What’s is a police procedural.
A police procedural is a genre of television that has been around for years and is a television staple of any network and can gain a large fan following and then easily create spin-offs that is almost guaranteed to do well in the rating’s.
The premise of most Police procedurals is that someone it murdered and it’s up to the detectives to find the killer with the help of forensics, autopsies and similar.
Also, most shows will have one case that will be told over the entire season or season’s this is done as a way the help you get to know the characters and their back story’s.
There are some shows that take a different approach to the format by showing you the killer at the start that way you get the see the investigation playout.
The following is a few show's I have picked out from the past few decades that where the big show's at the time or a series more recently I have or still am enjoying. if you think of a show in this style that you think is great and that everybody should watch please get in contact and an essential list will be posted. You may just find you next favourite show.
Important shows in the genre
50’s Dragnet (NBC)
Dragnet started as a Radio series before making the move to primetime television
Running for 8 Seasons and spanning 276 episodes, The show follows Sargent Joe Friday and his team as the solve crimes and case’s around the LA area.
The shows title comes from the police term, which means a system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects.
Along with the successful series there was also 3 feature films and also 2 reboots one in the late 80’s and one in the early 00’s created by one of the best police procedural creators Dick Wolf.
60'S Kojak (CBS)
Kojak was a series that ran for 5 seasons and had over 100 episodes.
The shows followed Lieutenant Theofilides Kojak a member of the New York police department’s eleventh precinct as he investigated crimes with a lot of great shows they inevitably great timeless catchphrases and Kojak gave us some of the best with “Who loves ya baby?” and “Cootchie-coo!”
During the shows first season America banned cigarette adverts and was trying to get people to stop smoking so to not offend anyone or worse get cancelled the made Kojak try and kick is smoking habit by sucking on lollipops which became a signature of the show.
80’s Hill street blues (NBC)
Hill Street Blues follows the staff at the fictional Hill Street Police station.
The series lasted for 7 seasons across 146 episodes and still gets regular re-runs on syndication
The series became a primetime success picking up 42 Emmy nominations and winning 18 of those.
Like most successful Procedural shows it produced a spin-off but unlike most spin-offs that just take the same show style and change the city location this shows spin-off was a sitcom. Beverly Hills Buntz following the character Norman Buntz as he moved to Beverly Hills and becomes a private detective.
90’s Law and order (NBC)
Law and order is one of the most successful TV shows of all time premiering in 1990 and ending in 2010 and creating 5 spin-offs’
Unlike most procedural shows this one follows the case all the way to the court room.
The series is set in New York City and follows the NYC police department detectives as they try to solve a crime for the first 30 and hour of the show then it switches to follow the Manhattan Distric Attorney’s Office prosecution of the defendant
Following the success of the series a spin-off was created in 1999 and called Law & Order: Special victims unit and primarily solves cases of a sexual nature and is currently in it’s 19th season
Then in 2001 Law & Order: Criminal Intent and follows the major crimes squad in there investigations, The series ended in 2011 after 10 seasons
In a twist to the format the next spin-off in 2005 was Law & Order: Trial by Jury and follows the preparation by both legal teams for a jury trial. The show only had one season as it got low ratings and one the main cast members died while in production.
Another one season spin-off Law & Order: LA started in 2010 and focused on the Los Angeles police department and followed the same format as the original series.
And finally, last year was the latest spin-off Law & Order: True Crime started with this show being and anthology series similar to “American horror story” and “The people Vs.” where the whole series focuses on one real life and famous case with the first season following the case of Lyle and Erik Menendez, and the murder of the parent’s
00’s The Shield (FX)
The Shield is a series about an experimental division of the LA police department. Unlike most police shows they don’t have a big office building in the centre of the city, they use a converted church. The show follows a group of detective call the Strick Team, a four-man anit-gang unit base off the real-life Rampart Division Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) of the LAPD. The show helped make Michael Chiklis a household name and go on to star in the very successful DC series Gotham.
The Series ran for 7 seasons over 88 episodes and had a five issues comic book run.
The show managed to pick up 36 award nominations from various award shows and winning 11 of those nominations
Chicago Franchise Fire/PD/Med (NBC)
The Chicago Franchise take all the best ideas and elements of Police Procedural shows previous,
like not just following the team while at work but also what they get up to when not at work,
Creating spin-off’s that is believable within the world the original series as created and by doing this you can have key moments within each season where they can come together and tell one story over several nights and episodes.
Chicago started with just Chicago Fire following the firefighters and paramedics of a firehouse based in Chicago as they tackle both fire and medical situations, the series is currently in its sixth season with over 120 episodes so far.
The benefit of having a successful show is you can use an episode to help introduce a spin-off so the viewers and decide if it would work as a standalone series. Chicago Fire did this brilliantly by using another emergency service, the police department as the base for the next series Chicago PD which focus on the members of a recently created intelligence unit that tackle major crimes within the Chicago area. Chicago PD is currently in its fifth season with almost 100 episodes. The uses of the two shows’ have always looked realistic and not forced. Like the first major crossover where the Fire team must save people from a collapsing hospital coursed by an explosion, then the Police team must track down the person responsible for planting the bomb while also try and find another bomb nearby.
If having both the fire and police services covered the next show in the franchise was Chicago Med and as the name suggests this one followers the staff of Chicago Medical Centre and is now in it’s third season with close to 50 episodes. This series has been used creatively for both previous shows by continuing the story of people saved from a burning building by the fire brigade as the medical team try and save their lives.
Also, the series helps by them trying to keep a suspect or witness alive long enough to get a conviction or save someone’s life who has been found by the police department.
The franchise briefly got one show bigger then they tried Chicago Justice a courtroom drama like the Law & Order series from the 90’s but due to low ratings it only lasted one season.
Not only do the 3 shows have a 3 episodes 3-night crossover event sometimes Chicago PD cross’s over with Law & Order: SVU where a possible suspect has done similar things in New York and then move and to Chicago.