The TV IV:IVy Awards/2006/Best Competition or Non-News Documentary Series

Candidates to be considered the Best Competition or Non-News Documentary Series which first aired one or more episodes in the United States between June 1, 2005 and May 31, 2006. Please read carefully the Definitions and Guidelines before putting a candidate up for nomination.

Definitions

competition or non-news documentary

Any live-action, non-scripted series which fits either the definition of game show or reality show as they are defined in the TV IV Glossary (including quiz show and celebreality), or any non-limited documentary series which is not produced by a network news division for the purposes of reporting current events, sports or weather (e.g.: Dateline NBC, 60 Minutes, FRONTLINE, Monday Night Football, etc., none of which are eligible.)

Guidelines

Please feel free to propose as many or as few candidates as you like in each category. If you change your mind or wish to retract a candidate, don't worry about editing the page, as it could cause some confusion down the road. (If you propose one unworthy enough, it will most likely not make it past the nominating process, anyway.) Feel free to discuss yours or others' proposals as much or as little as you choose. Tell us why you feel a candidate should be considered, or why someone else's candidate is a horrible choice and should not be considered. (Just remember to follow standard TV IV discussion rules regarding civility.)

Please mark all proposed candidates in bold, and link the show titles, even if the linked articles are empty or stubs. Try to avoid using bold elsewhere in the discussion. (To mark a candidate in bold, surround the name with two sets of three apostrophes, and use double brackets for linking, '''[[like this]]'''.)

Candidates Discussion

• Last Comic Standing: It's an American Idol rip-off, but I've always found stand-up comics more entertaining than lounge singers. Besides, it's really nice to know that Skippy from Family Ties isn't dead.
• Penn & Teller: Bullshit!: After Season Two, I was worried that the guys would run out of bullshit, but it turns out there's still plenty of fodder left, between charlatans (3x11 - Ghost Busters), common misconceptions (3x13 - The Best) and even the "big" bullshit of laws and societal mores (4x02 - Prostitution), to keep this series running strong for two more seasons this year.

JCaesar 07:15, 3 June 2006 (EDT)

• The Comedians of Comedy: I'm not sure if I could find 4 better comedians to put together and film a show about. Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Zach Galifianakis, and Maria Bamford are varied in their comedy, and they specifically made the series in a way that was entertaining and actually pretty real as far as reality shows go.

--Boco_T 02:40, 4 June 2006 (EDT)

• The Amazing Race: Season Nine: Despite the massive suckage of the Family Edition, The Amazing Race still manages to deliver great competition. Not focused around who ate the last rice or who's the biggest attention whore, The Amazing Race is the best reality show around. For the record, I'm nominated season nine and not the family edition. --Ryvius 02:51, 4 June 2006 (EDT)

This is a very grey area. By the strictest interpretation of the rules of the Awards, the Family Edition would have to be considered in conjunction with Season Nine. On the other hand, Reality/Competition shows in general are a weird circumstance, because most reality shows actually number their seasons or give them separate titles, and that's certainly true in this case. For the time being, I'm going to leave this subject open for debate on this page: Should we consider TAR: Family Edition separately or together with TAR 9? And then, when it comes time for the final voting on nominees and winners (which you're already in on, Ryvius), we can take a look at everyone's thoughts and make a final decision as to what to do here. JCaesar 03:15, 4 June 2006 (EDT)

• NOVA: Even after thirty-three years NOVA still makes the best science documentaries around despite added competition from cable networks like the Discovery Channel and the History Channel. NOVA's episodes are probably better than even theatrical and IMAX documentaries (although the NOVA team makes a lot those too) when it comes to having a good mix of hard science and being interesting to watch. NOVA's episodes are so good even someone well versed in the subject matter can find them extremely informative while still being interesting and non-boring to novice watchers. NOVA is the best no matter what topics they are covering whether it's biographies of famous scientists, space exploration, archeology, Earth exploration, cutting edge technology, or even current science related events. The last is surprising considering NOVA's high production values and attention to detail but less than two months after Hurricane Katrina hit they aired an episode on it (33x09 - Storm That Drowned a City). NOVA's science documentaries are simply the best regardless of whether they're years in the making or a few months.
• Modern Marvels: This show never ceases to amaze me in how it can take even the most mundane of items (such as this year's Coffee, Shovels or Cerael) and make an extremely interesting episode on it's history and current manufacturing process. It doesn't matter if their topic is the most complex of industrial processes or the simplest household item they always manage to find interesting historical information and find just the right experts to talk about it without boring the viewer. The show is in it's twelfth year and despite being up to Enigeering Disasters 19 it still manages to find new and interesting topics to explore each week.

--The-jam 14:19, 4 June 2006 (EDT)

• American Idol: It's the most popular show on television for a reason. The auditions are hilarious purely for the unbelievable Schadenfreude they give the viewer. Then once the competition starts you have countless performances to microanalyze, and because of the voting aspect of the show, you feel like you have some control over the outcome each week. Every American Idol winner, and even a runner-up, has sold millions of albums and I'm sure the winner and runner-up this season won't be any different. A few of the idols have also won several major awards, including Grammy’s. You can't say that about your average karaoke champ.

--PrincessKate 15:48, 4 June 2006 (EDT)

• Good Eats. DCEdwards1966 | Talk 20:01, 4 June 2006 (EDT)

The Power of Nightmares: The Politics of Fear has been moved to the Best Made-for-TV Movie, Miniseries or Special. There was a minor lack of clarification in the rules, which I have corrected. JCaesar 00:02, 5 June 2006 (EDT)

• Going Tribal - Great series that looks at cultures hidden from industrial society. --MateoP 10:47, 8 June 2006 (EDT)

• Top Gear: A very popular motoring program that airs in the UK, but has international appeal (they won an International Emmy!). The three presenters review cars (usually of the supercar variety) and participate in outlandish races and challenges, such as converting cars to amphibious cars, playing darts with cars and a giant catapult, and seeing if an Apache gunship can get a missile lock on a Lotus Exige. --Cheshire Cat 20:56, 8 June 2006 (EDT)

Has it aired in the US? JCaesar 03:36, 9 June 2006 (EDT)

The Discovery Channel aired it from June 2005 to February 2006. --Cheshire Cat 12:06, 9 June 2006 (EDT)