I would have to go with Maya and Renderman. Most of the 3D movies from ILM to Dreamworks and not excluding Pixar are using Maya mostly and ILM uses Vue X-Stream also. I personally like Lightwave and when you look at Battlestar Gallactica you will be amazed at what can be done with it and it cost the same as Vue 6 Infinite. It's great for TV.
 P.S. I also work for TV

I would rather be Politically Incorrect,
Then have Politically Correct-Incorrectness!!!