While a whole generation is growing up with "Netflix documentary" as a genre, docs are cleaning up at the box office, too. According to The Numbers, documentaries grossed a total of $95 million domestically in 2018, more than doubling last year's total of $44 million. A big factor in that is that there were a lot of really great documentary films this year.
The Showtime docuseries about Roger Ailes is one of those shows that wouldn't work at all if it were fictional and not fact-based, because the lead character being that loathsome simply wouldn't be believable.