I Love Crime on TV

Here are my top ten favorite crime shows on TV. What are yours?

I love television.

But mainly, I love television about crime.

I want mystery, I want spy thrillers, and I want police procedurals.

Sometimes I love intellectual puzzles; other times, I want breezy dialogues. Frequently, I want something exciting and daring and surprising.

Many folks are turning to television during the quarantine. In this, my first post, I want to share with you my top 10 crime television shows. I love them.

My hope is that you will find something here that you haven’t watched before and that it will make you happy and intrigued and enmeshed in the story.

These are not in order of importance.

  1. Person of Interest (Netflix and Amazon)
  2. The Closer* (Hulu)
  3. Major Crimes* (Roku; Amazon)
  4. Quantico (Netflix; Amazon)
  5. Psych (Amazon)
  6. The Good Wife (Amazon $)
  7. Chuck (Amazon)
  8. Leverage (Sundance, Pluto TV among others)
  9. Castle (Amazon)
  10. Burn Notice (Amazon; Hulu)

*I urge you to watch The Closer first and then Major Crimes second.

I realize this doesn’t help you right now, but most of these are available in DvD from Cuyahoga County Public Library. The Closer is available from Cleveland Public Library.

It is quite possible you are looking at my list and thinking, but she didn’t include x, or wait, these aren’t all crime shows (I think they are—let’s debate!), or wow, in general, she doesn’t like things that are very dark. True.

Here’s how this part of the blog will work:

I love lists, and most of the time, each blog post will be a list of different television programs somehow related to crime programs. Sometimes they’ll be about the best first seasons, or the most surprising shows, or, the most melodramatic, or ones I couldn’t finish, or mini-series.

I’m hoping that people will read my blog and contribute. I would love for folks to list their top 5 or top 10 crime shows. I’m sure that there are many shows I’m not even aware of. Enlighten me!

My next blog post discusses these favored 10 including tone, subgenre, whether you can watch with kids, number of seasons….

I look forward to hearing what you think.

Which show did I miss?

Which show wouldn’t you have included?

What show have you eagerly consumed while during this pandemic?

Share please so we can enjoy the wealth!

4 thoughts on “I Love Crime on TV”

  1. I’m getting really into Ozark (Netflix). Just saying, money laundering can go very badly. You’re usually not doing it for people who are kind.

    1. I know so many people who love that show. I watched the first episode and realized it wasn’t for me. It definitely has the same feel as Breaking Bad, another show I only watched the first episode of. I know from Crime Writers On that Ozark gets better and better, and they all say the third season is the best.

  2. I love the Ms Fisher mystery series — think it is on Acorn but would rate this VERY high on list. Also have been really enjoying Sherlock.

    1. I liked those mysteries but didn’t love them. Mom kept trying to get me to watch them. I might continue to the second series but am unsure. Have you seen the ones that take place in the swinging 60s? I think they are supposed to about her niece. I might check it out. Again, my dilemma is the historical context. So much flauting of society’s rules makes my head spin, though of course on another level, I love that.
      And I know, stunning admission, I still haven’t seen Sherlock (though a student got me to watch Elementary, and I liked it.) Someday I will watch the series. I hear it is excellent.

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