The Best TV Shows on History

Every History Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Explore our list of the top rated shows up to date from May 2025 that includes over 20 unique series. Icons of History, Modern Marvels and Sworn to Secrecy: Secrets of War made their debut in 1993 and 1998, setting industry standards. With its programming history stretching from 1993 to 2020, History offers an impressive lineup of over 20 shows.

  • Swamp People
    Swamp People (2010)8.3

    In the farthest corner of Louisiana lies the nation's largest swamp - a hidden world where nature rules... and man fights back. The Cajuns that live in this forbidding environment follow a tradition dating back three hundred years - the thirty day alligator hunting season.

  • 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 Universe
    The Universe (2007)7.9

    From the planets to the stars and out to the edge of the unknown, history and science collide in a wondrous yet deadly adventure through space and time.

  • The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch
    The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch (2020)7.9

    The investigation of the world’s most mysterious hot spot for UFO and “High Strangeness” phenomena with astrophysicist Dr. Travis Taylor who joins real estate tycoon Brandon Fugal, along with his team of scientists and researchers on Utah’s notorious Skinwalker Ranch. The team utilizes cutting edge technology to investigate the 512-acre property to uncover the possibly “otherworldly” perpetrators behind it all. With everything from mysterious animal deaths to hidden underground workings and possible gateways that open to other dimensions, witness the close encounters that go beyond conventional explanation, as the team risks everything to finally reveal the ultimate secret of Skinwalker Ranch.

  • Forged in Fire
    Forged in Fire (2015)7.8

    Competitors re-create weapons from historical periods ranging from Japanese katanas to medieval broadswords to ancient throwing blades. Each entry is judged on its artistry as well as its functionality and accuracy.

  • The Food That Built America
    The Food That Built America (2019)7.8

    The fascinating stories of the families behind the food that built America, those who used brains, muscle, blood, sweat and tears to get to America's heart through its stomach, those who invented new technologies and helped win wars.

  • America's Book of Secrets
    America's Book of Secrets (2012)7.6

    Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of the most legendary monuments and powerful organizations in the United States? America’s Book of Secrets lifts the veil of mystery, giving you unparalleled access to historical narratives and insider information previously hidden from the public. Through in-depth research and exclusive channels, this series delves into a variety of familiar but enigmatic American institutions, from the FBI and the Pentagon to Fort Knox and Area 51. Go beyond the locked doors and security checkpoints of government agencies, famous landmarks and stealthy societies to glimpse the hidden worlds you were never intended to see.

  • The Curse of Oak Island
    The Curse of Oak Island (2014)7.3

    Follow brothers Marty and Rick Lagina through their effort to find the speculated - and as of yet undiscovered - buried treasure believed to have been concealed through extraordinary means on Oak Island.

  • Pawn Stars
    Pawn Stars (2009)7.1

    Go inside the colorful world of the pawn business. At the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop on the outskirts of Las Vegas, generations of the Harrison family run the family business, and there’s clashing and camaraderie every step of the way.

  • Ice Pilots NWT
    Ice Pilots NWT (2009)7.0

    Ice Pilots NWT is a reality television series broadcast on History Canada that portrays Buffalo Airways, an airline based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Buffalo mainly flies WWII-era propeller planes year-round in the Canadian North. It premiered on November 18, 2009. The show was renewed for a second season with filming completed on August 2nd, 2010. The season premiere was aired on History Television January 12th, 2011. Season 3 was greenlit on August 18th, 2010 and began airing on October 12, 2011. In the UK, season 2 was shown on Quest commencing May 2011. The episodes in season 4 have been shown on the Discovery Channel in the UK. Season 1 of Ice Pilots began airing on the National Geographic Channel in the US on April 22, 2011. Both Season 1 and 2 have aired in Australia on National Geographic Channel and National Geographic Channel HD and currently air on the digital channel 7 Mate.

  • Ancient Aliens
    Ancient Aliens (2010)6.9

    Did intelligent beings from outer space visit Earth thousands of years ago? From the age of the dinosaurs to ancient Egypt, from early cave drawings to continued mass sightings in the US, each episode gives historic depth to the questions, speculations, provocative controversies, first-hand accounts and grounded theories surrounding this age old debate.

  • American Pickers
    American Pickers (2010)6.9

    Pickers like Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz are on a mission to recycle America, even if it means diving into countless piles of grimy junk or getting chased off a gun-wielding homeowner’s land. Hitting back roads from coast to coast, the two men earn a living by restoring forgotten relics to their former glory, transforming one person’s trash into another’s treasure.

  • Stan Lee's Superhumans
    Stan Lee's Superhumans (2010)6.8

    Stan Lee's Superhumans is a television series that debuted August 5, 2010 on History. It is hosted by comic book superhero creator Stan Lee and follows contortionist Daniel Browning Smith, "the most flexible man in the world", as he searches the globe for real-life superhumans – people with extraordinary physical or mental abilities. Many of the segments are fraudulenty manipulated and these appear side by side with other segments that are valid. For example, one segment shows a person applying an electric drill to their body[ after it is used to drill a hole in wood], except the direction of rotation of the drill is fraudulently reversed in the process.

  • Ice Road Truckers
    Ice Road Truckers (2007)6.6

    Take a trip to Yellowknife, Canada to experience one of the most dangerous careers around. In unfathomably cold conditions, truck drivers haul equipment and supplies to miners in the Canadian tundra in the dead of winter on a 350-mile highway of ice.

  • The UnXplained
    The UnXplained (2019)6.6

    Explore the world’s most fascinating, strange and inexplicable mysteries. Each episode features compelling contributions from scientists, historians, witnesses and experiencers—each seeking to shed light on how the seemingly impossible actually can happen.

  • Counting Cars
    Counting Cars (2012)6.5

    Danny “The Count” Koker and his team restore, customize and sell cars in a hurry, scrambling to keep their Las Vegas shop in the black. From classics to exotics, from hotrods to choppers, Danny and the crew of Count’s Kustoms will stop at nothing to find and flip the greatest rides of all time.

  • Mountain Men
    Mountain Men (2012)6.4

    Profiles of some of the men who choose to live off the grid in the unspoiled wilderness, where dangers like mudslides, falling trees and bears are all part of everyday life.

  • History's Mysteries
    History's Mysteries (1998)6.3

    History's Mysteries was an American documentary television series on the History Channel.

  • American Restoration
    American Restoration (2010)6.3

    American Restoration is an American reality television series airing on the History channel. Produced by Leftfield Pictures, the series is recorded in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it chronicles the daily activities at Rick's Restorations, an antique restoration shop, with its owner Rick Dale, his staff, and teenage son, as they restore various vintage items to their original condition.

  • Sworn to Secrecy: Secrets of War
    Sworn to Secrecy: Secrets of War (1998)6.0

    Secrets are divulged and stories of espionage, conspiracy, murder, sabotage and greed are uncovered.