I’ve got a new favorite network, I think. Time was, a geek like me could get his fix of funky stuff on TLC or Discovery, but dinosaurs and interior decorators rule the waves over there. Don’t get me wrong; I’ll still watch MythBusters or the occasional special, but for wonky engineering stuff – bridges, skyscrapers, nuclear reactors – I’m headed to National Geographic Channel. Or, in the hipster patois: NatGeo.

Tonight I watched my first episode of World’s Toughest Fixes, hosted by Sean Riley, pictured above. The show details the most complicated and largest-scale repairs out there. And let me tell you, there’s something about 80 tons of steel being winched and moved around that really gets my heart pumping.

Riley’s knowledgable and has charisma to spare. Imagine Matthew Lillard with a solid engineering education and you’re pretty close.

And then, there’s DogTown. The show offers a glimpse inside one of the largest and most successful canine rescue organizations in the country. Part of the 33,000-acre Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in southern Utah, Dogtown is a last-chance refuge for dogs needing care and attention.

In the late 1980s, when Best Friends was in its early days, roughly 17 million dogs and cats were being killed in shelters every year. Despite the commitment of shelter workers to the animals in their care, the conventional belief was that little could be done to lower that terrible number.

Best Friends’ No More Homeless Pets campaign created a new vision: A grassroots effort to place dogs and cats who were considered “unadoptable” into good homes, and to reduce the number of unwanted pets through effective spay and neuter programs. Since then, the number of dogs and cats being destroyed in shelters has fallen to approximately 5 million a year. There has been much progress,but there is still much more to do.

After Michael Vick’s dog fighting ring was uncovered and the poor animals saved, the conventional wisdom was that the animals should be put down. No one believed they could be rehabilitated. No one but Dogtown.

That’s two excellent shows, shows which up to a few years ago would have found homes on Discovery and TLC. Instead, they’re helping give NatGeo a better portfolio and making it a destination for geeks and animal lovers alike.

And not a single show about wedding dresses, sweat suits, or makeovers (of the home, or personal variety.)

R.A. Porter is an aspiring television writer who currently toils away in the software mines. He can be found at his personal blog and stalked on Twitter.