Abandoning modern systems of justice for older and more controversial methods.

People who have been cast out of their community.

The lengths people will go to to change their looks.

People who deal with death for occupational, cultural and sometimes questionable reasons.

People in love with inmates serving time include a Texas inmate in solitary confinement who is married with the help of a radio host as the surrogate groom and a man serving life for murder who meets and marries a woman over the Internet.

As people across the globe are getting heavier, beauty norms for some are changing; for others, the sight of fat is still taboo.

Supernatural powers.

What people can and can't eat may be nothing more than a question of mind over matter.

Women who mutilate their bodies.

Various forms of skin art illustrate the border between acceptable and taboo.

Nontraditional weddings; a naked wedding in Jamaica; dog wedding; a young man kidnaps his bride.

In one married couple, each partner has switched gender; one person self-refers as a hybrid -- neither male nor female.

Many traditional cultures require boys to pass through initiations of pain and fear in order to become men.

The hidden world of prostitution.

Repeatedly cutting skin to create the effect of crocodile skin; a tribe of people's belief in physical perfection is so deep that some individuals kill their babies.

Young men leap head-first from a 70-foot tower in a potentially deadly ritual; a girl tattoos her face before marriage as part of her transition to womanhood; a 70-year-old man participates in a bloodletting ceremony.

Gender, sex and sexuality can be interpreted as cultural or genetic.

Visiting an Indian temple that reveres rats; a no-clothes-allowed community; spending the night in one of Manila's deadliest neighborhoods.

Strange cuisines.

Measuring people's worth by the ability to overcome the fight-or-flight instinct.

Love and what attracts the opposite sex can differ from one society to another.

"Naked Science" strips away the layers of a scientific investigation into one of the big mysteries of our time, revealing through expert analysis realistic scenarios that either confirm or deny long-held assumptions and misconceptions.

This award-winning series presents compelling untold stories and covers a wide array of provocative subjects. "Explorer" aired for 25 years -- the longest-running documentary series in cable TV history -- before being relaunched in 2015 after a five-year hiatus. Each monthly episode of the new "Explorer" takes a similar deep dive inside a story from the pages of a recent National Geographic magazine issue, taking viewers not only to the most remote corners of the globe but also to the furthest reaches of the mind and deepest crevices of history -- on urgent missions of discovery.

Julia Child melded TV and food 50 or so years ago. Now with scads of celebrity chefs, cooking shows, and networks devoted to it, cuisine is even more popular. National Geographic Channel's six-hour miniseries salutes its history, science and culture. Each episode tackles a central theme: revolutionaries, meat, sugar, seafood, junk food, and grains -- with stories and reflections by a smorgasbord of chefs, authors, scientists, etc. Interviewees include Padma Lakshmi, Nigella Lawson, Simon Majumdar, Rachael Ray, Marcus Samuelsson, Anna Boiardi and Graham Elliot.

From the award-winning team of filmmaker Darren Aronofsky ("Black Swan") and producer Jane Root ("America the Story of Us"), this 10-part cinematic event series explores the fragility and wonder of planet Earth -- one of the most peculiar, unique places in the universe. Host Will Smith guides viewers on an unprecedented exploration, bolstered by an elite group of eight astronauts who provide unique perspectives and relate personal memoirs of the planet seen from a distance. Hourlong episodes delve into monumental events such as genesis, cosmic violence, human intelligence and alien life, oxygen, and survival vs. destruction.

Advanced computer graphics, forensic science, eyewitness accounts, interviews with experts, archival footage and re-enactments piece together in great detail the events that led to some of the biggest disasters of modern time.

Cameras follow the action along Arizona's Sonoran Desert, one of the busiest border crossings in the country, as officers and agents of U.S. Customs and Border Protection fight terrorism, apprehend drug smugglers and intercept people entering the United States illegally. The series also embeds with Customs and Border Protection, and with local law enforcement, as units patrol near and on the border in South Texas.

Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman explores the meaning of life, God, and many big questions in between in an effort to understand how religion has evolved and shaped society. A different divine subject is covered in each hourlong episode, titles of which include "Creation," "The Devil Inside," "Afterlife," "Apocalypse," and "Who Is God?" To explore these topics, host and narrator Freeman visits nearly 20 cities in seven countries to see some of the world's greatest religious sites, among them Jerusalem's Wailing Wall, India's Bodhi Tree, Mayan temples in Guatemala, and the pyramids of Egypt, and he immerses himself in religious experiences and rituals. "In some places I found answers, and others led to more questions. The constant through it all is that we're all looking to be part of something bigger than us. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that we certainly are," Freeman says.

"Lockdown" plunges viewers headfirst into life in the "big house," the gritty underworld of America's maximum-security prisons, where gangs are prevalent, predators stalk their next prey and inmates are armed with deadly weapons. But prison officials have their own weapons in the form of modern surveillance and old-time isolation -- plus steel batons and pepper spray -- to help keep the peace in these miniature war zones.

How did we get here? How did humankind evolve from apes swinging in trees to astronauts walking on the moon? National Geographic's eight-part time-travel adventure series delves deep into history to highlight pivotal "origin" moments that fundamentally and irrevocably created modern living. Host Jason Silva ("Brain Games") guides viewers through a dazzling audio-visual portal to explore these events, such as the discoveries and applications of fire, medicine, money and transportation, while experts across each field inject commentary. The series also incorporates scripted storytelling and documentary sequences.

"Strange" doesn't seem to adequately describe some of the addictive behaviors profiled on this series. "Dangerous," even "life-threatening," come much closer. Each half-hour episode features two adults who resort to extreme compulsions in an effort to soothe their emotional demons. Some of the addictions explored include sleeping with a turned-on blow dryer, eating bathroom cleanser, eating half a roll of toilet paper a day, extreme bodybuilding and thumb sucking.