Flavorwire's 25 Best Cop Shows of All Time
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- CreatorJack WebbStarsJack WebbHarry MorganDon RossPolice Detective Sgt. Joe Friday and his partners investigate crimes in Los Angeles.Its stylistic trademarks — hard-boiled dialogue, detailed investigation play-by-plays, “ripped from the headlines” narratives — continue to influence the genre to this day.
- CreatorNoah HawleyStarsAmber TamblynJeremy RennerHarold PerrineauDarkly comedic drama focusing on the dysfunctional cops and staff of an infamous NYPD precinct.It was a unique cop drama but it was its uniqueness that ultimately killed the show.”
- CreatorWilliam BlinnStarsDavid SoulPaul Michael GlaserAntonio FargasTwo streetwise cops bust criminals in their red-and-white Ford Gran Torino, with the help of police snitch, Huggy Bear.The quintessential ’70s cop show, with all the trimmings: car chases, goofy fashion, a good-looking buddy hero team, and, yes, a supporting character named “Huggy Bear.”
- CreatorAlan SpencerStarsDavid RascheAnne-Marie MartinHarrison PageThe adventures of a deranged and dumb police detective who always looks for the most violent solution to any problem.Creator Alan Spencer took his inspiration from the Dirty Harry movies and period cop shows that took rule-breaking, trigger-happy, no-nonsense detectives as their heroes, and wondered what would happen if that hero was just a little bit… well, nuts. He came up with a wickedly funny, borderline surrealist comic masterpiece.
- CreatorDan GoorMichael SchurStarsAndy SambergStephanie BeatrizTerry CrewsComedy series following the exploits of Det. Jake Peralta and his diverse, lovable colleagues as they police the NYPD's 99th Precinct.Creators Michael Schur and Dan Goor brilliantly meld the Law & Order aesthetic with the streetwise, station-house humor of Barney Miller, cooking up an ensemble comedy with huge laughs, yet real love for its characters.
- CreatorRobert HamnerRick HuskyStarsSteve ForrestRobert UrichRod PerryThe missions of a major city's police department's Special Weapons and Tactics unit.This fast-paced procedural kept the energy high and the team dynamics lively for its entire 37-episode run.
- CreatorDick WolfRick EidStarsJerry OrbachJesse L. MartinDennis FarinaNew York's finest police detectives and prosecutors fight to make the city a safer place. With integrity as the guiding force from investigation to verdict, the teams weigh every perspective in their commitment to finding justice.Sure, it’s junk food — but at its best, in the glory years of the original iteration and the early seasons of SVU, it’s addictively binge-watchable junk food.
- CreatorStephen J. CannellPatrick HasburghStarsJohnny DeppDustin NguyenPeter DeLuiseThe cases of an undercover police unit composed of young-looking officers specializing in youth crime.It’s undeniably entertaining, both consciously and unconsciously, while the efficient writing of co-creator Stephen J. Cannell (The Rockford Files) and his team keep things fast and clean.
- CreatorTony BarrettHarve BennettSammy HessStarsMichael ColeClarence Williams IIIPeggy LiptonA trio of reformed juvenile delinquents work as undercover cops.It often captured the flavor and feeling of the era, and its cast — particularly the endlessly cool Clarence Williams III — is top-notch.
- CreatorAnthony YerkovichStarsDon JohnsonPhilip Michael ThomasSaundra Santiago-Resplendent with authentic 1980s music, fashion, and vibe, "Miami Vice" follows two undercover detectives and their extended team through the mean streets of Miami, Florida.It didn’t just influence cop shows — it took over popular culture, influencing fashion, music, and filmmaking, while also capturing those elements and packaging them for a mainstream audience.
- CreatorChuck AdamsonGustave ReiningerStarsDennis FarinaBill SmitrovichTony DenisonThe saga of a Chicago police detective's efforts to stop a young hood's ruthless rise in the ranks of organized crime.Crime Story remains a huge influence on shows in the current “Golden Age” — both for the moral complexity of its characters and the show’s habit of telling longer, serialized stories rather than locking in to stand-alone episodes.
- CreatorGraham YostStarsTimothy OlyphantNick SearcyJoelle CarterEnforcing his own brand of justice, U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, a strong-willed, quiet law-man haunted by his past, returns to his native town to see that justice is served to those in need.It logs time in both Lexington, Kentucky and the hill country nearby. But locations isn’t all that makes the show unique; it’s got Timothy Olyphant being a badass, flawless supporting players, and more.
- CreatorSteven BochcoDavid MilchStarsDennis FranzJimmy SmitsGordon ClappDetectives from NYPD's 15th Precinct investigate homicides within their precinct.It veered into soapy self-parody in its later years, but in its prime, few shows on television could touch NYPD Blue.
- CreatorNeil CrossStarsIdris ElbaDermot CrowleyMichael SmileyJohn Luther is a brilliant homicide detective with a knack for getting inside the minds of murderers. Unfortunately, his unconventional methods and personal demons put him at odds with his team.Idris Elba plays the eponymous detective in Luther, which is reason enough to watch it. But it’s also more psychological than most cop shows, one that really likes to dive deeper and deeper into its characters.
- CreatorDanny ArnoldTheodore J. FlickerStarsHal LindenAbe VigodaMax GailThe Captain of the NYPD 12th Precinct and his staff handle the various local troubles and characters that come into the squad room.A very funny show with more edge than was common at the time.
- CreatorNic PizzolattoIssa LópezStarsVince VaughnColin FarrellRachel McAdamsAnthology series in which police investigations unearth the personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within and outside the law.It revealed itself to be something deeper, darker, and more sinister — an honest-to-goodness television phenomenon, so rich and bizarre that everyone saw something different under its surface.
- CreatorJim AbrahamsDavid ZuckerJerry ZuckerStarsLeslie NielsenAlan NorthEd WilliamsSight gags, puns and non-sequiturs ensue as bumbling Sgt. Det. Lt. Frank Drebin and his colleagues at Police Squad solve various puzzling cases.No film, series, or sketch satirized the police procedural as brilliantly as Police Squad!
- CreatorAnn BidermanStarsMichael CudlitzShawn HatosyRegina KingThe lives of Police Officers working for the Los Angeles Police Department.Such programs have become an endangered species on the Big Four.
- StarsHarry BellaverHorace McMahonPaul BurkeThe cases of the N.Y.P.D.'s 65th Precinct.Sterling Silliphant’s adaptation of the brilliant 1948 film took a while to find its footing, knocking around the ABC schedule, tinkering with format, going from 30 to 60 minutes. But once it settled in, it was something new and exciting for episodic television: a semi-documentary style look at cops and criminals, shot on location in New York City.
- CreatorRichard LevinsonWilliam LinkStarsPeter FalkMike LallyJohn FinneganLos Angeles homicide detective Lieutenant Columbo uses his humble ways and ingenuous demeanor to winkle out even the most well-concealed of crimes.The adventures of Lt. Frank Columbo weren’t conventional mysteries — no attempt is made to hide the culprits of the murder at each show’s center. Instead, we see how they do it, and then we wait, patiently, for Columbo to discover their mistake.
- CreatorBarbara AvedonBarbara CordayStarsTyne DalySharon GlessAl WaxmanTwo female police detectives cooperate with each other both in their professions and in their personal lives.This seven-season CBS drama is most often referenced as a groundbreaking moment for women on television, a major network cop show fronted by two actresses. It should be celebrated as such, but not at the cost of forgetting that it was also just a damn fine police drama.
- CreatorShawn RyanStarsMichael ChiklisCatherine DentWalton GogginsDrama series following the lives and cases of dirty cop Vic Mackey and the corrupt LAPD unit under his command.Shawn Ryan’s seven-season FX cop drama centered on a four-man anti-gang unit in the Los Angeles police department, and drew its style from theirs: fast, mean, and rough-and-tumble, shooting first and asking questions later.
- CreatorPaul AttanasioStarsRichard BelzerClark JohnsonYaphet KottoAn American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Unit.It so effectively countered the fictions about police work that earlier cop shows had created. It did that, and much more, creating a cast of indelible characters, introducing a score of remarkable character actors in its ace ensemble cast (chief among them Andre Braugher, whose six seasons as Frank Pembleton remain among the finest acting in television history).
- CreatorSteven BochcoMichael KozollStarsDaniel J. TravantiMichael WarrenBruce WeitzThe lives and work of the staff of an inner city police precinct.“You don’t realize how much you’re watching now is just riding Hill Street Blues’ coattails until you watch it.”
- CreatorDavid SimonStarsDominic WestLance ReddickSonja SohnThe Baltimore drug scene, as seen through the eyes of drug dealers and law enforcement.It wasn’t strictly a “cop show” (it wasn’t strictly an anything show), but it started as one, and tackled its later subjects — education, city politics, dock workers, newsrooms — in the procedural style. Authenticity was always job one, and The Wire always felt real, overheard, transcribed.