Cop shows have been part of television since the medium's earliest days. From Dragnet in the 1950s all the way through into the first half of the 21st century police shows, and the detectives that make them great, have long been favorites, even if many have been forgotten. Here is a great list of those shows and the detectives who made them so memorable.
The Wire
There are a lot of detectives on The Wire. A few, like Kima Greggs (Sonja Sohn) and Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters), get promoted during the show's run. Others, like the great Bunk Moreland (Wendall Pierce) and Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West), have their own ups and downs. All of them are, of course, incredibly realistic in their strengths and their flaws and are a major reason The Wire is one of the best shows in TV history.
Law & Order
Over the shows many years, there have been quite a few detectives in Law & Order. Too many to name here except to highlight the dean of Law & Order investigators, Lenny Briscoe, who was played for 12 seasons by Jerry Orbach. His main partner, Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin) teamed up with Brisco for nine of those seasons.
Cagney & Lacey
It's pretty easy to guess who the main detectives are in the '80s hit Cagney & Lacey. Career-minded Christine Cagney, played by Sharon Gless for most of the show's run, and her partner, family woman Mary Beth Lacey (Tyne Daly), were the two detectives for all seven seasons. Female detectives were rare on TV, and two partnered together was unheard of, which is part of what made the show stand out.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
The original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation was a little different than most of its predecessors in the police procedural genre, in that most of the main investigators weren't actually cops, but a separate branch of law enforcement tasked with crime scene science. There was a detective they worked with though, Paul Guilfoyle's character Captain Jim Brass.
Hawaii Five-0
There have been two versions of Hawaii Five-0, the original that debuted in 1968 and the reboot that began in 2010. The original featured Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett as the lead detective along with his partner Danny "Danno" Williams played by James MacArthur. In the reboot, McGarrett was played by Alex O'Loughlin and Danny, rarely "Danno," by Scott Caan.
Dragnet
Originally Dragnet goes all the way back to radio. It was a revolutionary show at the time, in the early days of commercial television, and completely the vision of its star, Jack Webb, who played Sergeant Joe Friday on radio and in the first and second versions of the show in the '50s and '60s. Friday had a few partners in the original series, but for most of the run, his partner was Frank Smith played by Ben Alexander. In the late '60s reboot, Friday's partner was Bill Gannon, played by Harry Morgan of MASH fame.
Without A Trace
Without A Trace was really more about the team than it was about any one investigator as the FBI agents worked to track down kidnapping victims. The team was led by Jack Malone (Anthony LaPaglia) and his team that included Samantha "Sam" Spade (Poppy Montgomery), Viv Johnson (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), Danny Alvarez, (Enrique Murciano), and Martin Fitzgerald (Eric Close)
NYPD Blue
When it debuted in 1993, NYPD Blue was one of the edgiest and grittiest shows ever seen on network TV. It was led by David Caruso, who played Detective John Kelly, and his partner Andy Sipowicz, played by Dennis Franz. Caruso left after Season 2 and Jimmy Smits stepped in as Detective Bobby Simone. Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Dana Delaney also played detectives at different times during the show's run.
Law & Order: SVU
Law & Order: SVU was the second show in the Law & Order franchise, which has seen countless actors show up in and over its many seasons, like its sister show, it has had quite a few detectives. From day one, however, Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) was a mainstay of the unit. Other detectives have included Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Fin Tutuola (Ice-T), and John Munch (Richard Belzer), among others.
Homicide: Life on the Street
Richard Belzer's character Detective John Munch famously showed up in a whole slew of shows, including as a regular on Law & Order: SVU. The character's origin story comes from Homicide: Life on the Street. Some of the other main detectives on the show included Frank Pembleton, played by the late, great Andre Braugher, and Beau Felton, played by Daniel Baldwin.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
The late Andre Braugher made his name as a detective in Homicide: Life On The Streets. His work on that show is part of what makes his role as a captain on Brooklyn None-Nine so funny. He's not one of the main detectives though. Those roles are filled by Andy Sandberg as Jake Peralta, and Stephanie Beatriz as Rosa Diaz.
Blue Bloods
Donny Wahlberg has been in show business since he was a teenager in New Kids on the Block. And despite being a big part of the cast of Band of Brothers, the role he'll most likely be remembered best for in the end is Detective Danny Reagan on Blue Bloods. Danny had a couple of partners over the years. His first was Detective Jackie Curatola, played by Jennifer Esposito and his second was Maria Biaz played by Marisa Ramirez.
NCIS
NCIS isn't really a typical police show, as it's about the investigative unit within the US Navy. Still, there are investigators who operate just like detectives, led by Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and his team including Senior Field Agent Anthony DiNozzo (Micheal Weatherly) and Senior Field Agent Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) among others throughout the show's long run.
Hill Street Blues
When it debuted in 1978, Hill Street Blues was an instant hit. It won a slew of Emmys over the years and is generally considered one of the best cop shows of all time. It wasn't just about the detectives, though a few detectives were important to the story, including and most importantly Detective Mick Belker, played by Bruce Weitz.
True Detective
Since each season of True Detective is a stand-alone story, there have been multiple detectives, each unique to their season. In Season 1 it was Detective Rustin "Rust" Cohle, played by Matthew McConaughey, and Detective Martin "Marty" Hart, played by Woody Harrelson. Season 2 saw Colin Farrell as Detective Ray Velcoro and Rachel McAdams as Detective Ani Bezzerides. In Season 3, the two detectives were Wayne Hays and Roland West, played by Mahershala Ali and Steven Dorff, respectively. Season 4 saw Jodie Foster take over in the lead detective role.
CSI: Miami
Unlike its sister show CSI, CSI: Miami and its forensic unit are led by a detective. David Caruso played Horatio Caine, the lieutenant in charge. Rex Linn plays Detective Frank Tripp, who is one of the homicide detectives who works with the unit often.
The Shield
In The Shield, the lead detective, Vic Mackey, is played by Michael Chiklis. He leads a crew of sketchy cops and detectives in the gritty show. Detective Shane Vendrell, played by the great Walter Goggins is another key detective on the show.
Bones
Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) and Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) are FBI forensic investigators on Bones. Together they investigate... well... bones and human remains. It's definitely a unique twist on the genre and one that was wildly successful for 12 seasons on CBS.
Cold Case
For seven seasons, Kathryn Morris starred as a homicide detective named Lilly Rush. As the name of the show implies, her specialty was cold cases, or cases that long run short on leads and promising clues. In the show's first season, her partner was Chris Lassing (Justin Chambers) and later she teamed up with Scotty Valens, played by Danny Pino.
Criminal Minds
Another FBI investigative show, Criminal Minds followed the office of the Behavioral Analysis Unit, led at first by Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin), followed by Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) for much of the show's run. They over an office with a number of detectives over the years, including Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore), JJ Jareau (A. J. Cook), and Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster).
CSI: NY
In the third installment of the CSI franchise, audiences were transported to the New York City version of the crime scene investigation where the team was led by Mac Taylor, played by Gary Sinise for the entire run of the show. He didn't work alone, of course, and some of his team members included homicide detective Don Flack (Eddie Cahill), and Detective Stella Bonasera (Melina Kanakaredes).
Miami Vice
In the 1980s, there was one detective duo that stood above the rest. Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Rico Tubbs ( Philip Michael Thomas). The two coolest detectives north of Havana on Miami Vice got to wear stylish clothes and drive fast cars. It was a different kind of cop show for a new era and nothing says the '80s quite like it.
FBI
CBS's FBI is all about the team of investigators led by actor Jeremy Sisto as Jubal Valentine, the head of the "fusion center" and coordinating their operations from there. In the field, the two lead investigators are Maggie Bell (Missy Peregrym) and her partner OA Zidan (Zeeko Zaki).
Starsky And Hutch
Before Miami Vice hit the air in the 1980s, the two coolest detectives on TV were Dave Starsky And Ken Hutchinson, or "Hutch." The two, played by David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser respectively, starred in Starsky And Hutch for four seasons in the late '70s but they cast a much longer shadow over TV cop shows for decades. They were a little edgier, a little grittier than the usual TV detectives viewers were used to and that influence has been seen in shows ever since.
Rizzoli & Isles
As the name implies, the main investigators on Rizzoli & Isles are... well... Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander). Though technically Only Rizzoli was a detective in the Boston PD. Isles was a medical examiner who teamed with Rizzoli to investigate crimes in the Bay State. The show is notably for being having two female lead detectives, though they had all the same tropes as two male leads who don't always see eye to eye.
21 Jump Street
In the early days of the Fox Network, they took some real chances and one of those risks was 21 Jump Street about a team of cops charged with going undercover in high schools to unearth crimes. The two main detectives for the first four seasons were Tom Hanson, played by Johnny Depp in his breakout role, Judy Hoffs (Holly Robinson), Harry Ioki (Dustin Nguyen), and Doug Penhall (Peter DeLuise). For the show's fifth and final season, much of the cast left, including Depp and a new bunch of detectives came in, like Doug's brother Joey, played by Peter Deluise's brother Michael. It's also worth nothing that Richard Grieco played a reoccurring character named Dennis Booker. Eventually, that character got its own spinoff, called Booker.
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
The third installment of the Law & Order franchise, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, ran for 10 seasons on both NBC and USA and had four main five main detectives at various points. Some, like Detective Alexandra Eames (Kathryn Erbe) and Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio), appeared in all ten seasons. Others, like Mike Logan (Chris Noth) and Zack Nichols (Jeff Goldblum), appeared in a few dozen episodes in the middle seasons.
Police Squad!
Leslie Neilson has delivered some amazing lines in his various roles in spoof movies in the late 20th Century, including The Naked Gun franchise. That franchise started with a very brief run as a TV show called Police Squad. Just like in the movies, the main detective, played by Neilson, was Frank Drebin, the hapless-yet-effective detective in the LAPD.
Body Of Proof
The short-lived Body Of Proof followed the professional and sometimes private life of a surgeon-turned-medical examiner played by Dana Delaney. She helped the main homicide detectives, played by John Carroll Lynch and Sonya Sohn solve the worst crimes in Philadelphia.
Person Of Interest
Really the two main detectives in Person of Interest aren't cops at all. Harold Finch (Michael Emerson) is a billionaire who developed a software program for predicting crimes and is basically the "guy behind the guy." On the street, John Reece (Jim Caviezel) is an ex-soldier who does the dirty work of stopping the crimes. Taraji P. Henson plays an actual police detective who works with Reece.
Crossing Jordan
In a lot of shows, the medical examiner is a key character, but not always the main investigator. On Crossing Jordan, that isn't the case. Jill Hennessy plays Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh, a forensic pathologist. There were quite a few Boston homicide detectives throughout the show's run, most notably Woody Hoyt, played by Jerry O'Connell.
Fred Dryer
In the 1980s, there was no tougher detective than Sergeant Rick Hunter on Hunter. Played by ex-football player Fred Dryer, Hunter wasn't a cop who always played by the rules, but he always got his man. The show was one of the more popular cop shows in the '80s and even had a very brief revival in 2005.