Best documentary, drama, comedy, & animation shows on Max, ranked.

In April 1986, the city of Chernobyl in the Soviet Union suffers one of the worst nuclear disasters in the history of mankind. Consequently, many heroes put their lives on the line in the following days, weeks and months.

A documentary series on the wildlife found on Earth. Each episode covers a different habitat: deserts, mountains, deep oceans, shallow seas, forests, caves, polar regions, fresh water, plains and jungles. Narrated by David Attenbo...

A cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.

The Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.

A film following the lives of two inner-city Chicago boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional.

David Attenborough returns to the world's oceans in this sequel to the acclaimed documentary filming rare and unusual creatures of the deep, as well as documenting the problems our oceans face.

Larry David stars as an over-the-top version of himself in this comedy series that shows how seemingly trivial details of day-to-day life can precipitate a catastrophic chain of events.

With the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a blind flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.

During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.

David Attenborough returns with a new wildlife documentary that shows life in a variety of habitats.

A model discovers a retired judge is keen on invading people's privacy.

An old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city, but receive little attention.

Two young Swedish children in the 1900s experience the many comedies and tragedies of their lively and affectionate theatrical family, the Ekdahls.

Several people try to talk 27-year-old Noriko into marrying, but all she wants is to keep on caring for her widowed father.

Billionaire Bruce Wayne secretly operates as Batman, a vigilante who battles a rouges' gallery of criminals and supervillains in Gotham City with the aid of various sidekicks and allies.

Former Daily Show host and correspondent John Oliver brings his persona to this weekly news satire program.

A horrific triple child murder leads to an indictment and trial of three nonconformist boys based on questionable evidence.

A family chooses a match for their daughter Noriko, but she, surprisingly, has her own plans.

The Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put their relationship in jeopardy.

Spike Lee documents the former Talking Heads frontman's brilliant, timely 2019 Broadway show, based on his recent album and tour of the same name.

A bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.

In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.

The fractured domestic lives of a nihilistic mad scientist and his anxious grandson are further complicated by their inter-dimensional misadventures.

Traveling across the multiverse, Miles Morales meets a new team of Spider-People, made up of heroes from different dimensions. But when the heroes clash over how to deal with a new threat, Miles finds himself at a crossroads.

Kaguya is a beautiful young woman coveted by five nobles. To try to avoid marrying a stranger she doesn't love, she sends her suitors on seemingly impossible tasks. But she will have to face her fate and punishment for her choices.

The Tramp finds work and the girl of his dreams at a circus.

The Flash finds himself in a war torn alternate timeline and teams up with alternate versions of his fellow heroes to return home and restore the timeline.

The Roy family is known for controlling the biggest media and entertainment company in the world. However, their world changes when their father steps down from the company.

Two teenagers share a profound, magical connection upon discovering they are swapping bodies. Things manage to become even more complicated when the boy and girl decide to meet in person.

A chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.

Seven continents formed by Earth's splitting crust each have unique climates, terrain and wildlife. Journey across South America's paradise to Africa's heat, discovering unexpected stories and spectacular nature.

Following the death of her adoptive parents, a successful young black optometrist establishes contact with her biological mother -- a lonely white factory worker living in poverty in East London.

An elderly man and his dog struggle to survive on his government pension in Rome.

Focuses on life and the environment in both the Arctic and Antarctic.

A truck driver stops at a small family-run noodle shop and decides to help its fledgling business. The story is intertwined with various vignettes about the relationship of love and food.

A heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line.

In post-war Italy, a working-class man's bicycle is stolen, endangering his efforts to find work. He and his son set out to find it.

30 years later, we're bringing the Banks family back together. Join Will Smith and his former co-stars for a funny and heartfelt night full of music and dancing in honor of the show that ran for six seasons and 148 episodes.

Guido seeks peace after his success but faces pressure from past collaborators. As he struggles with creativity, he reflects on his life and past romances.

A look at the final years in the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.

An orphaned young man in India pursues his dream of becoming a writer while navigating life's challenges and personal growth.

Nathan Fielder uses his business degree and life experiences to, in unorthodox ways, help real small businesses turn a profit.

A character study of five young men at crucial turning points in their lives in a small town in Italy.

Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Baron Henry Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.

A tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.

During the German occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

A documentary of the notorious racial terrorist 1963 bombing by the Ku Klux Klan of the African American 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham during the Civil Rights Movement, which killed four young girls.

A drama about one of New York's most prestigious ad agencies at the beginning of the 1960s, focusing on one of the firm's most mysterious but extremely talented ad executives, Donald Draper.

A married Sicilian baron falls in love with his cousin and vows to wed her, but with divorce illegal he must concoct a crime of passion to do away with his wife.

Using extensive interviews with survivors and archival footage, an examination reveals the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Impoverished priest Harihar Ray, dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work.

A documentary of the successful career and assassination of San Francisco's first elected gay city supervisor.

A group of activists risk their lives fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in Chechnya.

A guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes.

Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.

A twenty-seven-year-old office worker travels to the countryside while reminiscing about her childhood in Tokyo.

The daily lives of healthcare professionals in a Pittsburgh hospital as they juggle personal crises, workplace politics, and the emotional toll of treating critically ill patients, revealing the resilience required in their noble ...

Africa, the world's wildest continent. David Attenborough takes an awe-inspiring journey through one of the most diverse places in the world. We visit deserts, savannas, and jungles and meet up with some of Africa's amazing wildlife.

Follows US president Josiah Bartlet and his administration as they tackle various political issues in order to maintain peace and harmony in the nation.

Documentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes.

HBO special featuring the folk duo from New Zealand performing live at the London Apollo.

A lonely widow meets a much younger Moroccan worker in a bar during a rainstorm. They fall in love, to their own surprise and to the outright shock of their families, colleagues, and drinking buddies.

Two rival hockey stars at the top of their game face an unexpected challenge when they develop feelings for each other, complicating their careers and the sport's expectations.

Explores the life and legacy of Mariska Hargitay's mother, Hollywood icon Jayne Mansfield, who died tragically in a car accident at age 34 when Mariska was only three years old.

Incarcerated men defy the odds to expose a cover-up in one of America's deadliest prison systems.

A 12-year-old boy and his best friend, a wise 28-year-old dog with magical powers, go on a series of surreal adventures in a remote future.

After being a victim of fraud, Johnny Rose and his family go from extremely wealthy to penniless overnight. The only asset left to them is a small, unsophisticated town: Schitt's Creek. They relocate there. Culture shock ensues.

Follows the struggle of Richard Hendricks, a Silicon Valley engineer trying to build his own company called Pied Piper.

When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.

A young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.

Bret and Jemaine are Flight of the Conchords, a folk-rock band from New Zealand living in New York City in search of stardom.

A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.

As a reserved young graduate vacations in a seaside town, he hopes his girlfriend will join him. But he ends up bonding with a local young woman whose female friend is also smitten with him.

Q, Sal, Joe and Murr are real-life best friends who love challenging each other to the most outrageous dares and stunts ever caught on hidden camera.

An examination of the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

Two sisters find out the existence of their long-lost mother, but the younger cannot take the truth of being abandoned as a child.

Exposing her role behind the camera, Kirsten Johnson reaches into the vast trove of footage she has shot over decades around the world. What emerges is a visually bold memoir and a revelatory interrogation of the power of the camera.

In this silent predecessor to the modern documentary, film-maker Robert J. Flaherty spends one year following the lives of Nanook and his family, Inuits living in the Arctic Circle.

Cat is a solitary animal, but as its home is devastated by a great flood, he finds refuge on a boat populated by various species, and will have to team up with them despite their differences.

A continuation of the Justice League animated series finds the original members of the team joined in their battle against crime and evil by dozens of other heroes from the DC comics universe.

Meeting a stranger in a railway station, a woman is tempted to cheat on her husband.

Follows the man who survived an assassination attempt by poisoning with a lethal nerve agent in August 2020. During his months-long recovery he makes shocking discoveries about the attempt on his life and decides to return home.

Two shoeshine boys in postwar Rome, Italy save up to buy a horse, but their involvement as dupes in a burglary lands them in juvenile prison; the experience take a devastating toll on their friendship.

Recently released from a mental hospital, Karin rejoins her emotionally disconnected family in their island home, only to slip from reality as she begins to believe she is being visited by God.

A care-free girl is sold to a traveling entertainer, consequently enduring physical and emotional pain along the way.

A Sequel to Justice League Dark (2017) involving Jack Kirby's New Gods.

Following his father's death, a boy leaves home to study in Calcutta, while his mother must face a life alone.

A look at the life, work, activism and controversies of actress and fitness tycoon, Jane Fonda.

Newly-discovered archive footage and witness accounts to lay bare the tragedy and heroic efforts made to prevent another explosion.

When death is your business, what is your life? Laced with irony and dark situational humor, the show approaches the subject of death through the eyes of the Fisher family, who owns and operates a funeral home in Los Angeles.

After living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.

A documentary looking at the inner-workings of the Church of Scientology.

An aging widower arranges a marriage for his only daughter.

A phonetics and diction expert makes a bet that he can teach a cockney flower girl to speak proper English and pass as a lady in high society.

Monsieur Hulot comes to a beachside hotel for a vacation and accidentally, but good-naturedly, causes havoc.

A woman struggles to find a way to live her life after the death of her husband and child.

Cast and crew members from all "Harry Potter" films reunite in a retrospective special to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001).

Reeve's rise to becoming a film star follows with a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. After the accident, he became an activist for spinal cord injury treatments and disability ri...

A nature documentary series on five vulnerable or endangered species known to form enduring populations: chimpanzee, emperor penguin, lion, tiger and African wild dog.

A group of nuns struggle to establish a convent in the Himalayas, while isolation, extreme weather, altitude, and culture clashes all conspire to drive the well-intentioned missionaries mad.