3 intriguing HBO Max documentaries to watch this weekend (July 17-19)

Credit: Lucas Gouveia/How-To Geek Published Jul 17, 2026, 5:00 PM EDT Derek Malcolm has been covering the worlds of tech and entertainment for more than two decades. Before coming to How-To Geek in 2025, Derek was a contributing editor and writer for the A/V and Home Theater section at Digital Trends, where he wrangled and wrote everything from what to watch on Netflix to reviews, explainers, and guides on the latest Bluetooth speakers, turntables, projectors, and other A/V gear. Based in Toronto, Derek graduated from Humber College's Journalism program in 1999, after which he started covering the worlds of music, movies, TV, and celebrity for publications such as TV Guide, Hello! magazine, and Inside Entertainment. He then got the bug for covering tech and gadgets in 2006, when he served as editor-in-chief of Canadian tech magazine Connected for more than a decade. An avid skier, when all the snow's gone Derek can be found at home spinning vinyl with his daughter or cheering on his favorite F1 team, McLaren. Sign in to your How-To Geek account If you're in the market for a documentary this weekend to throw a bit of realism and fascination in between all the fire-breathing that HBO Max has been focused on for the last few weeks, then you've come to the right place. Not only has the prestige streamer's new Top 10 four-part Burning Man series, The Man Will Burn, continued to air its weekly episodes (episode 2 is now streaing), but this weekend has a couple of new additions in store, too. First up is a profile of a high-fashion icon by a high-profile director, followed by the sixth season of a weird and wild treasure hunt series from Discovery. Then, to lighten things up, my number one pick this weekend is a beautiful tribute to a comedy legend by another comedy legend. 3 Marc by Sofia Two old friends, one high-stakes runway show Sofia Coppola will always have a place in my Top 10 because she made one of my favorite movies of all time, Lost in Translation. The Oscar-winning writer/director has had a fascinating career, so it’s interesting that it took eight features and three decades to make her first documentary. Equally fascinating is the subject she chose—an icon whom she knows better than almost anyone: fashion designer Marc Jacobs, her friend since 1993. Marc by Sofia, which premiered at the 2025 Venice Film Festival before A24's theatrical release this spring, catches up with Jacobs and counts down the weeks before his Spring 2024 runway show in New York. Coppola's camera hovers around at design meetings, fittings, fabric debates, and all the buzz backstage and for the excitement and last-minute changes. It also weaves in candid conversations between the friends of 30 years as well as fly-on-the-wall stories from Jacobs' rise through New York's 1990s creative scene. There's no narrator and, thankfully, no timeline-marching biography here—it's a well-told portrait of an artist at work, and in the thick of it, which I found fascinating—and lord knows I’m not even a fashion person. Marc by Sofia runs a quick 87 minutes, making for an easy Friday night watch. Marc by Sofia Release Date March 27, 2026 Cast Sofia Coppola, Marc Jacobs, Spike Jonze Runtime 97 minutes Director Sofia Coppola Producers Elise Pearlstein, R.J. Cutler, Jane Cha Cutler, Sofia Coppola, Trevor Smith Main Genre Documentary Executive Producer(s) Youree Henley, Mark Blatty, Roman Coppola 2 Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch (Season 6) The gold is down there somewhere … probably In my opinion, there needs to be way more shows about treasure hunting. Netflix's head-shaking adventure series Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn's Treasure riveted me, but this totally addictive Discovery series, Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch, takes the cake, and I wish I'd found it sooner. Now six seasons deep, Discovery's Utah-set treasure hunt has hit HBO Max for another round of gold fever. The premise hasn't changed—Duane Ollinger has poured everything he has into excavating his 160-acre ranch in Utah's Uintah Basin, chasing what he believes is a bounty of Aztec gold, lost Mormon mines, and caverns of treasure that the locals say the land is guarding. Quiz 8 Questions · Test Your KnowledgeSummer 2026's hottest new documentariesTrivia challenge From Wall Street scandals to pop legends — how much do you know about this summer's must-watch docs? True CrimeMusicSportsHollywoodFinance Begin Paramount+'s The Real Wolf of Wall Street focuses on which convicted fraudster at the center of the Stratton Oakmont scandal? ABernie MadoffBJordan BelfortCIvan BoeskyDFrank DiPascali Correct! Jordan Belfort, the self-styled 'Wolf of Wall Street,' ran Stratton Oakmont and was convicted of fraud and money laundering. The Paramount+ documentary revisits his story beyond what was depicted in Martin Scorsese's famous 2013 film. Not quite. The documentary centers on Jordan Belfort, the notorious stockbroker whose Stratton Oakmont firm bilked investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars. Bernie Madoff and Ivan Boesky were separate high-profile Wall Street criminals. Continue In The Real Wolf of Wall Street, Stratton Oakmont was notorious for using which illegal sales practice to inflate stock prices? AInsider tradingBPonzi schemingCPump and dumpDFront running Correct! Stratton Oakmont used a classic pump-and-dump scheme, artificially inflating the price of penny stocks through aggressive sales tactics before selling their own shares at the peak, leaving investors with near-worthless holdings. Not quite. The firm's signature crime was the pump-and-dump scheme, in which brokers hyped up cheap penny stocks to unsuspecting investors, drove the price up, then sold their own shares for enormous profit. Ponzi schemes and insider trading are distinct types of securities fraud. Continue The Real Wolf of Wall Street documentary on Paramount+ includes testimony from which type of key sources to help reexamine the Stratton Oakmont story? AFictional dramatizations and actorsBSurviving victims, former brokers, and investigatorsCOnly journalists and academicsDExclusively Jordan Belfort himself Correct! The documentary draws on accounts from surviving victims of the fraud, former Stratton Oakmont brokers, and law enforcement investigators, giving a fuller and more grounded picture of the scheme than Belfort's own self-promotional memoir. Not quite. The film incorporates perspectives from victims who lost money, former brokers who worked at the firm, and the investigators who brought it down — offering a counterpoint to the glamorized version of events that Belfort himself has often promoted. Continue HBO Max's Marc by Sofia is a documentary about fashion designer Marc Jacobs directed by which filmmaker? ASofia CoppolaBSofia VergaraCSofia AlaouiDSofia Bohdanowicz Correct! Sofia Coppola, the acclaimed director behind films like Lost in Translation and The Virgin Suicides, directed Marc by Sofia, offering an intimate portrait of her longtime friend and fashion icon Marc Jacobs. Not quite. The documentary is directed by Sofia Coppola, the Oscar-winning filmmaker known for her visually lyrical style. Her personal friendship with Marc Jacobs gave the film an unusually candid, behind-the-scenes quality. Continue Marc by Sofia on HBO Max primarily explores Marc Jacobs through which lens? AA courtroom drama about his legal battlesBAn intimate portrait of his creative process and personal evolutionCA financial history of his fashion empireDA retrospective narrated entirely by celebrity clients Correct! The documentary offers an intimate look at Marc Jacobs' creative process and personal journey, including his struggles with addiction and recovery, his identity, and what drives his singular artistic vision in fashion. Not quite. Rather than focusing on business or legal matters, Marc by Sofia takes a deeply personal approach, exploring Jacobs' inner world, his sobriety journey, and the emotional fuel behind his influential career in fashion. Continue Netflix's Chris & Martina: The Final Set documents the legendary rivalry between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. How many times did the two face each other in their careers? A37 timesB60 timesC80 timesD53 times Correct! Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova faced each other an extraordinary 80 times over their careers, making it one of the greatest rivalries in tennis history. The Netflix documentary revisits their competitive and personal relationship as both faced serious health challenges. Not quite. The two icons met a remarkable 80 times in their careers, with Navratilova holding the edge in their head-to-head record. The Netflix doc frames their rivalry through the lens of friendship and mutual support as both women confronted cancer diagnoses. Continue Netflix's Michael Jackson: The Verdict examines public and legal reactions to the allegations against Jackson. What major legal moment does the documentary reference as a turning point in his legacy? AHis 1993 civil settlementBHis 2005 criminal trial acquittalCThe posthumous 2019 release of Leaving NeverlandDA 2001 congressional inquiry into his finances Correct! Jackson's 2005 criminal trial, in which he was acquitted on all counts of child molestation, is a central legal moment the documentary examines. The film explores how that verdict shaped public perception and the ongoing debate about his legacy. Not quite. The documentary focuses heavily on the 2005 criminal trial acquittal as a defining legal moment, while also weighing it against the renewed allegations brought by the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland and the court of public opinion. Continue Peacock's documentary Lorne is a profile of which legendary television producer? ALorne GreeneBLorne MichaelsCLorne BalfeDLorne Cardinal Correct! Lorne Michaels, the Canadian producer who created Saturday Night Live in 1975 and has shepherded it for nearly five decades, is the subject of Peacock's documentary simply titled Lorne. The film digs into the enigmatic figure behind one of TV's most enduring institutions. Not quite. The Peacock documentary profiles Lorne Michaels, the famously private and influential creator of Saturday Night Live. Despite shaping American comedy for generations, Michaels has rarely spoken openly about himself — making this documentary a rare glimpse behind the curtain. See My Score Challenge CompleteYour Score / 8 Thanks for playing! Try Again In season six, Duane, his son Chad, and the crew push further into the flooded cave system beneath the property, battling collapsing tunnels, booby traps, strange energy dead zones where equipment fails, and, oh yeah, that pesky Aztec curse. It's shot as boots-on-the-ground reality TV—excavation footage, interviews with the team, and sweeping drone shots of the property—spread across eight episodes that go down dangerously easy on a lazy Saturday. Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch Release Date January 1, 2021 Cast Duane Ollinger, Chad Ollinger, Charlie Snider, Eric Drummond Main Genre Paranormal Seasons 6 1 The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling Judd Apatow's funny, devastating farewell to his mentor While the Emmys are busy praising Judd Apatow for his latest documentary masterpiece, Mel Brooks The 99 Year Old Man, let’s take a moment to give props to one of his other incredible films, The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling. The beautiful four-and-a-half-hour tribute to his friend and mentor, comedy great Garry Shandling, earned universal acclaim when it aired in 2018, and remains the gold standard for comedy docs. Told across two parts totaling four and a half hours, the doc charts Shandling's life—from the childhood loss of his brother and the stand-up grind, to It's Garry Shandling's Show, the trailblazing The Larry Sanders Show, and his unexpected death in 2016. Built around four decades of Shandling's private journals, read aloud by Michael Cera, the film is stitched together with personal letters, home video, and a trove of rare archival video footage and audio. More than 40 friends and colleagues of the game-changing comedian sit for interviews, with Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, and Conan O'Brien delivering the most memorable moments. Sacha Baron Cohen, Sarah Silverman, Jay Leno, and others also share stories. Apatow is a true scholar of comedy, and this is one of his all-time best. The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling still sits at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. Cast Garry Shandling, Judd Apatow, Kevin Nealon, Mike Shandling, Eric Cohen, Merrill Markoe, Gavin de Becker, Lewis Smith, John Markus, Bob Saget, Dave Coulier, Jay Leno, Chuck Schumacher, Bruce Grayson, Ed Solomon, Brad Grey, Paul Willson, Alan Zweibel, Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Conan O'Brien, David Josephs, Linda Doucett, Sacha Baron Cohen, Peter Tolan Runtime 120 minutes Director Judd Apatow Producers Sheila Nevins, Joe Beshenkovsky, Josh Church, Amanda Glaze, Mike Bonfiglio You never know what you’ll find I love documentaries for their diversity and discovery—fascinating people and the things they do are usually more interesting than any fiction. Hopefully one of this weekend’s picks enlightens you in an unexpected way. If not, How-To Geek covers all the major streaming services, so check out our streaming section for more. Subscription with ads Yes, $10.99/month Simultaneous streams 2 or 4 HBO Max is a subscription-based streaming service offering content from HBO, Warner Bros., DC, and more. In 2025, the service re-branded itself as HBO Max after having previously cut "HBO" from its name. Live TV Live sports available in Standard and Premium plans Price Starting at $10.99/month or $109.99/year