I was watching Columbo on Channel 5 at the weekend and it struck me that it's the only none-comedy show I can watch repeatedly and never get bored with it, especially the episodes starring either Robert Culp or Patrick MgGoohan. Pure genius.
While I'm on the subject of top cop shows, the brilliant NYPD Blue ends this week on More 4. Although not a comedy, Dennis Franz has always had some great one liners as Sipowitz. And it's got more depth in five minutes than all the CSI franchises combined.
Used to love Hill Street Blues. Now there was a good show. And you can't look past Startsky and Hutch!
I agree about the mighty Hill Street Blues. It revolutionised TV and still looks great today. And the lawyer with long dark hair is gorgeous.
Monk, even thought it's more of a detective show.
Life On Mars?
Detective/cop, it's all pretty much the same (although I draw the line at Bannoceck). And Life On Mars is certainly the best British cop show of the moment (and funny than all the mainstream comedy shows we've discussed on this forum in recent months). And Phillip Glennisters performance as Gene Hunt is fantastic.
TJ Hooker. Wow - Heather Locklear in a police uniform!!!
Life on Mars is good, but the premise on which it is based is IMO quite possibly the weakest, most unbelievable pile of wank which has ever been broadcast on British television.
Does Midsomer Murders count?
If this thread is being stretched to programmes like 'Midsomer' - I don't know, does it? Is it? - I've always found Columbo has its moments. And then what about 'Petrocelli'?
Monk's ace.
And I like watching old Cagney and Lacey's. But probably just for nostalgia value.
If Cracker counts, which I have just decided it does, then that's the best non comedy show ever.
(The best non-comedy show ever is actually probably Top Gear - millions times funnier than the best 'sitcom' of the past 10 years. But that's not really a cop show, so OT for here.)
I think Life On Mars is superb, and not in the least bit wank!!! A great twist on the tired cop genre.
how dare you all forget murder she wrote, although she dosn't do a lot of writing (o.k, she dosn't do any writing) it is quite entertaining, columbo is one i always watch if it's on and midsummer is good, i didn't ever like frost and starsky and hutch was consistantly good. Life on mars is o.k, but it can wear thin.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ February 12, 2007, 6:07 PMI think Life On Mars is superb, and not in the least bit wank!!! A great twist on the tired cop genre.
Don't get me wrong; once it gets down to it, the individual cases in each episode are good, but the whole premise on which the show is based - cop stuck decades in the past, in a coma in the present, fighting crime. Come on. How they sold that to the commissioning editors I do NOT know.
Well, it did take them something like 7 or 8 years. They pitched way back in the late ninties. Thank god it was passed on at that time cause i don't think it would have worked.
I disagree with Aaron, the central conceit at the heart of Life On Mars is great, and makes a nice change from grumpy middle aged cops investigating crimes in quaint villages. LOM's only weakness is that at an hour, it sometimes feels a bit stretched. I miss the old days when BBC dramas were all fifty minutes.