Documentary television is a genre of television programming that broadcasts documentaries.
A documentary television series, sometimes called a docuseries or docu-series, is a television series that is presented in a number of episodes.
A documentary television film is a documentary film made specially for television stations or for specialty documentary channels, or in case of political and historical documentary subjects in news channels, without the intention of showing it in movie theaters. This film is include in television movies and distinguished with theatrical feature films. Another good example of television documentaries are the travel documentaries that are featured in specialized geographical or tourism television channels like the National Geographic Channel. The films might end up showing though in film societies or in theaters that specialize in showing documentaries. However, in rare occasions, the television documentaries become so popular that they are launched for wider release in movie theaters..
Televised documentary finds its roots in film, photojournalism, and radio.
Walter Goodman (1927-2002) was a television critic for the New York Times. The Forbes Media Guide Five Hundred, 1994 states:
Intelligently covering TV, Goodman always delves beneath the surface with originality and wisdom. He analyzes what's on, who produces it, and who watches it. But he mixes heavy prose with a wit so dry it often fails to amuse, and his cerebral style weighs down, his complex, cynical pronouncements about what's wrong with the world....Goodman reliably reviews documentaries and other challenging TV fare, providing a valuable resource to intelligent viewers.
Al Jazeera Documentary Channel
Animal Planet
Discovery Channel
DOC: The Documentary Channel
Docu TVE
Documentary (TV channel)
History (U.S. TV channel)
National Geographic Channel
Science (TV channel)
