Entertainment
7 Detective Shows That Are 10/10, No Notes
The detective show is one of the most entertaining TV genres. Whether it be a procedural with weekly mysteries or a series with one ongoing mystery per season, these shows draw viewers in with compelling storylines and shocking plot twists. Detective procedurals see one main character – either a detective, a police consultant, or a private investigator – using their unique skills or experience to solve crimes each week that nobody else could.
Meanwhile, other detective series with ongoing storylines will slowly entangle an overarching mystery over the course of each of their seasons. Great detective shows balance exciting mysteries with a focus on their characters, particularly their crime-solving protagonist and the complications of their job or unique skill. These are the detective shows that are 10/10, no notes.
‘High Potential’ (2024–Present)
Based on the French-Belgian series HPI, High Potential follows Morgan Gillory (Kaitlin Olson), a woman with High Potential intellect. Morgan is a mother with three kids, and she works as a night cleaner for the LAPD. One night, while cleaning the Major Crimes division, Morgan notices an inconsistency in the murder board. Unable to let it go, she fixes the issue herself, which leads to Major Crimes bringing her on as a full-time consultant.
One of the best subgenres of the detective show is the type where a quirky consultant with a unique skill that helps them solve crimes in a way that the police can’t. High Potential takes this concept and runs with it in the best way. Each week, Morgan solves a murder or other major crime alongside her partner, Detective Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata). Every weekly murder mystery is compelling on its own, and ends in a shocking murder reveal. The series also has a major overarching mystery: 15 years before the start of the series, Morgan’s boyfriend and the father of her first child suddenly disappeared. Now, with the LAPD on her side, Morgan is determined to find out what happened to him.
‘A Man on the Inside’ (2024–Present)
A Man on the Inside is a hilarious and heartwarming dramedy series that follows Charles Nieuwendyk (Ted Danson), a widower and retired professor. Charles is only becoming more isolated with each passing day, and his daughter, Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis), is concerned about him. At the same time that Emily suggests that Charles get a job or a hobby, he stumbles upon a newspaper advertisement from Private Investigator Julie Kovalenko (Lilah Richcreek Estrada). Julie is looking for someone who can go undercover as a resident in a retirement community, and Charles turns out to be just the person for the job.
Charles has neither the experience nor the personality type to be a spy, but his outside perspective winds up benefiting him on the job. A Man on the Inside is a hilarious fish-out-of-water story, but it’s also really touching, as it sees Charles slowly finding a community for himself again for the first time since his wife’s death. Each season so far has a compelling central mystery that sees Charles going undercover to investigate, and they both build up to excellent reveals that keep viewers guessing until the very end.
‘Rizzoli & Isles’ (2010–2016)
Rizzoli & Isles is a crime procedural that follows the partnership of Detective Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and her forensic pathologist best friend, Dr. Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander). For both Jane and Maura, their jobs are pretty much their whole lives. Jane isn’t interested in letting anyone else in, and Maura has a hard time connecting with people. The two of them get each other, though, and they work really well together. With the combination of Jane’s expert investigative skills and Maura’s knowledge of the clues that a dead body can reveal, they’re able to solve murders that nobody else can.
Rizzoli & Isles is one of the darker and grittier detective shows. It doesn’t shy away from showing the heavy realities of Jane and Maura’s jobs, and they regularly work on brutal and disturbing murder cases. Rizzoli & Isles is a deeply entertaining series that will keep viewers engaged with both weekly murder mysteries and a number of twisty overarching storylines. It’s also a darkly funny show with sharp writing and excellent banter between Jane and Maura.
‘Veronica Mars’ (2004–2019)
Veronica Mars follows a teen detective named Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell). The series picks up after the once-popular Veronica has lost pretty much everything following the murder of her best friend, Lilly (Amanda Seyfried). Nobody knows for sure who did it, and after accusing the wrong person, Veronica’s sheriff father, Keith (Enrico Colantoni), has gotten them both ostracized from the rest of their small town.
Keith soon opens his own private investigative firm, and Veronica helps him solve cases. Each episode shows her working on a different weekly case, while also slowly trying to get to the bottom of an overarching murder mystery for that season. In Season 1, Veronica investigates Lilly’s murder, particularly after discovering that the man who was imprisoned for killing her did not actually do it. Veronica Mars is an excellent detective series with dark storylines, fantastic writing, and a compelling and nuanced protagonist.
‘Castle’ (2009–2016)
Castle is another fantastic procedural about the unlikely partnership between a serious detective and a consultant who thinks out of the box. Rick Castle (Nathan Fillion) is a wildly successful and famous author who writes murder mystery novels. This has naturally gone to his head quite a bit, and he enjoys it all a little too much. When a serial killer starts killing victims by reenacting murders from Castle’s books, the NYPD reaches out to him for help on the case.
What starts out as just one case turns into a regular arrangement, and Castle becomes a consultant for the NYPD. He partners up with Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), and each episode, the two of them solve crimes together. Castle is a fun and often silly procedural that also has a number of suspenseful storylines and compelling weekly mysteries, and it makes for an excellent binge-watch.
‘Pushing Daisies’ (2007–2009)
Pushing Daisies is a detective show set in a cozy, fairytale-esque world. It follows Ned (Lee Pace), a piemaker with a secret: barring some very specific rules and conditions, Ned can wake the dead with a single touch. When he’s not running his pie shop, Ned helps private investigator Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) solve murders, by waking the victims and asking them who killed them. Each episode shows Ned and Emerson solving a different outlandish and over-the-top murder, and often, the victims’ reveals aren’t much help to them.
When Emerson’s latest case is an investigation into the murder of Ned’s estranged childhood sweetheart, Chuck (Anna Friel), he wakes her up to ask her who did it. Even though Chuck doesn’t know, Ned finds himself unable to touch her back to death, and the two reunite for the first time in almost two decades. Chuck sticks around and adjusts to life as an undead person, while she and Ned get to know each other again as adults. The only problem is, they can never touch, or she will go back to being dead forever.
‘Psych’ (2006–2014)
It’s hard to find a better detective show out there than Psych, even if its protagonist is far from a detective. The hilarious procedural follows Shawn Spencer (James Roday Rodriguez), a man who lacks drive and focus, but has a photographic memory – and phenomenal attention to detail that was honed for years by his detective father (Corbin Bernsen). Shawn solves crimes better than the police do, and will occasionally call them to give tips about who did it. When he flies a little too close to the sun, Shawn is accused of committing the crime he’s trying to solve, so he saves face by pretending to be a psychic.
What starts as an impulsive way to get himself out of trouble turns into a new job for Shawn. With the help of his best friend, Gus (Dulé Hill), Shawn opens a psychic agency that regularly consults on cases for the Santa Barbara Police Department. Each episode sees Shawn and Gus teaming up to solve a different case together, all while Shawn has to do the additional work to convince the people around him that he’s solved the case using his psychic powers.
Psych
- Release Date
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2006 – 2014-00-00
- Network
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USA
- Showrunner
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Steve Franks
- Directors
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Mel Damski, Steve Franks
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