Hawaii 50 the original series. Pretty close to the real thing. Though more often than not Steve McGarrett and his crew would save the day. However that was not always the case. Sometimes they did not get their man or woman. I would have to say this show rates 7 out of 10. The plots are simple bad guy vs good guy and the writing is not bad at all, for it's time the show held it's own and I would say was pretty well balanced though frankly speaking quite predictable in most cases.
Chicago PD. Until recent I never got this show but, now understanding the backstory I get the show, do I like it NO. Ridiculously violent and unrealistic in many ways. In real life there are dirty cops and yes they do get away with crimes up to and in some cases murder. However more and more we are seeing that change. There is still a long way to go to get policing that truly works for all but, it is happening, slowly. This show is just to over the top. Jason Beghe portrays Hank Voight a cop who is not just dirty he is nasty, in fact much of his team are also just as nasty. Such a team in real life might be able to operate for a period of time, but eventually the deck of cards does fall and they are dealt with. A good example of this is the Toronto Drug Squad, in 2012 five members were found guilty of attempting to obstruct police. I will be posting an article about cops being busted for crimes in another article. With respect to Dick Wolf this show, Chicago PD is just not that great.
Law and Order. Now we are talking about a good bunch of shows that show the police and the justice system at work it's highs and it's lows. This series of shows is very well done and Dick Wolf should be proud of them as they really do a good job of reflecting what goes on on the street and in the court and clearly shows a tiered system one for the wealthy and the other for the poor.
One of my ultimate favorite police shows is Barney Miller a sitcom based in New York at a station with a rather motley crew of officers doing the job day to day. This show really captured what it is like to be an officer. There are some real powerful episodes in the series. Chano a Puerto Rican officer forced to kill bank robbers comes to mind, the murder of Mr. Cotterman a store owner who dies after refusing to pay protection money. The episode explores the failure of assigning one type of policing to different precincts detective units. The 12th is designated as a homicide investigations team. Cotterman preferred to work with them as the officers knew him and he knew them. In the end having to go to another team whom he did not know or trust was his undoing but also the undoing of the special teams idea. The end of the episode shows the team handling all calls and the return of teams that are specific to more highly trained officers to deal with things like robbery homicide. FYI these teams are more or less headquartered at the central location of the police forces they work for.
S.W.A.T the original and the current version are not that bad. I would say that the newer show is more hyped with a lot more gun play than what is really true. Most officers including SWAT members rarely fire weapons but it happens and it probably is a bit more than a traditional police officer on patrol. The story lines are interesting in both versions though I would say the original was not as indepth as the new one.
There are so many other shows that are notable at least to me. They include shows like Hillstreet Blues, Police Story and Adam 12. And who could forget Dragnet. These were very well done shows. 19-2 is a pretty good show as well it's Canadian and tells the story of Montreal police officers. Then there are the reality shows like 999 what's Your Emergency, C.O.P.S and Live PD. Interesting shows but they are controversial as more often than not blacks and other minorities are targeted by the officers in these shows. In Canada Your Under Arrest a similar show is probably much better at trying to show a balance. C.O.P.S generally speaking is a divisive show and while it is loved by many fans it's loathed by an equal number who see it as a platform for racists and people who get off on seeing officers in some cases abuse their power.
So the bottom line here is there are lots of good and just as many bad cop shows out there. It's really interesting to watch these shows and see how good or horrid police officers are and how good or not so good at portraying police as they do their work.
I would say with most shows take a step back and realize a lot of the stuff you are seeing is fiction and unrealistic. But, there are few real great shows that really do capture what police do very well.
Check out this list of TV shows that are police centric via Wikipedia. And let me know what you think is a good or not so good police TV show.
