Crime Series that allows viewers to participate?

Acert93

Artist formerly known as Acert93
Legend
A number of my wife's friends continue to recommend crime dramas to her and neither of us like them as they tend to be more crime DRAMAS and more often than not pull random events/facts/clues/twists out of thin air. Basically if you don't care much for the characters there is little viewer participation in trying to figure out the crime.

Is there a series that is very clue oriented that gives a good spattering of evidence up front (enough to begin making educated guess--maybe even figure it out right away if you are very, very observant--but also plays up on easy hunches with misdirection), well written, etc? We don't have a TV and are pretty clueless. But we like a good crime mystery but after watching a couple episodes of Lost and Bones, well, those are less mysteries or crime shows and more dramas pretending to be mysteries.
 
Not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for but the wire is pretty good. I thought the story was well written but than again, I never pay too much attention to figure out whats going to happen etc.
 
At it's best that show Monk was exactly like that. You could usually figure it out before the reveal if you pay attention to what clues Monk thinks are important and the various cryptic comments he makes throughout (a la Sherlock Holmes).

Of course if you've watched a lot of tv and movies there's always the problem that you have extratextual information e.g. if a certain person is cast you know they'll have a decent number of lines. I don't recall that being too much of a problem with Monk though.
 
Not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for but the wire is pretty good. I thought the story was well written but than again, I never pay too much attention to figure out whats going to happen etc.

The Wire is about the city and the people, not the individual crimes. They took the form of Greek tragedy and applied it to the modern city, where the gods are institutions and free-market capitalism. The show may even be "more tragic" than Greek tragedy, since the fate of the characters is determined not by supernatural figures, but by the forces that govern their lives.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
We reserved Sherlock Season 1 and 2 from the library. We tried Monk... it is ok I guess, but a lot of times it seems you already know the killer up front and the key is paying attention to one or two minor clue through the show (44min) to find a motive or evidence connecting them. The rest of the show focuses on his OCD.
 
If you are looking for something out of the old detective stories, with a new coat on top, Sherlock should do it for you.
Otherwise I'd recommend Damages for the great acting and amazing plot twists.
 
Back
Top