Police TV Shows

The Best Detective & Police TV Shows


Listed are some of the best police procedural, cop, crime and detective TV series to air during primetime television from 1950 to today.


1987-1991 | FOX
21 Jump Street is an American police procedural crime drama television series that aired on the Fox Network and in first run syndication from 1987, to 1991, with a total of 103 episodes. The series focused on a squad of youthful-looking undercover police officers investigating crimes in high schools, colleges, and other teenage venues.

1968-1975 | NBC
Adam-12 is a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12.

1960-1968 | CBS
The Andy Griffith Show is a sitcom that aired on CBS from 1960 until 1968 about a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife (Don Knotts), a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier), and a young son, Opie. Local ne'er-do-wells, bumbling pals, and temperamental girlfriends further complicate his life.

1981-1988 | CBS
Cagney & Lacey is a sitcom that aired on the CBS for seven seasons from 1981 to 1988. A police procedural, the show stars Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless as New York City police detectives who led very different lives: Christine Cagney (Gless) was a single, career-minded woman, while Mary Beth Lacey (Daly) was a married working mother. The series was set in a fictionalized version of Manhattan's 14th Precinct.

1977-1983 | NBC
CHiPs is a drama series that aired on NBC from 1977 to 1983 that followed the lives of two motorcycle police officers of the California Highway Patrol, Baker and Ponch.

1952-1970 | NBC
Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners. The show takes its name from an actual police term, a "dragnet", meaning a system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects.

1968-1980 | CBS
Hawaii Five-O is a police procedural drama series set in Hawaii that aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980 The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett, portrayed by Jack Lord. The theme music composed by Morton Stevens became especially popular. Most episodes would end with McGarrett instructing his subordinate to "Book 'em, Danno" sometimes specifying a charge such as "murder one."

1981-1987 | NBC
Hill Street Blues is a police drama that aired on NBC from 1981 to 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations influenced many subsequent dramatic television series that were made.

1984-1989 | NBC
Miami Vice was a crime drama series that ran on NBC for five seasons from 1984 to 1989. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as James "Sonny" Crockett and Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs respectively, two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami.

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