picks one or more homicides in different cities, covering each alternately, showing how detectives use forensic evidence, witness interviews, and other advanced investigative techniques to identify suspects. While most cases are solved within the first 48 hours, some go on days, weeks, months or even years after the first 48. The series was nominated for a Distinguished Documentary Achievement Award in the Continuing Series category by the International Documentary Association, eventually losing to PBS' American Experience. By season 6, The First 48 had become the highest-rated non-fiction justice series on television and had gained critical acclaim along with controversy. The season 8 episode, "Gone," which aired on January 1, 2009, garnered a domestic audience of 2.3 million viewers, becoming the series' most-watched episode at the time.

Unsolved Mysteries is an American mystery documentary television show, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Karl Malden, and Robert Stack, beginning on NBC on January 20, 1987, becoming a full-fledged series on October 5, 1988, hosted by Stack. After nine seasons on NBC, the series moved to CBS for its 10th season on November 13, 1997. After adding Virginia Madsen as a co-host during season 11 failed to boost slipping ratings, CBS canceled the series after only a two-season, 12-episode run on June 11, 1999. The series was revived by Lifetime in 2000, with season 12 beginning on July 2, 2001. Unsolved Mysteries aired 103 episodes on Lifetime, before ending on September 20, 2002, an end that coincided with Stack's illness and eventual death.

Ghost Hunters is an American paranormal and documentary reality television series. The original series aired from October 6, 2004 until October 26, 2016 on Syfy. The original program spanned eleven seasons with 230 episodes, not including 10 specials. The series was revived in early 2019 and aired its twelfth season of 11 episodes, not including two specials, from August 21, 2019 to October 30, 2019 on A&E. A thirteenth season premiered on April 8, 2020.

To Catch a Smuggler is a documentary that shows how US Customs and Border Protection catches drug smugglers at JFK Airport in New York City. It is featured on National Geographic Television.

How the Universe Works is a documentary science television series that originally aired on the Discovery Channel in 2010. The first and third through ninth seasons were narrated by Mike Rowe. The second season and episodes of the fifth and sixth seasons were narrated by Erik Todd Dellums. The first season, broadcast from April 25 to May 24, 2010, was released on Blu-ray on February 28, 2012. Since its second season, consisting of eight episodes broadcast between July 11 and August 29, 2012, the show has aired on the Science Channel. The third season aired between July 9 and September 3, 2014. The fourth season premiered on July 14, 2015, as part of the Science Channel's "Space Week," in honor of New Horizons′ flyby of Pluto that day; the season ran through September 1, 2015. The show′s fifth season aired from November 22, 2016, through February 7, 2017. The sixth season premiered on January 9, 2018 and ran through March 13, 2018. The seventh season premiered on January 8, 2019. On December 30, 2019, it was announced that the eighth season would premiere on January 2, 2020. The ninth season premiered on March 24, 2021.

Hoarders is an American reality television series that debuted on A&E on August 17, 2009. The show depicts the real-life struggles and treatment of people who suffer from compulsive hoarding disorder.

Behind the Music is a documentary television series on VH1. Each episode profiles and interviews a popular musical artist or group. The program examines the beginning of their career, their road to success and the hardships they may have encountered.

American Experience is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American history.

Frontline (stylized as FRONTLINE) is an investigative documentary program distributed by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Episodes are produced at WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. The series has covered a variety of domestic and international issues, including terrorism, elections, environmental disasters, and other sociopolitical issues. Since its debut in 1983, Frontline has aired in the U.S. for 39 seasons, and has won critical acclaim and awards in broadcast journalism. It has produced 750 documentaries from both in-house and independent filmmakers, 200 of which are available online.

The Circus is a 2016 television documentary series initially following the 2016 presidential race, the Trump administration, the 2020 United States presidential election, and now the Biden administration It is produced by Left/Right Productions, a Red Arrow Studios company, for Showtime.