CNBC Originals

In the world of consumer electronics, Best Buy is often considered the 'last man standing' - a title both flattering and daunting. What started as a local record store 45 years ago is now a national big box giant with more than 1100 stores. In recent years, the retailer has seen its profits dwindle, due to intense online competition, high overhead costs and declining sales. Best Buy has faced many challenges in its history but has always managed to bounce back. In an age when smart phone apps can compare prices on the spot, can this behemoth keep itself from becoming just a showroom for competitor's websites? CNBC Correspondent Tyler Mathisen goes behind the scenes of Best Buy during the Black Friday frenzy, profiles CEO Brian Dunn, meets the Geek Squad, and reports on how the big box is fighting back.

CNBC takes you inside the mad dash to move more than 25 million packages a day. It's a revealing look at a complex system of jaw dropping automation that feeds an army of trucks on the ground and a fleet of planes in the sky. Our cameras explore the innerworkings of UPS' Worldport and the FedEx Super Hub showing how extreme automation and hi-tech logistics help two companies scan, move and push their businesses to new heights.

Billions worth of black gold buried deep underground change a small town forever. A modern day oil rush in Williston, North Dakota is fueling a boom in jobs, construction and the opportunity to get rich. But with the boom comes some crude realities, rising crime, environmental concerns and the potential for it all to go bust. CNBC's Brian Shactman reports.

Pain killers, antibiotics, cholesterol lowering pills... Drugs perform minor miracles day after day, freeing us from pain and disease. Pill Poppers takes us on a tour through the world of pharmaceuticals – and reveals that drug discovery has as much to do with serendipity as it does with science. We learn that the purpose of some drugs has changed -- like Ritalin, for instance, which was originally designed to treat depression in adults before becoming a blockbuster treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Scientists think it may even make you more intelligent. Pill Poppers also investigates the consequences of over-prescribing antibiotics, and reveals the drugs that have changed the world, from Prozac to Viagra.

Bob Pisani gains unprecedented access to the mines of South Africa, the gold vaults of London and the never-before-seen largest private gold reserve in the world. Viewers also can get a glimpse inside the trading pits in New York and the shop floor of America's largest gold jewellery manufacturer.

90 Miles off the coast of Key West, Florida is a hidden treasure, one that if opened could generate millions in revenue for US based businesses. That treasure is of course Cuba, a tiny island under the crush of economic sanctions but also on the edge of major transformation. CNBC’s Michelle Caruso-Cabrera brings viewers the story of the communist country’s recent reforms, its people and its untapped potential in the CNBC Original Production, "Cuba: Forbidden Fortune."

Costco is famous for turning the experience of warehouse shopping into an adventure. Costco, one of the nation’s top three retailers and the world’s largest membership warehouse chain, has thrived by turning convention on its head. The company never advertises, charges its 64 million members to shop there and doesn’t mark up any product more than 15 percent. It’s a business model that works, generating $93 billion in annual sales. Correspondent Carl Quintanilla shows how Costco has grown to 600 stores, attracting loyal and affluent customers. They return repeatedly for the treasure-hunt thrill of constantly changing inventory, including diamond rings, steaks, wedding dresses and caskets. This CNBC Original documentary also explores a “Costco Effect,” the routine tendency of its members to succumb to the store’s discount-chic lure and spend more than they expect, often buying more than they need.

The 80-year-old TV industry at the precipice of a distribution and content revolution. The widely-anticipated convergence of personal computers, the internet and television is finally happening. In the next two years, viewers in more than 140 million American homes will watch their favorite shows, video clips and movies on "Smart TVs," not to mention other gadgets connected to the Internet. Every aspect of TV creation and distribution is impacted, and for companies new and old, billions of dollars are on the line. CNBC’s “Future of TV,” reported by Julia Boorstin takes viewers inside the companies competing to shape the new connected-TV reality.

Exotic animals are at the center of a multi-billion dollar business, where even legitimate sales can lead to tragic consequences. The threat of vicious animals on the loose and the tragedy in Zanesville, Ohio, where fifty-six exotic animals were released by their owner, is just the beginning. While the thought of people owning dangerous pets is troubling, it is just one part of the issue. CNBC’s Brian Shactman takes you inside the underground world of the illegal wildlife trade to meet law enforcement on the front lines. In this black market worth an estimated $10 billion dollars worldwide, animals are butchered for their most valuable parts and brazen smugglers will stop at nothing to get rich. Greed fuels a thriving black market that’s putting rare animals in peril. But some say the greatest fear may be the unknown; legal or not, the exotic animal trade has some experts very concerned about deadly strains of diseases that could cross over into the human population.

From Warren Buffett’s bodyguard to a high-tech panic room in a Hollywood mansion and on board a mega yacht in Miami, CNBC goes behind the scenes with the men and women who protect the super-rich. These are nervous times for billionaires around the globe and an entire industry is on call ready to sell the ultra-rich super security. CNBC’s Eamon Javers reports.

The hardest substance on earth, the gem of royalty, the choice of celebrities. Wars have been fought and lives have been lost, all over a sparkly stone. CNBC's Bob Pisani goes inside the lucrative, secretive diamond industry to reveal the true gem in "The Diamond Rush."

CNBC goes behind the scenes to tell the story of one of the largest hotel empires in the world.

NBC News and Today Show Correspondent Amy Robach reveals how online daters are using cutting-edge technology in search of love and how digital entrepreneurs are getting rich helping them do it. You’ll meet scientists, mathematicians and psychologists who claim they can draw revealing conclusions about you from what you do -- and don’t do -- on their websites. Can online dating really deliver what it promises? CNBC takes you inside a business trying to unlock the secrets of the human heart with science