#4. Planet Earth
Discovery Channel
This breathtaking American
presentation of a British nature miniseries was remarkable for high- and
low-minded reasons: It was a vivid argument for preserving Earth's
biodiversity, and a great justification for getting a big-screen TV.
Especially staggering in HD, the 11 episodes traveled from pole to pole,
from the peaks of mountains to underwater caverns to capture nature as
rarely seen by humans. While it didn't have an explicitly
environmentalist argument, by showing the planet's complex weave of life
and natural processes, it was possibly TV's most moving work of
eco-tainment yet.