The BEST A&E shows of all time
Every A&E show, ranked
We've compiled the average episode rating for every A&E show to compile this list of best shows!
#1 - Nero Wolfe (2001)
Genius detective Nero Wolfe and his right-hand man, Archie Goodwin, solve seemingly impossible crimes.
View Episode Rankings
#2 - Waco: Madman or Messiah
Few had ever heard of the Branch Davidians and their leader David Koresh until the events of February 28, 1993 when a raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on their center close to Waco, Texas, left four agents and six of the religious sect dead. It led to a 51-day stand-off with the FBI, the longest in US law-enforcement history, ending in a tragic fire which killed an additional 76 members of the Branch Davidian community including 22 children. Who was David Koresh and why were many Branch Davidians prepared to die for him? Was he a con man or an anointed messenger of God sent to warn his followers of the imminent end of the world? With Koresh’s own voice taken from many previously never-before-seen FBI negotiation tapes, nine Branch Davidians will now tell their emotional story from the inside.
View Episode Rankings
#3 - Born This Way
Born This Way follows a group of young adults with Down syndrome as they pursue their dreams and explore their friendships, romantic relationships, and work.
View Episode Rankings
#4 - Cold Case Files (1999)
Unsolved crimes locked away in dusty file cabinets. Time is an ineffectual balm. Painful memories are left to a victim's loved ones. What happens when a killer gets away with murder? Thanks to the efforts of a special breed of modern detective, no one escapes the laws of justice - no matter how old the case.
View Episode Rankings
#5 - City Confidential
City Confidential features real life stories in a wide variety of American cities. While many of these stories deal with murder, some also deal with attempted murder, and public officials caught in compromising situations, among other things. The cities featured vary widely in size, from the smallest village to the largest urban areas.
View Episode Rankings
#6 - The First 48
Follows detectives during the hours immediately following a homicide.
View Episode Rankings
#7 - Live PD
As the debate over the policing of America continues to be a part of the daily conversation across the nation, Live PD viewers get unfettered and unfiltered live access inside a variety of the country’s busiest police forces, both urban and rural, and the communities they patrol on a typical night. Viewers are encouraged to post their comments about what they witness throughout the night on Facebook and Twitter. In-studio host, ABC’s Dan Abrams, alongside analyst Tom Morris Jr., guide viewers through the night, giving insight to what audiences see in real time (via a mix of dash cams, fixed rig and handheld cameras), bouncing minute-by-minute between the featured police departments and offering an inside look at each live incident.
View Episode Rankings
#8 - Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath
Leah Remini, along with high level former Scientology executives and Church members, explores individual accounts from ex-Church members and their families through meetings and interviews with Leah. Each episode features stories from former members whose lives have been affected by the Church's harmful practices, even well after they left the organization.
View Episode Rankings
#9 - Court Cam
A behind-the-scenes look into some of the most wild, unruly and dramatic moments caught on tape in courtrooms across the country; witnesses, judges and victims share their perspectives of the emotional outbursts and chaotic moments.
View Episode Rankings
#10 - Steven Seagal: Lawman
Steven Seagal Lawman - His movies have grossed more than $2 billion worldwide. He is an expert martial artist with a 7th-degree black belt in Aikido. He's considered to be in the same class of action hero as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, Steven Seagal isn't just an action hero in the movies. For almost 20 years, Seagal has been working as a fully commissioned deputy with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana. In addition to going out on patrol, Seagal is an expert marksman who has worked with their SWAT team and has instructed Jefferson Parish officers in firearms and hand-to-hand combat. Steven Seagal Lawman will allow fans to ride shotgun with Seagal as he and his hand-selected elite team of deputies respond to crimes in progress. Then, when Seagal goes off duty, the cameras will continue following him as he pursues his many ventures, including musical performances and philanthropic efforts in Jefferson Parish and New Orleans.
View Episode Rankings
#11 - The Glades
This Crime series follows Matt Passmore as Jim, a Chicago cop who gets kicked off the force after being shot and wrongfully accused by his ex-captain of having an affair with his wife. After receiving his payout, Jim decides to moves to a small Florida town to join the state police.
View Episode Rankings
#12 - Ozzy and Jack's World Detour
In this new 10-episode hour-long non-scripted series, the self-proclaimed history nerds hit the road in a father-son journey they've waited years to take. There will be no roadies, no tour buses and no boundaries. Just a bucket list of iconic and historically significant spots that includes Mt. Rushmore, Stonehenge, The Alamo, Roswell, The Jamestown Settlement and Sun Studios and a hit list of some fascinating sights and people that they've read about. From a Cold War era Missile Silo to Bletchley Park; from gold miner Rattlesnake Randy's stream of dreams to vintage tank collector Allan Cors' private museum of working war machines, Ozzy and Jack get their eyes and hands on history.
View Episode Rankings
#13 - Bates Motel
Following the tragic death of her husband, a widow and her teenage son settle into a new town with a dark underbelly and must do whatever it takes to protect their own secrets.
View Episode Rankings
#14 - Accused: Guilty or Innocent?
“Accused: Guilty or Innocent?” offers an intimate account of what happens when someone is formally charged with a crime and sent to trial – all solely from the perspective of the accused, their legal team and family members.
View Episode Rankings
#15 - Live PD Presents: PD Cam
Sgt Sean "Sticks" Larkin of the Tulsa Police Department Gang Unit brings viewers an honest and complete look at an officer's POV during some of their craziest chases, standoffs and interactions across the country and utilizes body cams, dash-cams, and helicopter cams to showcase unprecedented access like never before.
View Episode Rankings
#16 - The First 48 Presents: Homicide Squad Atlanta
Homicide detectives from the Atlanta Police Department unravel the mysteries behind some of the city's most gruesome and highly visible crimes.
View Episode Rankings
#17 - American Justice
Outstanding Documentary focusing on Crime in America, and the American Criminal Justice System.
View Episode Rankings
#18 - The Beast
A veteran F.B.I. Agent is assigned a new partner, unaware that he was recruited as a double agent to investigate his activities.
View Episode Rankings
#19 - Killer Cases
"Killer Cases" brings all the emotion, drama, and suspense from chilling murder trials. It's a journey through the criminal justice process that gives viewers an inside look at real cases like never before.
View Episode Rankings
#20 - Intervention
Intervention profiles people who are losing the battle with their addictions, and whose friends and families feel the only remaining option is to hold an intervention. Each documentary follows the lives of these addicts, taking an unflinching look at the impact of their addictions on their everyday lives, all the while the addicts are unaware that an intervention is being planned. Each airing ends with the friends, family and a professional interventionist urging the addict to get treatment. If the individual should choose treatment, the addict immediately enters a widely respected treatment facility.
View Episode Rankings
#21 - Breakout Kings
Driven by the fact that there are few things more dangerous than a prisoner who has just escaped, and tired of following protocol and resorting to outdated methods of law enforcement, veteran U.S. Marshals Charlie Duchamp and Ray Zancanelli are taking an unorthodox approach to their work: using former fugitives to catch fugitives.
View Episode Rankings
#22 - 60 Days In
"60 Days In" offers an unprecedented look at life in jails across the country as innocent volunteers are sent to live among its general population for 60 days without officers, fellow inmates, or staff knowing their secret.
View Episode Rankings
#23 - Live PD: Police Patrol
Live PD: Police Patrol is a non-fiction series that brings viewers an unfiltered look at law enforcement officers in action across America. Every episode highlights the daily life-and-death situations faced by Sheriff’s Departments, Highway Patrols and local Police Departments in a diverse range of jurisdictions from Connecticut to Arizona.
View Episode Rankings
#24 - Biography
The life stories of various historical figures and celebrities are told.
View Episode Rankings
#25 - Tiny House Nation
Tiny House Nation follows renovation experts and hosts John Weisbarth and Zack Giffin as they travel across America to show off ingenious small spaces and the inventive people who live in them. Along the way, they also help families design and construct their own mini-dream homes in spaces no larger than 300 square feet. From a micro-apartment in New York City to a caboose car-turned-home in Montana to a micro-sized mobile home for road tripping, this series celebrates the exploding movement of tiny homes. From pricey to budget-friendly, Tiny House Nation is not a typical design show but one that proves size doesn’t always matter – it’s creativity that counts.
View Episode Rankings
#26 - Unforgettable
Former Syracuse, New York, police detective Carrie Wells has hyperthymesia, a rare medical condition that gives her the ability to visually remember everything. She reluctantly joins the New York City Police Department's Queens homicide unit after her former boyfriend and partner asks for help with solving a case. The move allows her to try to find out the one thing she has been unable to remember, which is what happened the day her sister was murdered.
View Episode Rankings
#27 - Neighborhood Wars
With a record number of Americans trading city life for homes in the suburbs, relationships between neighbors are being put to the test. “Neighborhood Wars” takes viewers into the homes and backyards of neighbors across the country with some of the most unexpected and emotionally charged events caught on camera. Featuring footage from cell phones, drones, home security cameras and more, the series showcases the kindness and conflict between real-life neighbors throughout the US.
View Episode Rankings
#28 - Storage Wars
A&E presents the new original real-life series "Storage Wars," which follows professional buyers and their teams as they scour repossessed storage units in search of hidden treasure. Part gamblers, part detectives, these auction pros have found everything from coffins to the world's most valuable comic book collection, paying as little as ten dollars for items valued in the millions. Each episode of "Storage Wars" follows a group of bidders as they get a quick peek inside the units, aided only by the beam of a flashlight. They then must assess on the spot if the unit is worth a bid and how high they will actually go to grasp the gold. The high-stakes fun begins as we see if the resulting buy is full of mostly trash... or true treasure. Driven by Dan Dotson, one of the most successful and outrageous auctioneers in the country, the cast of buyers is as colorful and varied as the treasures they uncover.
View Episode Rankings
#29 - The Murder of Laci Peterson
A re-examination of the highly publicized murder case includes new interviews with death-row prisoner Scott Peterson, who was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife in 2002.
View Episode Rankings
#30 - Nightwatch
Follow the men and women who keep the citizens of New Orleans safe during the night. Ride along with the police officers, the firefighters, and the paramedics as they tackle the evils of the night.
View Episode Rankings
#31 - 60 Days In: Narcoland
Six participants go undercover in crucial areas along I-65 – one of the biggest drug trafficking corridors in the country, encompassing six counties in Kentucky and Indiana – for a first-hand look into how drug cartels have infiltrated America’s Heartland.
View Episode Rankings
#32 - Cults and Extreme Belief
Journalist Elizabeth Vargas, alongside former members of controversial organizations, goes on a search to uncover how these sects use their influence to prey upon people's desperation to create powerful and often destructive belief systems.
View Episode Rankings
#33 - Bag of Bones
Bestselling novelist Mike Noonan, unable to cope after his wife's sudden death, returns to the couple's lakeside retreat in Maine, where he becomes involved in a custody battle between a young widow and her child's enormously wealthy grandfather. Mike inexplicably receives mysterious ghostly visitations, escalating nightmares and the realization that his late wife still has something to tell him.
View Episode Rankings
#34 - Damien
The story of the adult life of Damien Thorn, the mysterious child from the 1976 film, “The Omen,” who has grown up and must now come to terms with his true destiny – that he is the Antichrist, the most feared man throughout the ages.
View Episode Rankings
#35 - Beyond Scared Straight
Beyond Scared Straight is a new series executive produced by Arnold Shapiro and based on his Academy Award and multiple Emmy-Winning documentary "Scared Straight!," that will profile unique approaches to juvenile crime prevention in prisons around the U.S. "Scared Straight!" has become an iconic name and a cultural phenomenon over the years. The film made a huge impact - showcasing the radical and effective juvenile intervention program that took place in a New Jersey prison. Since they were created, both the prison program and the film have turned countless kids away from drugs, violence and crime. The power of the original "Scared Straight!" program has inspired dozens of inmate-run intervention programs in men's and women's prisons across the country; and this series will showcase several of them. Under the auspices of Arnold Shapiro, "Beyond Scared Straight" profiles the new approach to keeping today's kids from becoming tomorrow's convicts. Much like the original version of "Scared Straight!," these youthful offender programs put boys and girls of all ethnicities, ranging in age from 13-18, into intensive one-day in-prison sessions that show them the realities of life behind bars. However, in many dramatic ways, these 21st Century programs are very different from the original because today's youth needs a different approach. For current teens, city streets can be as dangerous as the life they believe exists behind bars. TV, film and music have glorified the gang and prison experience and the task of "scaring" teens is more complicated now than ever. As a result, inmates have had to adapt their methods - making them more a combination of intimidation, information and communication - and the results for the new program have proven to be equally effective. Each 60-minute episode of "Beyond Scared Straight" will focus on a different prison program in the U.S., following 4 -5 at-risk teens. Viewers will follow them as they attend the program, experience the
View Episode Rankings
#36 - Behind Bars: Rookie Year
New corrections officers struggle with the physical and emotional demands of the job.
View Episode Rankings
#37 - The Clinton Affair
A series of exclusive interviews and archival footage examining Bill Clinton's political scandal of the 1990s and its lasting influence in the United States.
View Episode Rankings
#38 - Wahlburgers
"Wahlburgers" goes behind the scenes of one of Boston's most well-known families, the Wahlbergs. Brothers Mark, Donnie and Paul join forces to embark on a hometown-based business venture, a hamburger restaurant that touts the family name. An homage to their humble beginnings, the restaurant is home base for the gang from the old neighborhood, including Mark's sidekicks, the real Johnny "Drama" and Henry "Nacho" Laun, Paul's trusty assistant Kari Burke and of course, the matriarch of the Wahlberg family, their spirited mother Alma.
View Episode Rankings
#39 - Hoarders
Each 60-minute episode of Hoarders is a fascinating look inside the lives of two different people whose inability to part with their belongings is so out of control that they are on the verge of a personal crisis.
View Episode Rankings
#40 - Gene Simmons Family Jewels
Welcome to the unconventional family life of KISS front man Gene Simmons. Simmons and actress Shannon Tweed have been happily unmarried for twenty years and have two children, Nick and Sophie. Gene Simmons Family Jewels reveals a side of Gene that has remained hidden until now. See the softer side of this metal manic as he balances his rock star life with his role as a dad.
View Episode Rankings
#41 - Dog the Bounty Hunter
Dog: The Bounty Hunter follows the exploits of real-life bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman, who runs Da Kine Bail Bonds in beautiful Honolulu, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Aided by his team of family coworkers - partner/wife, Beth Smith; son, Leland; "brother," Tim - Dog always gets his man. They first appeared in an episode of A&E's "Take This Job," a 2003 series in which people with unusual occupations were profiled, and now Dog and his team are back in their very own series.
View Episode Rankings
#42 - Duck Dynasty
Series introduces the Robertsons, a Louisiana bayou family living the American dream as they operate a thriving business while staying true to their family values and lifestyle. Ask anyone in Louisiana and they'll tell you that the bayou state's favorite first family doesn't live in the governor's mansion but in the backwoods, where the Robertsons' rags-to-riches story is still unfolding. A homegrown mom-and-pop operation, Duck Commander has become a sporting empire by fabricating top-of-the-line duck calls and decoys out of salvaged swamp wood. This newly minted multimillionaire family is kept in line by business-savvy Willie, who runs Duck Commander with the help of his brother Jase, their respective wives Korie and Missy, patriarch and founder of the company, Phil, and uncle Si. Together they run a booming business that employs half their neighborhood, but at the end of the day, you can find the whole family around matriarch Miss Kay's dinner table.
View Episode Rankings
#43 - Donnie Loves Jenny
Donnie Wahlberg and Jenny McCarthy will have their marriage documented in a reality series. A&E has set 10 episodes for the first season. The original unscripted docuseries that will follow the newlyweds. The first episode is an hour episode of their August 31st wedding. The rest of the series will be 30 minute episodes. The series will kick off with behind-the-scenes moments from Wahlberg and McCarthy’s wedding and follow the couple through their nuptials into their first experiences as a married couple as they navigate through life as newlyweds, including blending their families and balancing their busy schedules.
View Episode Rankings
#44 - Janet Jackson.
The documentary takes viewers through Janet Jackson's life and career, contain never-before-seen footage, and feature home videos from the legendary artist. Jackson discusses her controversial 2004 Super Bowl halftime show performance with Justin Timberlake, her father Joe Jackson, the death of her brother Michael Jackson, and more.
View Episode Rankings
#45 - The Cleaner
When William Banks hits rock-bottom from his own addictions during the birth of his twins, he makes a deal with God: in exchange for a second chance at life, he will kick his habits and live his life to help others get clean that have fallen into a life of addiction, whether it is sex, drugs, alcohol, or gambling... by any means necessary.
View Episode Rankings
#46 - WWE's Most Wanted Treasures
Stephanie McMahon and Paul "Triple H" Levesque will lead a team of collectors and WWE celebrities as they travel across the country to find WWE collectibles.
View Episode Rankings
#47 - Biography: WWE Legends
The stories behind some of the most memorable WWE Superstars of all time.
View Episode Rankings
#48 - Criss Angel Mindfreak
Criss Angel is on a quest to bring magic into our lives through extreme entertainment that he calls "mindfreak." He believes today's magicians are for the most part archaic and out of touch with society. He plans to change that with amazing feats, including being set ablaze for 46 seconds with very little protection and levitating people right on the street to death-defying escapes and even more slight-of-hand acts.
View Episode Rankings
#49 - Those Who Kill (US)
Based on the Danish TV crime series inspired by bestselling author Elsebeth Egholm, "Those Who Kill" stars Chloë Sevigny as Catherine Jensen, a brilliant police detective who tracks down serial killers. Jensen is also investigating her stepfather, who may be a serial killer, while searching for her missing brother. She enlists the help of Thomas Schaffer (James D’Arcy), a forensic psychiatrist, to help her understand the minds of serial killers, all the while luring Schaffer into her own personal investigation. Both characters possess a deep psychological understanding that connects them to the killers' victims and to the killers themselves.
View Episode Rankings
#50 - Zombie House Flipping
Exploring the recent trend of house flippers scooping up foreclosed and often abandoned "zombie houses" and renovating them to return neighborhoods to their former glory.
View Episode Rankings