Best reality, drama, & documentary 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

A global view of the specialized strategies and extreme behavior that living things have developed in order to survive; what Charles Darwin termed "the struggle for existence."

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

The fascinating relationship between predators and their prey, and the strategies predators use to catch their food and prey use to escape death.

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

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...

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).

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.

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.

A knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.

A group of teenagers in Hawaii enter the world of professional competitive surfing in the 1990s and rise to super stardom.

In Charles Dickens' classic tale, an orphan wends his way from cruel apprenticeship to den of thieves in search of a true home.

Follows the life of artist Nan Goldin and the downfall of the Sackler family, the pharmaceutical dynasty who was greatly responsible for the opioid epidemic's unfathomable death toll.

A son creates a list of things worth living for--all in an attempt to raise the spirits of his chronically depressed mother--in this adaptation of the acclaimed one-character show.

An intimate portrait of actress Debbie Reynolds and her relationship with her beloved children, Carrie and Todd.

Chris Rock's 2008 comedy tour visits London, New York and Johannesburg. Various parts of this tour are edited together to create his fifth HBO stand-up special.

Kon Ichikawa examines the beauty and rich drama on display at the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo, creating a record of observations that range from the expansive to the intimate.

Decades of a love triangle concerning two friends and an impulsive woman.

An exploration of the history of the Bee Gees, featuring revealing interviews with oldest brother Barry Gibb, and archival interviews with the late twin brothers Robin and Maurice.

The story of the discovery of the AIDS epidemic, and the political infighting of the scientific community hampering the early fight with it.

An in-depth look at various NASA moon landing missions, starting with Apollo 8.

A war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.

Four dogged door-to-door Bible salesmen travel from Boston to Florida on a seemingly futile quest to sell luxury editions of the Good Book to working-class Catholics.

A little boy is held captive in a room with his mother since his birth, so he has never known the world outside.

A single mother and the manager of a roadside motel do their utmost to maintain the innocence of a six-year-old girl's life.

Anthony Bourdain visits countries, delving into their political issues as well as indigenous food and culture.

A surgeon causes a car accident which leaves his daughter disfigured and goes to extreme lengths to give her a new face.

Depicts the end days of a decadent zamindar (landlord) in Bengal, and his efforts to uphold his family prestige even when faced with economic adversity.

When three hundred thousand members of the Love Generation collided with a few dozen Hells Angels at San Francisco's Altamont Speedway, the bloody slash that transformed a decade's dreams into disillusionment was immortalized on t...

A closeted lawyer risks his career to bring a blackmailer to justice.

A users guide to the cosmos from the big bang to galaxies, stars, planets and moons. Where did it all come from and how does it all fit together. A primer for anyone who has ever looked up at the night sky and wondered.

An authorized documentary on the late musician Kurt Cobain, from his early days in Aberdeen, Washington to his success and downfall with the grunge band Nirvana.

Travis Henderson, an aimless drifter who has been missing for four years, wanders out of the desert and must reconnect with society, himself, his life, and his family.

Documentary covering Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England, which includes appearances by Joan Baez and Donovan.

An unhappily married couple attempts to find direction and insight while vacationing in Naples.

This documentary explores the murder of DeeDee Blanchard by her daughter Gypsy Rose, as well as the circumstances leading up to the event.

An anxious New Yorker attempts to give everyday advice while dealing with his own personal issues.

When an aristocratic woman known only as "Madame de . . ." sells a pair of earrings given to her by her husband in order to pay some debts, she sets off a chain reaction of financial and carnal consequences that can end only in de...

Two neighbors form a strong bond after both suspect extramarital activities of their spouses. However, they agree to keep their bond platonic so as not to commit similar wrongs.

Filmmaker Andrew Jarecki examines the complicated life of reclusive real estate icon Robert Durst, the key suspect in a series of unsolved crimes.

A lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores, takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns the occasional trick to make ends meet, but something happens that changes her safe routine.

The family of an older man who runs a small sake brewery become concerned with his finances and his health after they discover him visiting an old mistress from his youth.

One of the most iconic figures in athletic history, Muhammad Ali's incredible story from world champion boxer to inspiring social activist is explored through his own voice and never-before-seen archival material.