This week is shaping up to be a wonderfully eclectic few days on TV. With holiday programming behind us, but with new episodes of primetime yet to start, the beginning of January leaves room for all of those random shows and specials to make their way into your viewing schedule. If you're crazy about cats, have a bone to pick with car manufacturers, or get your thrills by watching others put their lives in danger, here are several shows to keep in mind this week.

Cat Crazed

While I sincerely hoped that his show would be about crazy cat ladies, I'm just as pleased at the thought of giving feline friends a hand by bringing awareness to the growing stray cat epidemic. While dogs may be a man's best friend, cats have won out in the popularity contest as one of the world's most popular pet. The problem is that cats also seem to be the most disposable, with millions of stray and wild cats running around. Cat Crazed, which premieres on CBC's Doc Zone on Thursday (January 6) at 9 p.m., is part documentary and part animation, with the intention of both educating and entertaining audiences. The animation was created by Cordell Barker of the Oscar-nominated "The Cat Came Back," and Maureen Palmer (producer of The Week the Women Went) directs.

X-Cars

If the impact of cars on the environment is what grinds your gears, you may become a fan of X-Cars, a two-hour documentary premiering on Discovery Channel Canada also on Thursday (January 6) at 9 p.m. This film follows George Parker, a visionary who drew his plans for the car of the future on a napkin in 1985. Today, Parker leads his company, Future Vehicle Technologies, in building a mass-market environmentally friendly high-performance car for the Progressive Insurance Automotive X-Prize, worth $10 million. Watch Parker and his inspiring team race against the clock as they test the limits of their knowledge, patience, and endurance.

Ice Pilots NWT

Adrenaline junkies and fans of shows like Deadliest Catch will get a rush out of Ice Pilots NWT, premiering its second season on History Television on Wednesday, January 12 at 8 p.m. The 13-episode docu-series follows Buffalo Airways, a group of daredevil pilots, engineers, and crew who tackle the difficult task of traversing the Arctic in vintage warplanes. In every episode, the young pilots face a new challenge, such as delivering an 8,000 pound generator to a remote town in -40 conditions in the first episode, and must find a way to fulfill the mission.

Whether you're into cats, cars, or planes, these TV documentaries are just a few ways to get your new year into gear.