Best tv shows like The Mod Squad
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The Mod Squad was the enormously successful groundbreaking "hippie" undercover cop show that ran on ABC from September 24, 1968, until August 23, 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Pete Cochren, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III as Linc Hayes, and Tige Andrews as Captain Adam Greer. The executive producers of the series were Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas. The iconic counter-culture police series earned six Emmy nominations, four Golden Globe nominations plus one win for Peggy Lipton, one Directors Guild of America award, and four Logies. In 1997 the episode "Mother of Sorrow" was ranked #95 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: retro, detective, vintage, telenovela
Best tv shows and movies like The Mod Squad (1968):
Similar in 78%
Longstreet (1971)
Plot Summary:
Longstreet is an American crime drama series that was broadcast on the ABC in the 1971-1972 season. A 90-minute pilot movie of the same name aired prior to the debut of the series as an ABC Movie of the Week.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 597
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: detective, vintage
Similar in 78%
Hardcastle and McCormick (1983)
Plot Summary:
Hardcastle and McCormick is an American action/drama television series from Stephen J. Cannell Productions, shown on ABC from 1983 through 1986. The series stars Brian Keith as Judge Milton C. Hardcastle and Daniel Hugh Kelly as ex-con and race car driver Mark "Skid" McCormick. The series premise was somewhat recycled from a previous Cannell series, Tenspeed and Brown Shoe.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective
Similar in 89%
Houston Knights (1987)
Plot Summary:
Houston Knights is an American crime drama set in Houston, Texas. The show ran on CBS from 1987 to 1988 and had 31 episodes. The core of the show was the partnership between two very different cops from two different cultures. Chicago cop Joey LaFiamma, played by Michael Paré, is transferred to Houston after he kills a mobster from a powerful Mafia family and a contract is put out on him. Once there, he is partnered with Levon Lundy, played by Michael Beck, the grandson of a Texas Ranger. Although as different as night and day, and after a rocky beginning they form a successful partnership and become friends. This is aided to a certain extent by an event where a hitman from Chicago who holds the contract to shoot La Fiamma arrives in Houston and is ultimately killed by Lundy. During the series, it is revealed that both La Fiamma and Lundy have their own personal demons; La Fiamma's Chicago police partner had been killed when he went ahead while La Fiamma had waited for backup to arrive. Lundy's wife had been killed by an explosion that was intended to kill him.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 236
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective
Similar in 85%
Burke's Law (1963)
Plot Summary:
Burke's Law is an American detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 960
Genere: Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: retro, detective, campy
Similar in 76%
The Rookies (1972)
Plot Summary:
The Rookies is an American crime drama series that aired on ABC from 1972 until 1976. It follows the exploits of three rookie police officers working in an unidentified city for the fictitious Southern California Police Department.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective, retro, vintage
Similar in 84%
The Gentle Touch (1980)
Plot Summary:
The Gentle Touch is a British police drama television series made by London Weekend Television for ITV which ran from 1980-1984. Commencing transmission on 11 April 1980, the series is notable for being the first British series to feature a female police detective as its leading character, ahead of the similarly themed BBC series Juliet Bravo by four months.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 296
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective
Similar in 88%
Honey West (1965)
Plot Summary:
Honey West is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC during the 1965–1966 television season. The series starred Anne Francis as female private detective Honey West and John Ericson as her partner, Sam Bolt. Only 30 half-hour episodes were produced. The entire first season is available on DVD.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 777
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: detective, retro, noir, neo noir
Similar in 80%
The F.B.I. (1965)
Plot Summary:
The F.B.I. is an American television series that was broadcast on ABC from 1965 to 1974. It was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, and the characters almost always drove Ford vehicles in the series. Alcoa was co-sponsor of Season One only.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective, factual, vintage
Similar in 77%
Dempsey and Makepeace (1985)
Plot Summary:
Dempsey and Makepeace is a British television crime drama made by London Weekend Television for ITV, created and produced by Ranald Graham. The leading roles were played by Michael Brandon and Glynis Barber, who later married each other on 18 November 1989. The series combined elements of previous series such as the mis-matching of British and American crime-fighters from different classes as seen in The Persuaders! and the action of The Professionals.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective
Similar in 89%
Mannix (1967)
Plot Summary:
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors. Mannix was the last series produced by Desilu Productions.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective, retro, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, vintage
Similar in 80%
Cannon (1971)
Plot Summary:
Cannon is a CBS detective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from March 26, 1971 to March 3, 1976. The primary protagonist is the title character, private detective Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad. He also appeared on two episodes of Barnaby Jones. Cannon is the first Quinn Martin-produced series to be aired on a network other than ABC. A "revival" television film, The Return of Frank Cannon, was aired on November 1, 1980. In total, there were 124 episodes.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective, surprise ending
Similar in 79%
Police Story (1973)
Plot Summary:
Police Story is an anthology television crime drama. The show was the brainchild of author and former policeman Joseph Wambaugh and represented a major step forward in the realistic depiction of police work and violence on network TV. Although it was an anthology, there were certain things that all episodes had in common; for instance, the main character in each episode was a police officer. The setting was always Los Angeles and the characters always worked for some branch of the LAPD. Notwithstanding the anthology format, there were recurring characters. Scott Brady appeared in more than a dozen episodes as "Vinnie," a former cop who, upon retirement, had opened a bar catering to police officers, and who acted as a sort of Greek chorus during the run of the series, commenting on the characters and plots.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: anthology, detective, vintage
Similar in 89%
Starsky & Hutch (1975)
Plot Summary:
Starsky & Hutch is a 1970s American cop thriller television series, which consisted of a 70-minute pilot movie and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn, produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions, and broadcast between April 30, 1975 and May 15, 1979 on the ABC network. It was distributed by Columbia Pictures Television in the United States and, originally, Metromedia Producers Corporation in Canada and some other parts of the world. Sony Pictures Television is now the worldwide distributor for the series. The series also inspired a theatrical film and a video game.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective, exciting, rough, realistic, semi serious, tense, retro, fast, vintage, cult film
Similar in 83%
Delvecchio (1976)
Plot Summary:
Dominick Delvecchio is an integrity-minded, honest police detective who works out of the Washington Heights division of the Los Angeles Police Department. When not screeching tires, rousting bad guys and trading quips with his burly partner Paul Shonski, Delvecchio can usually be found at his father Tomaso's barber shop or cracking the books studying for the bar exam, which he has already flunked more than once. His hard-nosed yet sympathetic boss is Lt. Macavan.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 163
Genere: Drama, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious
Similar in 82%
Pacific Blue (1996)
Plot Summary:
Pacific Blue is an American crime drama series about a team of police officers with the Santa Monica Police Department who patrolled its beaches on bicycles. The show ran for five seasons on the USA Network, from March 2, 1996 to April 9, 2000, with a total of one hundred and one episodes. Often compared as "Baywatch on bikes," the series enjoyed a popular run among the Network's viewers, and was popular in France, Israel, Sweden, Bulgaria, Norway, Spain, Russia, Austria, Germany, Italy, South America, Canada, Denmark, Poland, and other foreign markets.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: exciting, sexy, feel good, captivating, detective, serious, realistic, fast, romantic drama
Similar in 81%
APB (2017)
Plot Summary:
After a billionaire engineer witnesses his best friend’s murder, he takes charge of Chicago’s troubled 13th District and reboots it as a technically innovative police force, challenging the district to rethink everything about the way they fight crime.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: futuristic, serious, captivating, intense, tense, detective, action adventure
Similar in 90%
Blue Thunder (1984)
Plot Summary:
Blue Thunder is a 1984 ABC television series based on the movie of the same title featuring the Blue Thunder helicopter. The series uses the converted Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopter and large portions of stock footage from the 1983 film. A ground unit named "Rolling Thunder" backed up the helicopter in the television series. This was a large support van with a desert camouflage off-road vehicle stored inside. The television series cast includes James Farentino, Dana Carvey, and former professional American football players Bubba Smith and Dick Butkus. The series was canceled by ABC after they felt the similar Airwolf on CBS would win the ratings battle. Also, the series aired at the same time as the CBS soap opera Dallas on Friday nights, and lost. Eleven episodes were made before the series was cancelled.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, vintage
Similar in 80%
Hawaii Five-O (1968)
Plot Summary:
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for 12 seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. Jack Lord portrayed Detective Lieutenant Steve McGarrett, the head of a special state police task force which was based on an actual unit that existed under martial law in the 1940s. The theme music composed by Morton Stevens became especially popular. Many episodes would end with McGarrett instructing his subordinate to "Book 'em, Danno!", sometimes specifying a charge such as "murder one".
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: captivating, tense, stylized, realistic, suspenseful, detective, serious, vintage, telenovela
Similar in 77%
Hill Street Blues (1981)
Plot Summary:
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations influenced many subsequent dramatic television series produced in North America.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, clever, serious, detective, retro, atmospheric, neo noir, rough, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Police Woman (1974)
Plot Summary:
Sergeant “Pepper"” Anderson, an undercover cop for the Criminal Conspiracy Unit of the Los Angeles Police Department, poses undercover from mob girl to prostitute.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: detective, retro, exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 75%
Crossing Lines (2013)
Plot Summary:
Through globalization, many countries have been opened and barriers removed to ensure easy trade, travel and cultural diversity. However, this openness has given opportunities to criminals looking to exploit the system and ultimately threaten our global safety. As Europe has become a "safe house" for criminals eluding law enforcers, a special kind of law enforcement team is needed to handle specific ongoing crimes on a global level. "Crossing Lines" is the story of one such team, made up of five international cops, headed by Captain Daniel. The team - comprised of individuals who have little in common - must learn to live and work under the most dangerous and potentially deadly conditions. Housed in an unused storage section underneath the ICC, this mismatched team faces bureaucratic, jurisdictional and cultural obstacles while traversing continents in pursuit of justice.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: France, Germany, Belgium, USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: detective, serious, suspenseful, realistic, dramatic
Similar in 77%
Charlie's Angels (1976)
Plot Summary:
Charlie's Angels is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 1976 to June 1981, producing five seasons and 110 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by Aaron Spelling. It plotted the adventures of three females working in a private detective agency in Los Angeles, California, and initially starred Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, and Jaclyn Smith in the leading roles. David Doyle co-starred as a sidekick to the three women and John Forsythe played the voice of their boss. Later additions to the cast included Cheryl Ladd, who entered the series in season two, Shelley Hack, in season four, and Tanya Roberts, in season five. Despite mixed reviews from critics and a reputation for merely being "Jiggle TV," the show enjoyed an astonishing popularity with audiences, and was a top ten hit for its first few seasons. Because later cast changes were not well-received and the public's taste changed, the show concluded a five-year run in the spring of 1981. The series continues to have a cult and pop culture following through syndication, DVD releases, and subsequent film remakes.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sexy, exciting, realistic, stylized, semi serious, retro, erotic, detective, vintage, telenovela
Similar in 76%
Baretta (1975)
Plot Summary:
Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma. While popular, Toma received intense criticism at the time for its realistic and frequent depiction of police and criminal violence. When Musante left the series after a single season, the concept was retooled as Baretta, with Robert Blake in the title role.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective, retro, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
Shades of Blue (2016)
Plot Summary:
Sexy New York detective and single mother Harlee Santos fell in with a tight-knit group of dirty cops, taking bribes and protection money that she uses to provide the best life for her honest, talented daughter. But when she's trapped by the FBI and forced to inform on her own "brothers," she'll have to walk the fine line between love, loyalty, honor and betrayal, and try to keep it together for her daughter's future.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, realistic, suspense, detective, neo noir
Similar in 88%
Adam-12 (1968)
Plot Summary:
Adam-12 is a television police drama that followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by R. A. Cinader and Jack Webb, who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a typical day in the life of a police officer as realistically as possible. The show ran from September 21, 1968 through May 20, 1975, and helped introduce police procedures and jargon to the general public in the United States of America.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: realistic, sincere, serious, stylized, detective, captivating, vintage
Similar in 79%
The Chicago Code (2011)
Plot Summary:
The series follows officers of the Chicago Police Department as they fight crime on the streets and try to expose political corruption within the city.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, detective, dark drama, fast
Similar in 90%
Miami Vice (1984)
Plot Summary:
The story of the Miami Police Department's vice squad and its efforts to end drug trafficking and prostitution, centered on the unlikely partnership of Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs - who first meet when Tubbs is undercover in a drug cartel.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: detective, serious, exciting, stylized, realistic, retro, anthology, anime, action adventure, neo noir
Similar in 75%
Dark Blue (2009)
Plot Summary:
Dark Blue was an action/drama television series which premiered on TNT on July 15, 2009, at 10 pm. It ended its run on September 15, 2010. The series is set in Los Angeles, California. It revolves around Carter Shaw, the leader of an undercover unit. He is an officer who has dedicated his life to taking down the worst criminals in L.A., and this dedication has cost him his marriage. His team includes Ty Curtis, a newlywed who struggles between his job and his new life; Dean Bendis, an officer who is so deep in his undercover role that his team is no longer sure which side he is on; and Jaimie Allen, a green patrol cop recruited into the undercover unit because of her dark past and criminal skills.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, detective, crime drama, exciting
Similar in 88%
The Rookie (2018)
Plot Summary:
Starting over isn’t easy, especially for small-town guy John Nolan who, after a life-altering incident, is pursuing his dream of being an LAPD officer. As the force’s oldest rookie, he’s met with skepticism from some higher-ups who see him as just a walking midlife crisis.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 60000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspense, tense, serious, detective, inspirational
Similar in 82%
NCIS: Los Angeles (2009)
Plot Summary:
The exploits of the Los Angeles–based Office of Special Projects (OSP), an elite division of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service that specializes in undercover assignments.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 57000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, detective, crime drama, teen, relaxing, suspenseful, telenovela