The Best TV Shows on A&E

Every A&E Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Dive into our updated selection of A&E’s finest, featuring more than 20 series as of April 2026. A&E has over 20 shows broadcast from as early as 1987 and as recent as 2022. Among A&E’s finest offerings are Biography and Street Justice, which debuted in 1987 and 1991, respectively.

  • Bates Motel
    Bates Motel (2013)8.1

    A "contemporary prequel" to the 1960 film Psycho, depicting the life of Norman Bates and his mother Norma prior to the events portrayed in Hitchcock's film, albeit in a different fictional town and in a modern setting. The series begins after the death of Norma's husband, when she purchases a motel located in a coastal Oregon town so she and Norman can start a new life.

  • Modern Marvels
    Modern Marvels (1993)8.0

    HISTORY’s longest-running series moves to H2. Modern Marvels celebrates the ingenuity, invention and imagination found in the world around us. From commonplace items like ink and coffee to architectural masterpieces and engineering disasters, the hit series goes beyond the basics to provide insight and history into things we wonder about and that impact our lives. This series tells fascinating stories of the doers, the dreamers and sometime-schemers that create everyday items, technological breakthroughs and manmade wonders. The hit series goes deep to explore the leading edge of human inspiration and ambition.

  • The First 48
    The First 48 (2004)7.9

    The First 48 follows detectives from around the country during these first critical hours as they race against time to find the suspect. Gritty and fast-paced, it takes viewers behind the scenes of real-life investigations with unprecedented access to crime scenes, autopsies, forensic processing, and interrogations.

  • A Nero Wolfe Mystery
    A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2001)7.8

    Genius detective Nero Wolfe and his right-hand man, Archie Goodwin, solve seemingly impossible crimes.

  • 100 Centre Street
    100 Centre Street (2001)7.7

    100 Centre Street is an American legal drama created by Sidney Lumet and starring Alan Arkin, Val Avery, Bobby Cannavale, Joel de la Fuente and Paula Devicq.

  • Longmire
    Longmire (2012)7.7

    A Wyoming sheriff rebuilds his life and career following the death of his wife. Based on the “Walt Longmire” series of mystery novels written by best-selling author Craig Johnson.

  • Ancient Mysteries
    Ancient Mysteries (1994)7.4

    Ancient Mysteries is a television series that was produced by FilmRoos and originally broadcast on A&E between 7 January 1994 and 3 May 1998 with reruns airing until 2000. Reruns were also re-broadcast on The Biography Channel during the 2000s. The series deals with historical mysteries and is mostly hosted by Leonard Nimoy, which recalls the late-1970s TV series In Search Of ...

  • Celebrity Ghost Stories
    Celebrity Ghost Stories (2009)7.3

    Compelling, surprising and downright spooky — celebrities share their real-life personal encounters with the paranormal in each one-hour special. From encounters with ghosts and angry spirits to haunted homes, unexplainable spells and magic, these descriptive, first person narratives from our favorite stars delivers a brand new way of experiencing the thrills and chills of the addictive world of the paranormal.

  • WWE Rivals
    WWE Rivals (2022)7.3

    Actor and former WWE writer Freddie Prinze Jr. leads a roundtable discussion of WWE luminaries to delve into the storylines and dynamic characters behind the epic battles that built WWE. Each one-hour episode features archival footage from WWE’s library as well as interviews with the Legends involved and the Superstars who watched these rivalries unfold.

  • Unforgettable
    Unforgettable (2011)7.2

    Former Syracuse, New York, police detective Carrie Wells has hyperthymesia, a rare medical condition that gives her the ability to visually remember everything. She reluctantly joins the New York City Police Department's Queens homicide unit after her former boyfriend and partner asks for help with solving a case. The move allows her to try to find out the one thing she has been unable to remember, which is what happened the day her sister was murdered.

  • Intervention
    Intervention (2005)7.0

    People whose uncontrollable addiction to drugs, alcohol or compulsive behavior has brought them to the brink of destruction and has devastated their family and friends are presented with a life-changing opportunity of intervention and rehab. Each addict must confront their darkest demons in order to begin their journey to recovery in the hopes that they can turn their lives around before it’s too late.

  • The Glades
    The Glades (2010)6.9

    This crime series follows Jim, a Chicago cop who gets kicked off the force after being shot and wrongfully accused by his ex-captain of having an affair with his wife. After receiving his payout, Jim decides to moves to a small Florida town to join the state police.

  • Street Justice
    Street Justice (1991)6.8

    Street Justice is an American action crime drama series starring Carl Weathers and Bryan Genesse. The series began airing in syndication in 1991, and was canceled in 1993 after two seasons.

  • Biography: WWE Legends
    Biography: WWE Legends (2021)6.8

    The stories behind some of the most memorable WWE Superstars of all time.

  • The Returned
    The Returned (2015)6.7

    A small town that is turned upside down when several local people, who have long been presumed dead, suddenly reappear; their presence creates both positive and negative consequences. As families are reunited, the lives of those who were left behind are challenged both physically and emotionally.

  • Biography
    Biography (1987)6.6

    Biography is a documentary television series. It was originally a half-hour filmed series produced for CBS by David Wolper from 1961 to 1964 and hosted by Mike Wallace. The A&E Network later re-ran it and has produced new episodes since 1987. The older version featured historical figures such as Helen Keller and Mark Twain, or long-dead entertainment figures such as Will Rogers or John Barrymore. The A&E series has placed the emphasis on such people as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Plácido Domingo, Freddie Mercury, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Eric Clapton, Pope John Paul II, Gene Tierney, Selena, Diego Rivera, Mao Zedong and Queen Elizabeth II, and fictional characters like The Phantom, Superman, Hamlet, Betty Boop, and Santa Claus. The program ended up profiling enough figures that in 1999, A&E spun it off into an entire network, The Biography Channel.

  • The Cleaner
    The Cleaner (2008)6.6

    After hitting rock-bottom from his own addictions during the birth of his twins, William Banks strikes a tentative deal with God. In exchange for a second chance, he vows to kick his addictions and dedicate his life to helping others. Now, along with his unconventional team, he helps people get clean from their own addictions of sex, drugs, alcohol and gambling by any means necessary.

  • 60 Days In
    60 Days In (2016)6.6

    An unprecedented look at life behind bars at Indiana's Clark County Jail as seven innocent volunteers are sent to live among its general population for 60 days without officers, fellow inmates, or staff knowing their secret.

  • Hoarders
    Hoarders (2009)6.3

    Each episode of Hoarders is a fascinating look inside the lives of two different people whose inability to part with their belongings is so out of control that they are on the verge of a personal crisis.

  • Storage Wars
    Storage Wars (2010)5.8

    When rent is not paid on a storage locker for three months in California, the contents can be sold by an auctioneer as a single lot of items in the form of a cash-only auction. The show follows professional buyers who purchase the contents based only on a five-minute inspection of what they can see from the door when it is open. The goal is to turn a profit on the merchandise.