10 Great TV Crime Thrillers No One Talks About Anymore

From early police procedurals and crime-of-the-week detective shows like Columbo and Dragnet to the cinematic serialized shows we see on television today, like True Detective and The Penguin, crime thrillers have been beloved mainstays on our TV screens for decades. Often, the most elite of the genre will find themselves cemented in pop culture, spoken about in regular conversation for years after. However, with so much content at our fingertips now, it’s not surprising that some great shows end up fading into obscurity over time.

Here, I’m going to be digging into the archives and re-visiting some of my all-time favorite crime thrillers that sadly don’t get spoken about enough today. From old-school cop shows to gritty neo-noirs, these great crime thrillers have been lost to the sands of time.

Why You Should Trust Me: I have been writing about TV and movies for MovieWeb for five years and previously wrote 8 Completed Netflix Shows Perfect for Binge-Watching, and 8 Neo-Noir Thriller Series That Are Totally Unpredictable. As an avid fan of television, with a particular affinity for the crime thriller genre, I have made a concerted effort to explore pretty much everything the medium has to offer. After encountering the fantastic, the middling, and the outright awful, my expertise in all things television will guide you through the very best the genre has to offer that simply don’t get the credit they deserve.

Honorable Mentions

The Rockford Files (1974–1980): Considered a classic by TV connoisseurs and many of those who lived through the ’70s, this detective drama was a huge commercial and critical hit, though it’s not spoken about quite as much today. The reason for its absence on this list is its light-hearted nature, which often feels too breezy to technically be considered a thriller.

Criminal Minds: Evolution (2022–): Once a premier network powerhouse, the original Criminal Minds concluded its fifteen-season run in 2020 before being revived on streaming as Criminal Minds: Evolution in 2022. This continuation introduced a noticeably darker tone and swapped episodic cases for single-killer, season-long arcs. While it no longer commands the mainstream media buzz of its network heyday, the revival still draws respectable viewership numbers — and because it remains on the air, the door is always open for a potential resurgence in wider popularity.

‘The Streets of San Francisco’ (1972–1977)

The Show That Launched Michael Douglas’s Mainstream Career

Watch This If: You want an old-school, classic cop show that helped launch the career of megastar Michael Douglas. The Streets of San Francisco was hugely popular during the early ’70s and praised for its gritty realism and cinematic production values. However, with so many shows following in its footsteps and without any major promotional push from Netflix, where it’s currently housed, it has simply been lost to time.

Skip This If: You’re accustomed to the high-paced, stylized productions of the current era. While it was ahead of its time in 1972, the show’s deliberate pacing, as well as many of the effects and choreographed action scenes, might feel dated by today’s standards. It is also worth noting that its approach to certain issues around gender, mental health, and counterculture movements are addressed rather heavily handily and may also feel somewhat dated.

‘Southland’ (2009–2013)

A Cult Classic That Deserves More Recognition

Watch This If: You like your crime drama to feel gritty and realistic. Southland utilized hand-held cameras and natural lighting to deliver an ultra-realistic take on the genre that feels almost documentary-like in its presentation. Focusing just as much on character development as it does on the cases themselves, it developed a strong cult following thanks to its immersive gritty storytelling. However, considered too dark by NBC, it was canceled after just one season, later moving to TNT where it was unable to achieve the mainstream success it deserves and has largely been forgotten.

Skip This If: You like clear-cut protagonists who are easy-to-root for. Many of the detectives and officers are flawed, overworked and make questionable moral decisions. While this arguably presents them as more relatable, it can also make some of them come across unsympathetic, and even unappealing.

‘The Fall’ (2013–2016)

Gillian Anderson Stars in This Gritty Northern Irish Psychological Thriller

Watch This If: You enjoy a good ol’ psychological game of cat-and-mouse with sky-high stakes. The Fall sees Gillian Anderson playing an American detective in Belfast, who is on the hunt for a sadistic serial killer. Its dark tone harks back to classic ’90s crime thrillers like Se7en and Zodiac. It was a huge hit in the UK and Ireland but failed to make quite the same kind of waves across the pond.

Skip This If: You’re looking for a traditional “whodunnit” mystery you can solve along with at home. The Fall flips genre conventions on their head by revealing the killer’s identity in the first episode. It tracks the parallel lives of the hunter and the hunted simultaneously, focusing on the psychological warfare between the two.

‘The Shield’ (2002–2008)

Watch This If: You’re looking for one of the most original police dramas ever aired. The Shield follows a Los Angeles police department that operates outside the law, as it aims to tackle the area’s sky-high crime rate by any means necessary. Its array of core characters range from well-meaning to downright despicable, but each one is layered, well-developed, and morally complex. While it was ground-breaking at the time, it has since been overshadowed by streaming mega-hits like Mindhunter and True Detective.

Skip This If: You prefer comforting, formulaic police procedurals where the good guys always win, and justice is clearly defined. The Shield constantly blurs the lines between right and wrong, and isn’t afraid to deliver major twists early or abruptly change the direction of the story, making it one of television’s most unpredictable shows in recent memory.

‘New York Undercover’ (1994–1998)

A Ground-Breaking Crime Thriller Plagued by Behind-the-Scenes Drama

Watch This If: You enjoy the gritty police procedurals of the ’90s but value diversity and authentic representation. Notable for being the first police drama on American television to feature two people of color in the starring roles, New York Undercover took the genre and gave it a raw, urban aesthetic, featuring prominent hip-hop culture, fashion, and needle drops.

Skip This If: You intend to binge-watch the entire show, expecting consistency throughout. The first two seasons were big hits with audiences. However, severe behind-the-scenes friction — including a high-profile cast walkout over pay and creative control — led to highly disruptive cast changes and erratic storytelling that visibly affected the show’s superb chemistry from Season 3 onwards.

‘Lethal Weapon’ (2016–2019)

‘Lethal Weapon’ Remains Forever Overshadowed by Its Iconic Source Material

Watch This If: You’re a fan of the beloved film franchise. With some mighty big shoes to fill, Clayne Crawford and Damon Wayans take over from Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. They rise to the occasion with aplomb, as they blast and bicker their way through three seasons of buddy cop mastery. Unfortunately, despite consistent positive critical reception, it finds itself destined to forever live in the shadow of its iconic movie predecessor.

Skip This If: You’re a ’80s Lethal Weapon purist. Just as being an avid fan of the original movie can serve as a great entry point to the subsequent series, it could also hamper the experience for you. Purists might shudder at the thought of the two iconic leads being portrayed by anyone else, or may find it difficult to enjoy it as a separate entity without making constant comparisons to the ’80s classic.

‘The Sinner’ (2017–2021)

Bill Pullman Delivers a Compelling Performance in This Psychological Crime Thriller

Watch This If: You’re a fan of Bill Pullman. Here, the veteran actor delivers one of his most nuanced and intense performances to date. Playing the deeply damaged yet empathetic detective Harry Ambrose, he finds himself investigating a series of disturbing crimes. Shifting the focus from “whodunit” to “whydunit“, the show was known for its boundary-pushing and taboo-breaking nature but rarely gets mentioned today.

Skip This If: You’re more of a fan of the typical “case-of-the-week” structure of crime dramas, where a separate case is investigated and solved within the space of a single episode. In The Sinner, each case spans an entire season, as Harry struggles with both his own deteriorating mental health and the psychological warfare inflicted on him by those he seeks to bring to justice.

‘Giri/Haji’ (2019)

A Genre-Bending Collision of British and Japanese Cultures

Watch This If: The idea of a show that expertly contrasts the rigid honor culture of Tokyo with the sprawling, chaotic underworld of London, appeals to you. Giri/Haji sees a Japanese detective traveling to London to unravel the mystery of his missing brother. Navigating unfamiliar territory, he teams up with a rag-tag group of layered and complex characters. Despite achieving the highly coveted perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, it remains largely unknown in the U.S.

Skip This If: You prefer your crime thrillers to follow the genre’s established conventions and tropes. With moments of brutal, stylized violence, heartfelt drama, and even some surreal musical sequences, Giri/Haji is a genre-bending ride that’s as emotionally resonant as it is thrilling.

‘The Five’ (2016)

A Gripping Harlan Coben Thriller Overshadowed By More Recent, Higher-Profile Projects

Watch This If: You’re a fan of recent Netflix Harlan Coben hits like Fool Me Once and I Will Find You. The Five is a taut mystery crime thriller that follows four childhood friends who are forced to confront the mysterious disappearance of one of the group’s brothers decades earlier after his DNA is suddenly discovered at a fresh murder scene. Released on Sky1 before Harlan Coben’s high-profile partnering with Netflix, it features all his trademark hidden secrets, twists, and shocking reveals that have delighted fans since.

Skip this If: You’ve seen most of his subsequent adaptations and have grown weary of the formula. While highly acclaimed for writing material perfect for binge-worthy, cliffhanger-led television, much of his work relies on similar tropes and conventions. Double twist endings, a lost loved one, a resurfaced past, and the disintegration of the “safe suburbia” have all become synonymous with the author’s work, and The Five is no different.

‘Profit’ (1996)

A White Collar Crime Drama That Was Ahead of its Time and Canceled Too Soon

Watch This If: You’re looking for an alternative to the prevalent blue-collar “cops and robbers” crime shows. Profit follows a sociopathic corporate executive who uses blackmail, extortion, and psychological warfare to ruthlessly climb the corporate ladder. Airing 30 years ago, it was considered an “edgy” alternative to many of its contemporaries and a direct precursor to prestige crime shows like The Sopranos and Breaking Bad. Yet, nowadays, it rarely gets the recognition it deserves.

Skip This If: You need a show with a satisfying conclusion. Profit was canceled after airing just 5 of the 9 episodes produced after courting all manner of controversy due to the disturbing and immoral representation of its lead character. Retrospectively, many consider it an ahead-of-its-time masterpiece, but viewers today must accept that the story will always remain unfinished.