Ann Biderman, highly respected as a writer on the NYPD Blue TV series as well as movies (Copycat, Primal Fear), created Southland originally for NBC television. When the series moved on to TNT cable network it opened up the plots and scripts with a freedom not seen on network television. It became decidedly more earthy and real without the constraints of network censors. SouthLAnd (styled promotionally to represent LA California) follows the lives of LAPD officers who try to keep the streets of one of the largest cities in the U.S. clear of crime and corruption, but that's a daunting task! The series closely follows several officers in particular, bringing in their personal lives along with the dangers they face every day on the job. Being a cop is never a 9 to 5 job and it's never boring! Starring Benjamin McKenzie (The OC, 88 Minutes) playing Ben Sherman who we follow from rookie to seasoned veteran, Shawn Hatosy (Dexter, My Name Is Earl) is Sammy Bryant and is Ben's partner, a man who has plenty of problems at home. The show is definitely worth watching for the honest look at dramatic police life.

"Luther" is a British television crime drama that premiered in 2010 on BBC One. The show follows the life and work of John Luther, a highly skilled detective who becomes consumed by his job and struggles with his personal life. The show has been praised for its gripping storyline, strong performances, and dark and intense atmosphere.

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.

Sons of Anarchy TV Show is a one of a kind drama that is full of adrenaline and dark comedy that follows the dealings of an outlaw motorcycle club, MC. Based out of Charming, California; this group of criminals is doing everything to keep their businesses thriving and outsiders exactly that, outside. While trying to keep major developers, drug dealers and too keen police officers at bay, the heads of MC must stop their family secrets from coming out and their empire from crumbling. They will stop at nothing to keep everything they have worked for safe. Sons of Anarchy TV Show is the story of the quest for more money and power while holding onto what you have.

Creator and writer of The Wire TV show, David Simon (Homicide: Life on the Streets) knows about crime dramas after spending twelve years as a reporter at the Baltimore Sun's City Desk. His writing is honest and penetrating as he searches out the dark and seamy side of life that is part of any old and large city lifestyle. The Wire ran for sixty episodes and spanned five seasons with top acting, writing, producing, and high ratings all the while. Episodes covered a wide variety of occurrences and facets of Baltimore including the city's illegal drug trade, corruption in city government, the system within a seaport town, news in print media, and school system issues. The Wire is a crime drama all about a typical large American city and how we each cope with events that make up our lives. Demonstrating how life can be complicated no matter if you are a cop, a lawyer, a judge, a politician, or a low life drug dealer, and how the many institutions involved in our livelihood affect each and every one of us. Cops get the bad guys and the lawyers and judges just turn around and set them free.

"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.