The 5 Best Cop Shows, Ranked

The Rookie has a number of flaws and too many characters come and go, but it's still one of the cop shows worth watching for the relationships within, especially the gripping romance between Eric Winter's Tim Bradford and Melissa O'Neil's Lucy Chen. It's the best kind of friends-to-lovers slow burn for viewers who love shows like NCIS: Los Angeles (2009).

Of all the shows currently airing, The Rookie is one that's genuinely solid. The characters are all engaging, and their relationships with one another make every case worth it at the end of the day because of how they look out for each other. Sometimes, even the long-running cases that bring back older characters can also be incredibly compelling, too. Still, it's ranked lower because while it can be great, it can also lose itself by pivoting focus to one character as opposed to its bigger ensemble.

There are a number of shows to watch in the NCIS (2003) universe, but for the viewers who love The Rookie and want a romance in it as well to make the cases worth it, NCIS: Los Angeles is the way to go. More than anything, with this little universe especially, they're all worth watching for all that they accomplish and how characters continue to come and go.

Cop shows often have revolving characters that tend to leave, but when they're as big as they are in the NCIS universe, they also get spin-offs like NCIS: Tony and Ziva (2025). It makes investing in the character journeys worthwhile and the relationships even more compelling when we see them back in some capacity, even when it's unfairly canceled. Yet, ultimately, these shows are always there to pass the time with plenty of addictive episodes to watch.

While Brooklyn Nine-Nine is technically a comedy as opposed to a traditional cop procedural, it's the one worth watching for how it's fully aware of all the injustices surrounding the field and what's important to keep the integrity within alive. It's remarkably diverse, brilliantly written, and outright hilarious at all times.

Because it aired at an especially pivotal moment with conversations surrounding the field, much of what the show covers carefully explores issues that deserve to be seen on TV. Series shouldn't just focus on glorifying a field, but they should also explore the ugly parts of it, and that's exactly what Brooklyn Nine-Nine did with some of the best characters and their respective arcs. It's also not to be missed for anyone who's ever loved a Mike Schur show like Parks and Recreation (2009).

You can't have a list about cop shows and not include the irrefutable Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. What Mariska Hargitay does with this show as Detective Olivia Benson is no small feat, and I'd argue that it's what set the standard for some of the procedurals we've gotten since. There's a reason it's gone on for over two decades now, and it wouldn't be shocking if it goes on for two more.

SVU also isn't an average detective show, but how this series spotlights cases that are often mistreated in the real world is where its strength lies. A detective like Olivia Benson is exactly how people tasked to protect others should behave, and the show's means of showcasing this truth week after week is inimitable. The best part of SVU is that while continuity certainly matters, you can tune in to a random episode and you likely won't be too lost. 

Between SVU and The Wire, it was almost impossible to choose the number one spot for a list like this, but more often than not, people tend to revere The Wire for all that it accomplished from beginning to end. With just 60 episodes, the series reigns as a true masterpiece that's still, to this day, indescribable. And well, it's over. Some people might understandably want to tune into a show where they know there's an ending rather than one that's still airing.

Brimming with well-written characters and astute pacing that continuously made room for compelling storylines, The Wire became the hit that it is for how much it addressed and how organically it did so. Part of what makes cop shows easier to watch is that you can almost tell it's fiction, yet the grittiness of The Wire brought an accuracy that's acutely chilling. It's what set it apart from so many others and why, to this day, it's still so hard to replicate.