The 24 best shows on Discovery+ to learn something new

90 Day Fiancé (2014–present)

Catfishing, breakups, makeups, proposals, lies, love, hate, and, of course, Big Ed. With all the caveats that come with love and internet dating, 90 Day Fiancé and all its spinoff shows make for great entertainment. The majority of the 90 Day Fiancé universe shows engaged couples in long-distance relationships as they meet in person for the first time and decide if their compatibility holds up in the real world.

As TLC’s most-watched franchise, 90 Day Fiancé clings to our human optimism (as we hope for the best) and our natural love of chaos (as we await the inevitable train wreck). Feel free to call it a guilty pleasure if that makes you feel better about yourself, but there’s no denying that these shows are captivating. —Briana Richert

Where to watch 90 Day Fiancé: Discovery+

Cast: Shaun Robinson

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (2005–2012)

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations is so much more than a food and travel show. Like everything Anthony Bourdain touched, his worldview — expressed in commentary and through his interactions with food and people — was one of empathy, curiosity, and connection. His show maintains a similar mission statement. Over the course of nine seasons, spread out across seven years, Bourdain travels domestically and internationally, educating his audience and himself about cuisines and culture.

As EW’s critic notes while memorializing the chef, Bourdain never “spoke of food in a vacuum. When a 2006 trip to Beirut landed him and his crew in the crossfire of a very real war, he returned with No Reservations four years later, recalling his heartbreak at seeing shell bombs and rockets fall on a city only recently freed from Syrian occupation.” —Ilana Gordon

Where to watch Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations: Discovery+

Cast: Anthony Bourdain

A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read (2025)

At the end of 2022, the body of a Boston police officer was found lying in the snow. The explanation the public was given was that Officer John O’Keefe’s girlfriend, Karen Read, hit him with her SUV after a night out drinking with friends. But Read said she never hit anyone with her car, and evidence suggested that there might be another explanation: that Read was being framed by corrupt officers within the force. The series covers Read’s first trial and the events leading up to her second trial, which began in April of 2025. (She was ultimately acquitted of the murder charges two months later.) —I.G.

Where to watch A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read: Discovery+

Director: Terry Dunn Meurer

Chopped Junior (2015–2019)

Chopped Junior is excellent entertainment, provided you don’t mind ending each episode feeling hungry and culinarily inadequate. Hosted by Ted Allen, the show invites a slew of adolescent chefs into the kitchen where they compete for $10,000 and a Chopped Junior chef’s coat. The Chopped spinoff ran for nine seasons between 2015 and 2019, and, in keeping with the franchise, features prodigious, young chefs making inventive meals from mystery ingredients.

A wonderful option for parents looking to sneakily trick their children into becoming interested in cooking, Chopped Junior is a great reminder of the old internet adage that no matter what it is you’re good at, somewhere in the world, there’s a child doing it 100 times better than you ever could. —I.G.

Where to watch Chopped Junior: Discovery+

Cast: Ted Allen

Deadliest Catch (2005–present)

Nearly two decades back, audiences first set sail to the dicey waters of the Alaskan coast on the Bering Sea, where crab fishermen gambled their lives for their life’s passion and a paycheck. And 16 Emmys later, the documentary-style series has chronicled the harrowing adventures of various vessels and their intrepid crews across the October king crab and January snow crab seasons — battling boat collisions, power outages, 40-foot waves, and beyond. While these teams are under pressure of high-stakes competition among their fellow fishermen, Deadliest Catch eschews contrived drama as Mother Nature provides enough organic thrill, but what truly reels in viewers is the rapport among these seafarers and the eclectic subplots of rookie deckhands finding their footing. —James Mercadante

Where to watch Deadliest Catch: Discovery+

Cast: Mike Rowe, Sig Hansen, Keith Colburn, Jake Anderson

Dr. Pimple Popper (2018–2023)

„Once you pop, the fun don’t stop“ is technically Pringles’ tagline, but the same applies to the TLC reality show Dr. Pimple Popper. Dermatologist Dr. Sandra Lee started attracting attention as a YouTuber, but her treatments of patients’ unusual skin conditions attracted such a large following, her content demanded a larger platform. Lee’s hour-long reality show began airing on TLC in 2018 and ran until 2023. A Lifetime spinoff, Dr. Pimple Popper: Breaking Out, started in April 2025 and is also available to stream on Discovery+.

The shooting spurts of goo, pus, and assorted bodily fluids are not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, but for those who enjoy watching an expert pop pimples, lance boils, and generally improve the quality of her patients’ lives, Dr. Pimple Popper is sure to deliver. —I.G.

Where to watch Dr. Pimple Popper: Discovery+

EW grade: B

Cast: Dr. Sandra Lee

Evil Lives Here (2016–present)

This Investigation Discovery show will delight true crime fanatics but may debilitate those with trust issues. Evil Lives Here details horrific crime stories told from the perspective of the criminal’s closest friends and family. With documentary-style interviews, reenactments, and photo and video footage of the criminals themselves, the show paints a terrifying picture of what it’s like to live with a real-world monster.

From serial killers such as John Wayne Gacy to high-profile cult leaders like Warren Jeffs to lesser-known case files, Evil Lives Here explores the backgrounds of disturbed individuals before they committed such terrible crimes. Both chilling and heartbreaking, this show proves that evil can lurk anywhere, even in the people we think we know best. —B.R.

Where to watch Evil Lives Here: Discovery+

Fixer Upper (2013–2018)

Much thanks to the design duo powerhouse Chip and Joanna Gaines, the rustic-chic, modern farmhouse vibe has had its chokehold on millennial homeowners and Targets everywhere. With their hit HGTV reality series, the fix-it team utilized their remodeling business in Waco, Tex., and their less-is-more approach to breathing new life into more than 100 homes — swapping bold colors for monochrome neutrals; cluttered spaces for airy, light-filled rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows; and wedging in a few faux plants as accent details. After it wrapped up its final season on HGTV in 2019, Fixer Upper was revived on the Gaines’ very own Magnolia Network, along with Fixer Upper: Welcome Home and various spin-offs like Fixer Upper: The Castle and Fixer Upper: The Hotel. Long live the beige aesthetic! —J.M.

Where to watch Fixer Upper: Discovery+

Cast: Chip Gaines, Joanna Gaines

Ghost Adventures (2008–present)

Dust off your sage and keep your local exorcist on speed dial because, after this show, you might want to do a cautionary spirit cleansing. Ghost Adventures follows Zak Bagans, a paranormal investigator with notoriously bedazzled jeans, as he and his crew hunt for supernatural activity in the world’s creepiest destinations. From the Civil War battlegrounds of Gettysburg to the birthplace of the fearsome Dracula in Transylvania, this Travel Channel show proves that Bagans and his team shy away from no haunted location.

The show explores the mysteries of the afterlife with high-tech equipment and overviews of the rich histories of some of the world’s most tragic deaths. All of their ghost encounters are certainly up for debate, but it does make you question the tangibility of the afterlife. —B.R.

Where to watch Ghost Adventures: Discovery+

Cast: Zak Bagans

Guy’s Grocery Games (2014–2020)

Guy Fieri hosts this Food Network grocery store game show where chefs compete in three cook-off challenges for a $20,000 grand prize. A viewing experience that will simultaneously get your adrenaline pumping and your mouth watering, Guy’s Grocery Games is less like the cutthroat Chopped competition and more like a game you’d want to play with your family — yes, even if you suck at cooking.

It is lighthearted and playful with exciting challenges involving refrigerator magnets, oddball ingredient combos, and shopping carts that the contestants speed down the aisles like they’re in the Indy 500. Fieri is an affable host, the meals look exquisite, and sometimes your favorite TV chefs (Jet Tila, Brooke Williamson, and more) take on the game. —B.R.

Where to watch Guy’s Grocery Games: Discovery+

Cast: Guy Fieri

House Hunters (1999–present)

This classic HGTV franchise takes you on house tours with prospective homebuyers and their realtors as they try to find the perfect place to put in an offer. Around the globe, from tiny houses to million-dollar mega-villas, House Hunters provides a spectacle of home architecture and design as well as insight into the home-buying process. If you wish they would take the whole construction part out of home design shows, then this series is for you. Discovery+ hosts a treasure trove of House Hunters spinoffs, so there is pretty much a version for everyone’s taste. —B.R.

Where to watch House Hunters: Discovery+

Cast: Suzanne Whang, Colette Whitaker

How It’s Made (2001–2019)

Sometimes, an oh-so-literal title is all it takes to pique a curious mind. For 18 years, this Science Channel docuseries spent more than 400 episodes examining the origins of everyday objects. While some installments tackled the basics like cooking supplies, automobiles, and food, others threw curveballs such as dissecting the inner workings of 3-D commercial signs, false teeth, cuckoo clocks, and more.

With different narrators lending their voices across various editions, How It’s Made offers digestible nuggets of knowledge that would please the shortest of attention spans. —J.M.

Where to watch How It’s Made: Discovery+

Cast: Mark Tewksbury, Lynn Herzeg, June Wallack, Lynne Adams, Brooks Moore

How the Universe Works (2010–2023)

The Discovery Channel has long attracted viewers with a curious bent, but in their documentary television show How the Universe Works, the network gets down to the science of what really matters: the creation of the universe as we know it. From the tiniest atom to the deepest black hole, How the Universe Works features 11 seasons of expert explanations and explorations into how we got here, breaking down topics large (solar systems, dark matter, nebulas) and small (the birth of Earth, and how the universe built your car).

Accessible to viewers of all ages and levels of scientific literacy, How the Universe Works takes the topics you learned about in school — and promptly forgot — and churns out episodes featuring compelling, memorable, and easy-to-retain content. —I.G.

Where to watch How the Universe Works: Discovery+

Cast: Mike Rowe, Erik Todd Dellums

MythBusters (2003–2018)

When it comes to determining the veracity of superstitions and local legends, there’s no duo more committed than the MythBusters. Throughout the show’s 296 episodes, a pair of special effects experts and their staff work to prove or disprove the common myths that haunt our everyday lives.

From testing to see if banana peels are really as slippery as comedies make them out to be to proving that Jack and Rose both could have survived the Titanic sinking if she had just made some more room on that door, these hardworking hosts and their team of artists, metal workers, and robotics experts helped make the show one of the Discovery Channel’s tentpole series during its run. When there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? Mythbusters! —I.G.

Where to watch MythBusters: Discovery+

Cast: Jamie Hyneman, Adam Savage, Kari Byron, Tory Bellici, Grant Imahara

Naked and Afraid (2013–present)

An exercise in extreme vulnerability, the American reality series Naked and Afraid pairs two survivalist strangers, strips them down to nothing, and drops them in the wilderness to survive for three weeks. Each episode follows a different couple as they meet for the first time (naked), attempt to feed themselves and evade wild animals (naked), and ultimately arrive at an extraction point at the end of their 21-day journey (still naked).

Survivalists are allowed one helpful item, but are given no help from the camera crews that are there to document their progress — although they are given the option of tapping out for medical or emotional reasons. A cross between Alone and Dating Naked, the show is unpredictable, captivating, and filled with opportunities to pick up survival tips. —I.G.

Where to watch Naked and Afraid: Discovery+

Cast: Michael Brown

Planet Earth (2006)

Developed over half a decade, this wildlife miniseries — lauded with four Emmys and a Peabody Award — traverses the diverse landscapes of our planet. From the harsh climates of the Arctic tundra to the lush jungles of South America and the uncharted depths of the ocean, the series unveils the natural world’s most captivating wonders across 11 episodes, each providing a behind-the-scenes peek into its production challenges. Narrated by the venerable David Attenborough in the BBC version and the incomparable Sigourney Weaver in the Discovery Channel edition, Planet Earth treats audiences with its high-tech, cutting-edge visuals that encompass both the grandeur and subtleties of Mother Earth. —J.M.

Where to watch Planet Earth: Discovery+

Cast: David Attenborough, Sigourney Weaver

Say Yes to the Dress (2007–present)

Though most of us aren’t the ones saying „I do,“ it’s hard not to get caught up in some armchair fashion commentary as we watch brides scour for their dream dresses, with price tags ranging from $1,000 to $40,000. Inside the glamorous walls of Kleinfeld Bridal — one of the world’s bougiest bridal salons — a crew of more than 250 experts pull out all the stops to measure up to the bride’s fairy-tale fantasies. And as the almost-newlywed hunts for the perfect gown, Say Yes to the Dress serves as a binge-worthy docuseries that serves up both a fashion makeover and a glimpse behind the veil into her family dynamics. —J.M.

Where to watch Say Yes to the Dress: Discovery+

Cast: Mara Urshel, Ronald Rothstein, Randy Fenoli, Dorothy Silver, Nicole Sacco

Sister Wives (2010–present)

In polygamist culture, the mantra — at least as it pertains to wives — is the more the merrier. Case in point: TLC’s television show Sister Wives, which follows Kody Brown, his four wives, and their collective 18 children. Debuting on the network in 2010, four years after American culture became obsessed with polygamy thanks to HBO’s Big Love, the series has since gained a significant following and is still airing.

Sister Wives followed the Brown family as they moved from Utah to Nevada to Arizona, and charted the dissolution of three of Kody’s four marriages. With the most recent separation announced in January 2023, it’s unclear how long Sister Wives will continue filming, but fans of the family will be relieved to know that the entire series is currently available on Discovery+. —I.G.

Where to watch Sister Wives: Discovery+

Cast: The Brown Family

This Is Life With Lisa Ling (2014–2022)

Lisa Ling is traveling the country — and taking CNN’s audiences along with her. A journalist known for investigating America’s most interesting and least-known subcultures, Ling uses her show to find a fresh way to introduce different types of Americans to each other.

Described as an “edgier” version of Ling’s former OWN series, Our America, the first season of This Is Life With Lisa Ling sees Ling digging into — among other things — the worlds of North Dakota’s booming oil industry, traveling strippers, gay rodeos, and men who feel called to the priesthood. With all nine seasons available to stream on Discovery+, This Is Life With Lisa Ling is a reminder that America’s diversity extends far beyond racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines. —I.G.

Where to watch This Is Life With Lisa Ling: Discovery+

Cast: Lisa Ling

Trixie Motel (2022)

In this Discovery+ original series, drag superstar Trixie Mattel and her partner David renovate a rundown motel in hopes of transforming it into a bold and fabulous Palm Springs getaway. With the help of skilled designers and some of Trixie’s famous friends (Zooey Deschanel, Nicole Byer, Leslie Jordan, and more), the Trixie Motel steadily goes from drab to fab one room at a time.

This show is a mix of hilarity, fashion, and stylistic construction coupled with the humorous wit of a drag show and the architectural glamor of a Barbie Dreamhouse on steroids. As Trixie says in her interview with EW, „…it’s like going to sleep in an art installation. It makes every other hotel look like four walls and a bed.“ —B.R.

Where to watch Trixie Motel: Discovery+

Cast: Trixie Mattel, David Silver, Brandon Lim, Dani Dazey, David Rios

Undercover Underage (2021–2023)

There are only two seasons of ID’s docuseries Undercover Underage, but every episode still packs a punch. Led by child advocate Roo Powell, the show follows her nonprofit SOSA (Safe From Online Sex Abuse) and its decoy work aimed at identifying and arresting pedophilic predators.

Aided by other adult women who pose as underage girls online to collect information on potential abusers, Roo and her team work alongside law enforcement to apprehend the worst offenders among us. Taking a sensitive and informed approach to its delicate subject matter, Undercover Underage is a great show for parents looking to educate themselves about the dangers of online sexual abuse. —I.G.

Where to watch Undercover Underage: Discovery+

Cast: Roo Powell

Where We Call Home (2022)

Short attention span or just short on time? The Magnolia Network (founded by Chip and Joanna Gaines), which is available through Discovery+, has a few quick and comforting shows to squeeze into your limited timeframe. Where We Call Home runs around 10 minutes per episode and challenges our ideas on what types of buildings we can make homes out of. With families living in old churches, abandoned schoolhouses, and car dealerships, this short series proves that we can find „home“ just about anywhere. More importantly, you can build a home from just about anything. In this show, homeowners of the most unlikely houses give us a tour and a bit of background on how they transformed their space. —B.R.

Where to watch Where We Call Home: Discovery+

Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry? (2010–2022)

A documentary series that will make you question just how well you really know your romantic partner, Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry? follows people who unknowingly wed spouses with a murderous past. Featuring more than 100 episodes spread out over seven seasons, this true crime series has covered famous cases like Jodi Arias, Scott Peterson, Amy Fisher, and the Green River Killer.

A show about double lives, hidden secrets, and the life-changing realities of discovering your soulmate is much different than the person you thought you promised your life to, Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry? is the kind of compulsory bingeable show that will have you glued to your couch for hours — and maybe rewriting the “till death do us part” portion of your wedding vows. —I.G.

Where to watch Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry?: Discovery+

Worst Cooks in America (2010–present)

If you’re looking for the opposite of Top Chef, you’ve found it in Worst Cooks in America. This cooking competition show takes a group of kitchen illiterate recruits and puts them through a culinary bootcamp designed to instill them with basic food prep skills. Their abilities are tested through a series of cooking challenges, and at the end of the show, the last recruit standing walks away with $25,000, a cooking set, and the knowledge that they are no longer one of the worst cooks in America. What better way to honor the late show mentor and star Anne Burrell than by streaming the 26 available seasons on Discovery+ now. —I.G.

Where to watch Worst Cooks in America: Discovery+

Cast: Anne Burrell, Beau MacMillan, Robert Irvine, Bobby Flay, Tyler Florence