Television documentary
Encyclopedia
Documentary television is a genre
of television program
ming that broadcasts documentaries.
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
of television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
ming that broadcasts documentaries.
- Documentary television series, a television series which is made up of documentary episodeEpisodeAn episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...
s. - Documentary television film, a documentary filmDocumentary filmDocumentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
is made specially for television stationTelevision stationA television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
s or for specialty documentary channelDocumentary channelA documentary channel is a specialty channel which focuses on broadcasting documentaries. Some documentary channels further specialize by dedicating their television programming to specific types of documentaries or documentaries in a specific area of knowledge. DOC: The Documentary Channel and The...
s, or in case of political and historical documentary subjects in news channels, without the intention of showing it in movie theaterMovie theaterA movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
s. This film is include in television movieTelevision movieA television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
s and distinguished with theatrical feature filmFeature filmIn the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
s. Another good example of television documentaries are the travel documentariesTravel documentaryA travel documentary is a documentary film or television program that describes travel in general or tourist attractions in a non-commercial way....
that are featured in specialized geographocal or tourism television channels like the National Geographic ChannelNational Geographic ChannelNational Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
. The films might end up showing though in film societiesFilm societyA film society is a membership club where people can watch screenings of films which would otherwise not be shown in mainstream cinemas. In Spain they are known as "Cineclubs," and in Germany they are known as "Filmclubs"....
or in theatres 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.
Channels
- Al Jazeera Documentary ChannelAl Jazeera Documentary ChannelAl Jazeera Documentary Channel is an Arabic language documentary channel and a branch of the Al Jazeera network. It was launched at 12:00 GMT on 1 January 2007. It aims to provide viewers an immense amount of high quality documentary films...
- Discovery ChannelDiscovery ChannelDiscovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
- DOC: The Documentary ChannelDOC: The Documentary ChannelDocumentary Channel is a specialty channel that features documentary programming. It airs independent documentary films from around the world, including those never-before-seen in the United States....
- Docu TVEDocu TVECultural·es was a Spanish television channel owned by TVE. The service was only available on Digital+ and was launched in 1994. Cultural.es aired documentaries produced in Spanish and features programming on a variety of themes...
- Documentary
- The History ChannelThe History ChannelHistory, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
- National Geographic ChannelNational Geographic ChannelNational Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
Series
- The Living DeadThe Living Dead (television documentary series)The Living Dead: Three Films About the Power of the Past was the second major documentary series made by British film-maker Adam Curtis. This series investigated the way that history and memory have been used by politicians and others...
- Pandora's Box
- Recreating EdenRecreating EdenRecreating Eden is a Canadian lifestyle and gardening television documentary program. Its aim is to examine the physical, mental, and spiritual healing effects that gardens have on their keepers-History:...
- Secret HistorySecret History (TV documentary series)Secret History was a long-running British television documentary series. Shown on Channel 4, the Secret History brandname was used as a banner title in the UK, but many of the individual documentaries can still be found on US cable channels without the branding...
- This Is Your LifeThis Is Your LifeThis Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
- The Trap
- Urban LegendsUrban Legends (television)Urban Legends is a 30 minute 2007 television documentary-style series hosted by Michael Allcock. In each episode, three urban legends are dramatized and presented to the television audience; the audience is then to speculate which one or two of the three is true. Each legend has witnesses to tell...