When bears, wolves and foxes are your only neighbors, life can be pretty lonely. Add minus-60-degree days and a constant battle for the most basic necessities, and you have the daily challenges of people who live in remote corners of Alaska. This series takes viewers deep into an Alaskan winter to meet tough, resilient residents as they try to stay one step ahead of storms and man-eating beasts to survive the season. The closest neighbor to Sue Aikens is more than 300 miles away. Eric Salitan subsists solely on what he hunts and forages. Chip and Agnes Hailstone catch fish for currency in bartering for supplies, and Andy and Kate Bassich use their pack of sled dogs for transportation. Also highlighted is a time of year not always part of what viewers see in Alaska: spring! Ice is breaking, animals are waking, and residents face new tests before deep cold returns.

Dr. Jan Pol has been a practicing veterinarian for more than half his life. In 1981 he and his wife, Diane, opened a vet business out of their home, and over the years it has grown to service more than 19,000 clients. Set in Central Michigan's farm country, this reality series follows the work done at Pol Veterinary Services. Specializing in large farm animals, Dr. Pol treats horses, pigs, cows, sheep, alpacas, goats, chickens and even an occasional reindeer. The program also features Dr. Brenda Grettenberger, who has worked with Dr. Pol since 1992.

In the varied forms of veterinary medicine, Dr. Susan Kelleher's practice may be one of the more unusual. Known as Dr. K, she runs South Florida's Broward Avian and Exotics Animal Hospital, and this series follows the staff as it cares for rabbits, ferrets, foxes, fish, birds, reptiles, marsupials, and even primates. As do some other vets, Kelleher thinks domesticating wild animals like monkeys is a bad idea, but that feeling doesn't interfere with her taking care of them: "If it will fit through the door, I'll treat it," she says.

When bluefin tuna season ends in Gloucester, Mass., it's just beginning in North Carolina's Outer Banks, a perfect opportunity to pit North vs. South in a pro fisherman contest for the ocean's most lucrative prey. Venturing south are the best crews from Gloucester to take on top local fleets in the treacherous Outer Banks, where the weather is more unpredictable than up north, and the seas can be extremely rough. The Gloucester rod-and-reel vets must master "greensticking" -- trolling artificial squid from a 30-foot fiberglass pole to lure the elusive species to the surface. Top-dollar bluefin can be worth as much as $20,000 each, but a short season and small government catch quota means explosive rivalries surface quickly.

A period in recent history is examined closely and discussed by experts in order to develop a broader awareness of meaningful events and individuals that had a direct impact on the way in which society developed afterwards.

National Geographic Channel turns its state-of-the-art cameras on America for a close-up of its national parks. More than three years in the making, the eight-part series goes beyond the homegrown beauty to allow viewers to witness moments full of drama, watch stories of life and death, and discover hidden gems in high-tech ways heretofore never presented on TV. Each hourlong episode features one park, from the geysers of Yellowstone and the hot desert of Saguaro to the sprawling Smoky Mountains and world-famous Grand Canyon.

How does the drug trade work? Can it be stopped or should it be regulated? And what are the personal costs? Those are just some of the questions asked in this series, a comprehensive look at society's most abused drugs: cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana. First-person perspectives from traffickers, dealers, users, law enforcement and medical professionals detail how the drugs are processed and moved onto the streets, and the effects they have on the human body. It's a raw, eye-opening documentary about a billion-dollar industry.

The coastal city of Durban in South Africa is known for sandy beaches, warm weather -- and snakes! Residents are under attack from a plague of deadly reptiles, including the notorious black mamba, but they should have no fear because of Simon Keys and Siouxsie Gillett. "Snake City" follows the reptile-wrangling couple who respond to the desperate calls of terrified residents who have encountered slithery serpents in and around their homes.

Examining the lifestyle and culture of the 1990s.

Consistently stunning documentaries transport viewers to far-flung locations ranging from the torrid African plains to the chilly splendors of icy Antarctica. The show's primary focus is on animals and ecosystems around the world. A comic book based on the show, meant to be used an as educational tool for kids, was briefly distributed to museums and schools at no cost in the mid-2000s.

Enhanced episodes of "The Incredible Dr. Pol."

Enhanced episodes of "Dr. K's Exotic Animal ER."

A journey through Mexico's diverse landscapes reveals an incredible array of wildlife that calls this place home.

Patrolling America's largest state is the job of roughly 400 troopers in one of the toughest law enforcement agencies in the nation. Essentially, these cops say, nearly every Alaskan resident is armed and they know how to use their weapons, which makes any scenario a trooper encounters a potentially fatal one. Follow along as the "blue shirt" Alaskan State Troopers police the towns and villages, and the "brown shirt" Alaska Wildlife Troopers enforce regulations covering both commercial and sport fishing and hunting activities.

Africa is home to some of the deadliest creatures of all, and in this series, you'll see them.

Aquatic ecologist Zeb Hogan gets up close and personal with bizarre giants of the water, specimens equally enormous in proportion and odd in appearance. Among other adventures, Hogan investigates flying fish from Asia that are invading America's waterways, and he searches for one of North America's toothiest and most-misunderstood monster fish, the alligator gar. Some of the species Hogan encounters have survived for centuries but now face the threat of extinction, and he presents groundbreaking research undertaken to protect them.

Adventures expose the harsh working environments endured by Alaska's fishermen.

On the Hawaiian island of Kauai, people in need of medical care for their pets often turn to Dr. Scott Sims. The owner of Pegasus Veterinary Clinic, located in his Kilauea home, Dr. Sims and assistants Dia and Ella keep busy treating a wide variety of domestic and wild animals. He makes "house" calls, too -- on beaches and mountainsides, in the water and jungle -- traversing wild, rural and oceanic Kauai topography. "Aloha Vet" profiles a man whose phone is rarely silent. With a heart of gold, Dr. Sims works long hours helping animals that walk, crawl, fly and swim.

Dream adventures turn into hellish nightmares for the travelers featured in this series, which recounts through firsthand interviews and re-enactments terror-filled experiences of being arrested in a foreign country, usually for drug smuggling, and how they coped with the resulting lengthy prison terms. Viewers also hear from people directly involved with the arrests, whether it's the undercover agents gathering the evidence against the suspects, or the people making the drug dealing offers.

In going behind bars of Georgia's correctional system, each episode of this series examines one aspect of the state's paramilitary approach to their prisoners, the idea being treat them like highly disciplined soldiers and they will stop acting like criminals. Over the course of a year, cameras capture both those who work in the system and those housed within it -- from nonviolent offenders in a boot camp to hardened criminals in "Hi-Max," the environment that allows the most extreme disciplinary methods.

This documentary explores the world of wild elephants in Kenya's Samburu National Reserve. Researchers from the conservation project Save the Elephants, notably the father-daughter team of Iain Douglas-Hamilton and Saba Douglas-Hamilton, follow the intimate stories of individual elephants as they raise their families, forge alliances and fight for survival.