The Best TV Shows on National Geographic

Every National Geographic Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Boasting a rich catalog, National Geographic features more than 20 shows, with broadcasting dates ranging from 2012 to 2025. Leading the pack on National Geographic are Wicked Tuna and Life Below Zero, with their initial broadcasts in 2012 and 2013. As of June 2025, our compilation of National Geographic’s top-rated series boasts over 20 unique shows.

  • Hitler: The Lost Tapes of the Third Reich
    Hitler: The Lost Tapes of the Third Reich (2023)10.0

    Examining the life and times of Adolf Hitler and following the full arc of his ascent, tyrannical reign, criminality and undoing.

  • Underdogs
    Underdogs (2025)9.3

    Follow the story of the heroic underdogs of the natural world – the good, the bad and the frankly ugly. From their hidden talents to their bold hygiene choices, unsavory courtship rituals, devious camouflage techniques and “tough love” parenting skills, Underdogs will celebrate and champion the unique and unpredictable behaviors of a little known and surprising cast of animal characters.

  • Cosmos
    Cosmos (2014)8.5

    Famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson provides clarity for the vision of the cosmos as he voyages across the universe with never-before-told stories that delve into the scientific concepts of the laws of gravity and the origins of space and time.

  • A Small Light
    A Small Light (2023)7.9

    Twentysomething Miep Gies didn't hesitate when her boss Otto Frank came to her and asked her to hide his family from the Nazis during World War II. For the next two years, Miep, her husband Jan, and the other helpers watched over the eight souls in hiding in the Secret Annex. And it was Miep who found Anne’s Diary and kept it safe so Otto, the only one of the eight who survived, could later share it with the world as one of the most powerful accounts of the Holocaust.

  • Genius
    Genius (2017)7.7

    The life stories of history's greatest minds. From their days as young adults to their final years we see their discoveries, loves, relationships, causes, flaws and genius.

  • One Strange Rock
    One Strange Rock (2018)7.7

    A mind-bending, thrilling journey exploring the fragility and wonder of planet Earth, one of the most peculiar, unique places in the entire universe, brought to life by the only people to have left it behind – the world’s most well known and leading astronauts.

  • Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted
    Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted (2019)7.6

    Follow Gordon Ramsay as he meets with indigenous people around the globe to learn about the cultures, dishes and flavors unique to each location. Each episode concludes with Ramsay challenging himself with a local food legend by his side - putting his newfound skills to the test as they cook a feast together for the natives.

  • Life Below Zero
    Life Below Zero (2013)7.5

    Viewers go deep into an Alaskan winter to meet six tough and resilient residents as they try to stay one step ahead of storms and man-eating beasts to make it through to spring. The closest neighbor to Sue Aikens is more than 300 miles away. Eric Salitan subsists solely on what he hunts and forages. Chip and Agnes Hailstone catch fish for currency in bartering for supplies, and Andy and Kate Bassich use their pack of sled dogs for transportation.

  • Drain the Oceans
    Drain the Oceans (2018)7.4

    Maritime mysteries—old and new—come to life in this series, combining scientific data and digital re-creations to reveal shipwrecks, treasures, and sunken cities on the bottom of lakes, seas and oceans around the world.

  • Edge of the Unknown with Jimmy Chin
    Edge of the Unknown with Jimmy Chin (2022)7.3

    Take a look inside the minds of elite adventure athletes through transformative stories about facing fear, personal loss, and Mother Nature.

  • David Blaine Do Not Attempt
    David Blaine Do Not Attempt (2025)7.3

    Seeking out incredible people who perform real feats that look like magic, David Blaine takes viewers on a jaw-dropping journey through some of the world's most extraordinary cultures as he seeks out kindred spirits, finds inspiration, and learns some truly exceptional skills along the way.

  • No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski
    No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski (2025)7.3

    From Italy, Germany and the UK to Senegal, South Korea and Borneo, Antoni takes celebs on epic journeys to explore their ancestral and culinary roots.

  • The Hot Zone
    The Hot Zone (2019)7.1

    In this anthology series, heroic scientists risk all to deal with deadly outbreaks.

  • Mars
    Mars (2016)7.0

    The maiden crew of the Daedalus spacecraft must push itself to the brink of human capability in order to successfully establish the first sustainable colony on Mars. Set both in the future and in the present day, this series blends scripted elements set in the future with documentary vérité interviews with today’s best and brightest minds in modern science and innovation, illuminating how research and development is creating the space technology that will enable our first attempt at a mission to Mars.

  • Running Wild with Bear Grylls
    Running Wild with Bear Grylls (2014)6.8

    The famed survivalist takes A-list celebrities on journeys into the wildest locations around the world, forcing the stars to push their bodies and minds to the limit to successfully complete the adventure of a lifetime.

  • UFOs: Investigating the Unknown
    UFOs: Investigating the Unknown (2023)6.8

    The truth behind the U.S. government's secret Pentagon program on UAPs, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, otherwise known as UFOs, is exposed.

  • Wicked Tuna
    Wicked Tuna (2012)6.7

    Fishing is a hard life, and harder with bluefin stocks depleted. In Gloucester, Massachusetts, there's a special breed of fishermen. For generations they've used rod and reel to catch the elusive bluefin tuna. They depend on these fish for their livelihood, and the competition is brutal. Over the next 10 weeks, the most skilled fishermen will set out in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic in hopes of catching the valuable bluefin tuna. When one bluefin can bring in as much as $20,000—they'll do whatever it takes to hook up.

  • StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson
    StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson (2015)6.7

    Host Neil deGrasse Tyson brings together celebrities, scientists and comedians to explore a variety of cosmic topics and collide pop culture with science in a way that late-night television has never seen before. Weekly topics range from popular science fiction, space travel, extraterrestrial life, the Big Bang, to the future of Earth and the environment. Tyson is an astrophysicist with a gifted ability to connect with everyone, inspiring us all to to "keep looking up."

  • Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge
    Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge (2022)6.6

    Bear Grylls is taking it up a level by teaching his celebrity guests essential survival skills that they'll have to master and then prove they can use in a high stress situation.

  • Science of Stupid
    Science of Stupid (2014)6.1

    This show combines cold hard science with some of the craziest, most spectacular and painful user generated clips ever recorded. Richard Hammond introduces all manner of mishaps featuring brave, if misguided individuals from around the world and then explains the science behind their failure and humiliation with the use of bespoke animations and super slo-mo cinematography. Every episode features between 50 and 60 clips of misadventure – ordinary folk making extraordinary mistakes. Each week watch stunts involving weightlifting, shooting guns or jumping over cars, that have gone wrong, paused, re-wound, and re-played and analysed to determine exactly what went wrong and why. Richard explains the physics, chemistry and biology at play, then presents forensic details to explain the stupidity that resulted in failure. He’ll look at everything including weight, volume, momentum, combustion and even how the brain operates. This is misadventure explained. This is the Science of Stupid.