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Best TV Detective (series, mini-series, movie, et al)

Airola

Member
True detective was such a fucking bore

Yes, YES!
Finally someone who shares this opinion.

The first season wasn't good at all. Mediocre at best, boredom at worst (really good end speech though from a person who overacted his underacting the whole time before that).
The second season was better in that it actually had some interesting situations here and there and I think that whatever people hate in the second season was already present in the first season. Haven't seen the third season and have no plans to watch it either.
 
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xrnzaaas

Member
I haven't watched it consistently, but I enjoyed what I saw. I heard there were difficulties between Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic.
Yeah that was a strong rumor. I see two options - either end the show instead of trying to renew it for as long as it has decent ratings or try to stay professional. Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter from Dexter ended up hating each other, but they still managed to shoot at least one full season with intimate scenes between them. Trying to continue the show without one of two leads and without the reason anymore for Castle to stay on the detective cases is one of the worst ideas ever.
 
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No one's posted the granddaddy of fictional detectives?

jeremy-brett-definitive-sherlock_360_c5bd7de1cbb478faba450ac843337bdd.jpg


latest


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You guys suck.
I'm sure someone will disagree..

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Watched the series 3 times.
 

Kadayi

Banned
Yes, YES!
Finally someone who shares this opinion.

The first season wasn't good at all. Mediocre at best, boredom at worst (really good end speech though from a person who overacted his underacting the whole time before that).
The second season was better in that it actually had some interesting situations here and there and I think that whatever people hate in the second season was already present in the first season. Haven't seen the third season and have no plans to watch it either.

I'll concur that the first season didn't quite deliver on its initial promise, towards the conclusion. However it did give us that truly memorable scene with Alexandra Daddario

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Second Season's main problem was incoherent direction in the early episodes opting for wide shots on key characters talking when first introduced, versus giving us close ups, so people couldn't readily put names to faces. later on I know a lot of people riffed on Vince Vaughn's character and his flowery language, but it was pretty clear if people bothered to pay attention that his character was an autodidact who basically despite coming from the streets had read a lot in order to extend himself and in doing so had picked up on less common phrases, that are more often written versus spoken in the everyday.

Third Season . Great performances across the board, but I kind of guessed the twist to the story early on (like a lot of people) so it fell kind of flat. Top tier aging makeup though. Whoever did that deserves all the awards.
 
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Nico_D

Member
Columbo, without a doubt. Just a perfect character. All that cat and mouse routine he does with his vic... suspects pretending to be an idiot while he is the smartest guy in any room.

I really would like to see that Ruffalo take on it if he ever gets a chance. But not without quality scripts they wrote for Falk.
 

Kagey K

Banned
Monk is great, aside from your typical Hollywood politically correct BS (black suspect is always innocent, big bad is a white conservative, all killers are white males etc)
I forgot about Monk and I just finished watching the entire series on Prime a few months ago. It’s so good.

In the same vein as that show I’d have to nominate Psych and Murder She Wrote.
 

dorkimoe

Member
Yes, YES!
Finally someone who shares this opinion.

The first season wasn't good at all. Mediocre at best, boredom at worst (really good end speech though from a person who overacted his underacting the whole time before that).
The second season was better in that it actually had some interesting situations here and there and I think that whatever people hate in the second season was already present in the first season. Haven't seen the third season and have no plans to watch it either.
I couldnt even bother with the second i hated the first so much
 

RavageX

Member
I have a hard time narrowing down the best, but some of my favs are...

Luther(until chick was killed) , Magnum PI, Monk...mostly, Sherlock...mostly.

There are a lot of others, but these come to mind first.

Columbo is classic also, but not a fav.
 
The best!
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Nostalgia aside, you know who were the worst TV detectives despite being on a cool show. Crockett and Tubbs of Miami Vice.

They were terrible police officers. They fucked up so big so many times and got so many innocent people killed it's not even funny.

In one episode they got a key witness against a drug lord and the witness is a recovering addict. So instead of putting a police watch on her or keeping in check with her, the drug lord just sends a henchman to break into her room while she's sleeping, he injects a fatal dose of heroin into her while asleep and she dies.

In another episode Crockett is building a case against a local drug dealer who's moving up. So he recruits a local kid who is a high school star football player and straight laced as can be. Somehow Crockett gets the kid to wear a frigging wire to try to get dirt on him, while in the limousine the kid is asking for the hard stuff and the dealer gets spooked and shoots him. The kid dies and the entire neighborhood is pissed at Crockett for getting a kid killed by involving him in something he should have had nothing to do with.

Miami Vice still has dope as hell character arcs though.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Nostalgia aside, you know who were the worst TV detectives despite being on a cool show. Crockett and Tubbs of Miami Vice.

They were terrible police officers. They fucked up so big so many times and got so many innocent people killed it's not even funny.

In one episode they got a key witness against a drug lord and the witness is a recovering addict. So instead of putting a police watch on her or keeping in check with her, the drug lord just sends a henchman to break into her room while she's sleeping, he injects a fatal dose of heroin into her while asleep and she dies.

In another episode Crockett is building a case against a local drug dealer who's moving up. So he recruits a local kid who is a high school star football player and straight laced as can be. Somehow Crockett gets the kid to wear a frigging wire to try to get dirt on him, while in the limousine the kid is asking for the hard stuff and the dealer gets spooked and shoots him. The kid dies and the entire neighborhood is pissed at Crockett for getting a kid killed by involving him in something he should have had nothing to do with.

Miami Vice still has dope as hell character arcs though.
Whoa, that's dark stuff I didn't know about Miami Vice. I remember interesting guest appearances and interesting songs in select episodes.
 
Cracker.



Amazing show. Gave Robert Carlyle his acting break (and he's terrifying in those episodes). Robbie Coltrane and cast are consistently excellent. I don't think there's ever been anything as good on British TV.
 

nikolino840

Member
I bet one dollar that no one have watched this show
Rosemary & Thyme
Two women gardeners who find themselves solving crimes
 
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deafmedal

Member
As a kid I loved Matlock, Perry Mason, Murder She Wrote and Columbo. Lt. Caine in CSI: Miami was entertaining enough in a meme-y way. Angel was pretty much a detective show with monsters, fucking loved it/him!

But my favorite ever is Jimmy McNulty from The Wire. Great job acting, great character, excellent writing and he even kinda managed to make the ridiculous S.5 over-plot work.

RE: True Detective. The only good thing about the first season for me was the Daddario scene and that tracking shot deal gone wrong scene which was extremely gripping and excellent tv all around. I just wasn't feeling the rest, didn't bother with the other seasons.
 

Rickyiez

Member
I've watched some American and English series like True Detective , The Fall , Sherlock , CSI stuff but they are never as good as the Korean ones . I recommend

Voice
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Signal
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They are somehow a more creative and atmospheric to me , also often has a slight touch of non realism but it adds more flavor into the story .
 

TindalosPup

Member
If you appreciate paranormal detective shows I recommend Kolchak: The Night Stalker.


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It's a show from the 70's I fell in love with the minute my dad put it on when I was a kid. Kolchak is a journalist, but he does a lot of detective things. Specifically he investigates strange occurrences that are connected to classic monsters
 

Weiji

Banned

Come on son!

Since quickwhips beat me to my answer I’m going to go with two Korean movies, The Chaser and Memories of Murder. The first is an investigation aimed at PREVENTING a murder. The second is an investigation aimed at stopping a serial killer.

Both are investigative thrillers since they are essentially race against time to stop something movies that focus squarely on figuring something out.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Unfortunately I haven't came around to watch the reboot yet, did you see it?
Would you recommend it?
Likewise, I never saw the reboot. The original for the sake of having seen it and just the way TV was filmed during that time. I would like to see the reboot but at the time it was airing...I was somewhere else.
 

MacReady13

Member
Columbo is the greatest TV cop show and greatest TV character, PERIOD! I also used to love watching Streets Of San Francisco, especially the seasons with Michael Douglas.
 
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