Britain's Missing Top Model (BBC America)

Whether it's due to the subject matter or the producers' decision to shoot the series in a stripped-down documentary style, Britain's Missing Top Model manages to be both entertaining and informative, and it avoids the gimmicky pitfalls that an American version of the series would probably have embraced. As a result, it's as much of a show about disabled women who are trying to make it as models as it is a show about models who are trying to make it ... and who just happen to be disabled. The fact that these women have specialized concerns is undeniable, but neither the show nor most of the judges get away with pitying or patronizing them -- because the models themselves reject special treatment.

The series also sheds light on what it means to be "disabled" and stirs up some thought-provoking debate topics, including whether a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair is any more or less disabled than a deaf girl who can speak but can't always be understood without an interpreter, for example. And far from lumping all of the competitors into one general "disabled" category, the show highlights the individuality of their conditions and reveals the day-to-day struggles that each will be forced to cope with if she truly wants to succeed in the industry.