"The Chicago Code" has nothing to do with deep-dish pizzas or the cruelly cursed Cubbies. "The Chicago Code" openly, unabashedly, plain and simple, is all about good versus evil. The good guys following "The Chicago Code" are very very good, and the bad guys breaking the code are very very bad. The windy city itself, definitely a critical element in the drama's development, lives somewhere in-between. Chicago may be "the second city," but it stands out as America's number one oxymoron. "Hog-butcher to the world," Chicago also brought us Hemingway and Frank Lloyd Wright. Home to Picasso's breathtaking artistic monument, Chicago also has been home to some monumental con artists: Rod Blagojevich comes immediately to mind. "Blaggo" is to Chicago scams as the Picasso is to the city's art and architecture. More to the point of "The Chicago Code," in just over thirty years, thirty-one second city aldermen have been convicted of violent crimes or corruption. In Chicago, graft greases the wheels and gets your streets ploughed. Although corruption may be common as camel-hair coats on the Magnificent Mile, Chicago cops still want to collar the bad guys. "The Chicago Code" attempts to dramatize how and why they do it, and it packs a pretty good punch for a network production. Critics and home-grown Chicago viewers strongly suspect "The Chicago Code" would achieve its completely gritty potential on cable, but it's hard to complain about Jennifer Beals, still fit and fabulous all these years after Flashdance, going balls-to-the-wall against the bad guys in Monday night primetime.

Like fine red wines, pate de foie gras, and escargot, Criminal Minds probably is an acquired taste: The crime drama psychoanalyzes the psychoanalysts, definitely building tense drama, but ironically downplaying the crimes. The New York Times has described Criminal Minds as "cerebral," a euphemism for "nerds with guns." Brilliant writing and compelling characters, however, make it work. The stories represent an elite team of specialists"”the FBI's "Behavioral Analysis Unit" "” who, in just forty-four minutes, can deconstruct a crime, profile a criminal, and bring everything to a profound resolution complete with quotation from literature. Naturally, the feds encounter resistance from local enforcers eager to protect their turf. Just as naturally, many of the stories spark viewers' recognition, because they are "ripped from the headlines." Two features sustain viewers' interest in this sometimes too-heady-for-primetime series: First, every audience loves a good hunt for a psychotic serial killer; and, second, in Criminal Minds, many of the good guys are almost as twisted as the bad guys.

Powerful cast makes Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior a huge hit on CBS As far as spin offs from television series go this one is a winner! The original Criminal Minds (debuted in 2005) has been so well written it was bound to spawn a sequel and Suspect Behavior is bound to excel. This is all about the FBI and profiling but goes way beyond the previous "Profilers" program and includes study of human behavior and why some of us do bad things. Situated in Quantico, Virginia, the teams of the FBI's BAU or Behavioral Analysis Unit solve cases by "getting inside" the minds of dangerous criminals who have no respect for the lives of others. Forest Whitaker stars as Sam Cooper, a Special Agent with the FBI who bravely attacks his job each day, intent on getting the criminal element off the streets. His specially selected team include a skilled marksman, a former convict, and slick cunning agents who must be smarter than their targets in order to out wit them. Their missions involve capturing the most dangerous of the criminal element and bring them to justice. Also starring Matt Ryan, Michael Kelly, and Beau Garrett.

Crime drama on American television doesn't get any better than The Closer. Starring the beautiful Kyra Sedgwick (Mrs. Kevin Bacon) she leads as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson of the Georgia PD that has found herself transplanted to Los Angeles, California to take over as lead officer on their Priority Murder Squad (now called the Major Crimes Division). Starring an ensemble cast that includes J.K. Simmons (Law & Order, OZ) as Will Pope the Assistant Chief of Operations with the LAPD, Corey Reynolds (Private Practice, CSI: Miami) as David Gabriel Sergeant of Detectives at LAPD, and Robert Gossett (ER, Bones) who plays Commander Russell Taylor of Robbery and Homicide for the LAPD. Kyra Sedgwick herself has top rated credentials herself with roles in Secondhand Lions, Lover Boy, and Phenomenon. Each episode revolves around a different story line and includes murder and other serious crimes that occur in the Los Angeles area. Deputy Chief Johnson's role is to solve crimes and not let them become "cold cases". Her track record is excellent and she and her team get the job done in an hour each episode.

Will Trent is a fictional character in a series of crime novels by the author Karin Slaughter. He is a Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) agent who struggles with dyslexia and a traumatic past. The novels explore his personal and professional life as he navigates complex cases and relationships.

El Señor de los Cielos is a popular television series produced in Mexico that centers around a character named Aurelio Casillas, who is a powerful and wealthy drug lord. The show explores the drug trade and the violence that comes with it. It has been successful both in Mexico and internationally, with several seasons and spin-offs produced.