Best tv shows like Wiseguy
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Vinnie Terranova does time in a New Jersey penitentiary to set up his undercover role as an agent for the OCB (Organized Crime Bureau) of the United States. His roots in a traditional Italian city neighborhood form the underlying dramatic base throughout the series, bringing him into conflict with his conservative mother and other family members while acting undercover as syndicate enforcer.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, atmospheric, serious, detective, sincere, bleak, gloomy
Best tv shows and movies like Wiseguy (1987):
Similar in 84%
The Handler (2003)
Plot Summary:
The Handler is a crime series created by Canadian writer-producer Chris Haddock, airing in the United States on CBS in the 2003-04 season. The show starred Joe Pantoliano as Joe Renato, an FBI agent assigned to train and handle young undercover officers in the FBI. Other cast members included Hill Harper, Anna Belknap, Lola Glaudini, and Tanya Wright. Belknap and Harper would reunite as costars on the drama CSI: New York beginning in 2005.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 200
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 80%
The Ghost Squad (2005)
Plot Summary:
The Ghost Squad was a 2005 British crime drama series produced by Company Pictures, for Channel 4. The show was created by Tom Grieves. Inspired by the real life "Ghost Squad" that existed between 1994 and 1998, secretly investigating police corruption, the premise of the series is that the squad continued to operate in secret after officially being shut down. It starred Elaine Cassidy as a police constable recruited into the squad and Jonas Armstrong as her handler. The show was cancelled after a single seven episode series.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 475
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, detective, bleak
Similar in 87%
Blue Murder (1995)
Plot Summary:
Detective Sergeant Roger "The Dodger" Rogerson got fame because he knew how to take care of most dangerous and violent criminals. His success was, however, also due to the sinister alliance with violent underworld figures like Neddy Smith who got police protection in exchange for tips and money.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 198 min
Plot tags: slasher, detective, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 84%
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 88%
Murphy's Law (2003)
Plot Summary:
Murphy's Law is a BBC television drama starring James Nesbitt as an undercover police officer, Tommy Murphy.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, rough, clever, realistic, suspenseful, detective, dark, crime drama, gloomy
Similar in 82%
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 89%
Crime Story (1986)
Plot Summary:
Crime Story is an American TV drama, created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson, that premiered in 1986 and ran for two seasons on NBC. The executive producer was Michael Mann, who had left his other series Miami Vice to oversee Crime Story and direct the film Manhunter. The show premiered with a two-hour pilot — a movie which had been exhibited theatrically — and was watched by over 30 million viewers. It was then scheduled to follow Miami Vice on Friday nights, and continued to attract a record number of viewers. NBC then moved the show to Tuesdays at 10 pm opposite ABC's Moonlighting, hurting its ratings to the point that NBC ordered its cancellation after only two seasons. Set in the early, pre-Beatles 1960s, the series depicted two men — Lt. Mike Torello and mobster Ray Luca — with an obsessive drive to destroy each other. As Luca started with street crime in Chicago, was "made" in the Chicago Outfit and then sent to Las Vegas to monitor their casinos, Torello pursued Luca as head of a special Organized Crime Strike Force. Torello, his friend Ted Kehoe, and Luca had grown up in Chicago's "The Patch" neighborhood, also called "Little Sicily" or "Little Italy" and the haunt of the Forty-Two Gang. The show attracted both acclaim and controversy for its serialized format, in which a continuing storyline was told over an entire season, rather than being episodic, as was normal with shows at the time.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, suspense, disturbing, detective, tense, captivating, anime, serious, realistic, neo noir
Similar in 87%
21 Jump Street (1987)
Plot Summary:
21 Jump Street is an American police procedural crime drama television series that aired on the Fox Network and in first run syndication from April 12, 1987, to April 27, 1991, with a total of 103 episodes. The series focuses on a squad of youthful-looking undercover police officers investigating crimes in high schools, colleges, and other teenage venues. It was originally going to be titled Jump Street Chapel, after the deconsecrated church building in which the unit has its headquarters, but was changed at Fox's request so as not to mislead viewers into thinking it was a religious program. Created by Patrick Hasburgh and Stephen J. Cannell, the series was produced by Patrick Hasburgh Productions and Stephen J. Cannell Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Executive Producers included Hasburgh, Cannell, Steve Beers and Bill Nuss. The show was an early hit for the fledgling Fox Network, and was created to attract a younger audience. The final season aired in first-run syndication mainly on local Fox affiliates. It was later rerun on the FX cable network from 1996 to 1998. The series provided a spark to Johnny Depp's nascent acting career, garnering him national recognition as a teen idol. Depp found this status irritating, but he continued on the series under his contract and was paid $45,000 per episode. Eventually he was released from his contract after the fourth season. A spin-off series, Booker, was produced for the character of Dennis Booker; it ran one season, from September 1989 to June 1990. A film adaptation starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum was released on March 16, 2012.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: captivating, detective, light, sitcom, sentimental, enigmatic, serious, cult classic, spectacular, realistic
Similar in 82%
Banacek (1972)
Plot Summary:
Banacek is an American detective TV series starring George Peppard that aired on the NBC network from 1972 to 1974. The series was part of the rotating NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie anthology. It alternated in its time slot with several other shows but was the only one to last beyond its first season.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: detective, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 75%
Death of an Expert Witness (1983)
Plot Summary:
When Dr. Edwin Lorrimer, a forensic scientist working at a private laboratory is found killed, Detective Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh is sent to investigate. Dalgliesh had been in the area a few months previously investigating the murder of a young woman found in an abandoned car. There are several suspects: Lorrimer's subordinate, Clifford Bradley, who despises him; the new head of the laboratory, Maxim Howarth, who is jealous of his sister's relationship with him; a colleague, Paul Middlemass, who had a fight with Lorrimer. There is also a gruff and likely unethical policeman who was on the grounds of the laboratory at the time of the killing and a local pathologist who is raising his two young children after his wife leaves him for another man. When one of the suspects is also murdered, Dalgliesh learns a key piece of information.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 374
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: detective, crime drama, atmospheric, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
Legends (2014)
Plot Summary:
Working for the FBI's Deep Cover Operations division, Martin Odum can transform himself into a different person -- whether it's an assignment as a Serbian extremist, a corrupt Chicago police officer, a British special forces colonel, or a legendary computer hacker. But when he learns that his life, itself, may be a lie, he faces the demands of his job and a desire to solve the mystery of his identity. And given the choice between the two, Odum doesn't always make the right decision. From the producers of "Homeland," "Legends" is based on Robert Littell's award-winning book.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, realistic, detective, action adventure, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Intelligence (2005)
Plot Summary:
Intelligence is a Vancouver-based television crime drama starring Ian Tracey and Klea Scott that aired on the CBC. With its pilot first airing on November 28, 2005, the series began regular broadcasting on October 10, 2006. CBC reaired the pilot on June 7, 2007 and began broadcasting reruns of season one on Fridays starting on June 8, 2007. A second season then aired from October 2007, concluding in December that same year. The series was produced by Haddock Entertainment, which also produced Da Vinci's Inquest and Da Vinci's City Hall. On March 7, 2008, the CBC announced that Intelligence would be cancelled. There were various rumors surrounding the cancellation of the series. Kevin Baker from The National Post alleged: "There's a theory afloat that CBC Television cancelled the unusually good drama Intelligence in fear of upsetting Canada's New Government, which is thought to be slavering for an excuse to junk the nation's public broadcaster and sell off the parts." The show centres on Jimmy Reardon, one of Vancouver's top organized crime bosses, and Mary Spalding, the director of the Vancouver Organized Crime Unit, who has offered Reardon immunity from prosecution in exchange for his role as a police informant. The show also stars Matt Frewer as Ted Altman, the scheming assistant director of the OCU who seeks to replace Spalding, and John Cassini as Ronnie Delmonico, Reardon's business partner and confidant.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: Canada
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, rough, serious, suspenseful, detective
Similar in 78%
The Inside (2005)
Plot Summary:
The Inside is an American crime drama television series created by Tim Minear and Howard Gordon and produced by Imagine Television. The Inside follows the work of the FBI's Los Angeles Violent Crimes Unit, a division dedicated to investigating particularly dangerous crimes. The Inside initially aired on the Fox Network from June 8 to July 13, 2005. Although thirteen episodes were produced, Fox aired only seven episodes before canceling the series. All thirteen episodes were subsequently aired on Britain's ITV4 in 2006.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, serious, suspenseful, mind bending, detective
Similar in 86%
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 87%
The Beast (2009)
Plot Summary:
FBI agent Charles Barker applies controversial techniques in his attempts to bring criminals to justice, which often border on illegal and unsettle his uninitiated partner, Ellis Dove. Over the course of the first season, Barker is investigated by fellow FBI agents for alleged misconduct. Dove's loyalty to his partner is challenged when internal affairs agent Ray Beaumont (Larry Gilliard) approaches him to gain information. Shortly thereafter, Dove learns of darker secrets in Barker's past.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, rough, suspenseful, detective, anime
Similar in 85%
Players (1997)
Plot Summary:
Three young ex-cons track down criminals as a part of a new FBI program.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 255
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective, exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Hunter (1984)
Plot Summary:
Hunter is an American police drama television series created by Frank Lupo, and starring Fred Dryer as Sgt. Rick Hunter and Stepfanie Kramer as Sgt. Dee Dee McCall, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1991. However, Kramer left after the sixth season to pursue other acting and musical opportunities. In the seventh season, Hunter partnered with two different women officers. The titular character, Sgt. Rick Hunter, was a wily, physically imposing, and often rule-breaking homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. The show's main characters, Hunter and McCall, resolve many of their cases by shooting dead the perpetrators. The show's executive producer during the first season was Stephen J. Cannell, whose company produced the series.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: detective, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
18 Wheels of Justice (2000)
Plot Summary:
Justice Department undercover agent Michael Cates’s family was killed after he testified against crime boss Jacob Calder. Now Cates is working out of an 18 Wheeler under another undercover identity, that of Chance Bowman. As Cates wanders America listening to country music and helping people he is also dodging hit-men and still trying to take down Calder.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 258
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, rough, realistic, suspenseful, detective
Similar in 90%
Undercover (2011)
Plot Summary:
Just an ordinary boy from the Sofia suburbs becomes the first bulgarian undercover cop. Forced by his father when he was young to lie and cheat, Martin becomes the perfect liar. That skill, and also the hatred of the 'underworld' makes him the perfect match for a dangerous mission - to infiltrate the crime organisation of a rich and powerful businessman. While infiltrating and living in fear of being uncovered, Martin falls in love with the most inappropriate woman - Djaro's girlfriend, Suni. Just when he gains the trust of the mobsters, it appears that the real enemy is in the police. Martin is alone against all, facing difficult decisions.
IMDB Rating: 8.9
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Bulgaria
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, rough, serious, exciting, detective, interesting
Similar in 87%
This Thing of Ours (2002)
Plot Summary:
Using the Internet and global satellites, a group of gangsters pull off the biggest bank heist in the Mafia's history.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 817
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting, realistic, independent film
Similar in 86%
Line of Fire (2003)
Plot Summary:
Line of Fire is a crime drama television series that was broadcast on ABC for 11 episodes in the winter of 2003-2004. It starred Leslie Bibb and Jeffrey D. Sams as two rookie FBI agents assigned to the bureau's Richmond, Virginia branch, where their story parallels that of a local mob boss, Jonah Malloy. When a fellow agent is murdered in a shootout with the gangsters, the head of the FBI branch declares an all-out war on the criminal underworld. The following episodes weaved intricately between Bibb and Sams' federal agency and Paymer's gang, though the two storylines rarely met head-on, except when occasionally focusing on an undercover agent. The show was canceled after just 11 episodes in June 2004, though 13 episodes in all were produced. Mob boss Jonah Malloy's signature line was "That's that with that." The Parents Television Council took a clip from the series for their TV's Worst Clips from years 2001 to 2004. The clip used depicted graphic sexuality.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 312
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, detective
Similar in 89%
Public Morals (2015)
Plot Summary:
Set in the early 1960's in New York City's Public Morals Division, where cops walk the line between morality and criminality as the temptations that come from dealing with all kinds of vice can get the better of them.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, detective, realistic, stylized, period drama
Similar in 87%
Mob City (2013)
Plot Summary:
The true story of a decades-long conflict between the Los Angeles Police Department, under the determined leadership of Police Chief William Parker, and ruthless criminal elements led by Mickey Cohen, a one-time boxer who rose to the top of L.A.'s criminal world. The series is a fast-paced crime drama set in Los Angeles during the 1940s and '50s. It's a world of glamorous movie stars, powerful studio heads, returning war heroes, a powerful and corrupt police force and an even more dangerous criminal network determined to make L.A. its West Coast base.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: neo noir, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, detective, anime, crime drama, dark drama
Similar in 76%
Gangland Undercover (2015)
Plot Summary:
This drama series is a fictionalized retelling of the story of meth dealer-turned-ATF informant Charles Falco, who spent three years inside one of America's most dangerous motorcycle gangs, the Vagos. Although Falco originally took on the assignment to avoid spending 20 years in prison on drug charges, it eventually evolved into a quest for justice for him. “Gangland Undercover” documents the lives of outlaw bikers, who live in a world in which respect is earned through fear. The series is based on Falco's memoir, “Vagos, Mongols, and Outlaws,” and documented historical research of gang rivalries.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, serious, captivating, realistic, suspense, tense, rough
Similar in 89%
The Last Don II (1998)
Plot Summary:
As the elder don dies, his young heir moves into the position. He quickly proves to be as ruthless as he tries to discover who has launched a plot to overthrow his rule and may be infiltrating other families. In a left over plot line, his aunt discovers that the young don had her son murdered first setting her off in a plot to kill him. Then when she is stopped she is driven into the arms of a conflicted priest. Meanwhile, an undercover FBI agent moves into the family home as a teacher for the don's handicapped daughter.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, realistic, saga, suspenseful, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 81%
Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (2016)
Plot Summary:
Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders is a drama about the specialized International Division of the FBI tasked with solving crimes and coming to the rescue of Americans who find themselves in danger while abroad.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, suspenseful, serious, captivating, suspense, psychological, intellectual, detective, psychological thriller
Similar in 76%
Secrets and Lies (2015)
Plot Summary:
Detective Andrea Cornell is a tough, thorough Homicide Detective who leaves no stone unturned. Her unwavering dedication to her job makes her the most formidable opponent - or a highly valuable ally.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, suspenseful, captivating, realistic, detective, idiotic
Similar in 78%
The Americans (2013)
Plot Summary:
Set during the Cold War period in the 1980s, The Americans is the story of Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, two Soviet KGB officers posing as an American married couple in the suburbs of Washington D.C. and their neighbor, Stan Beeman, an FBI Counterintelligence agent.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 109000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, captivating, atmospheric, suspenseful, dramatic, sexy, neo noir, political, dark
Similar in 87%
The Last Don (1997)
Plot Summary:
Sprawling Mario Puzo novel about an Italian family of gangsters draws the inevitable comparison to "The Godfather", but does find its own direction. Headed by Don Domenico Clericuzio, the family executes a rival gang on the night of the Don's daughter's wedding, including her new husband, the son of his rival. Unfortunately the daughter gets pregnant and the repercussions of the night drift into the future. Spanning 1964-1985, the film jumps forward with the growing up of the grandson who has grown ruthless and scheming. A co-rival in the family is a nephew who has been raise to take his father's place in the family as a hitman and has established his place by assassinating a man who killed a Senator's daughter. However, he is proven to not be ruthless enough and moves into the family's casino business in Vegas. When the nephew falls in love with a beautiful actress, everything is set in place for the grandson to set up a coupe to take over the family.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 258 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, rough, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Brotherhood (2006)
Plot Summary:
A working-class Irish family rules a city built on loyalty and corruption. The Caffee brothers, Tommy, a rising politician desperate for reelection, and Michael, a hardened criminal returning from seven years on the run and eager to reclaim his turf, fight for survival on opposite sides of the law. In their ruthless quest for power, the entire Caffee family is driven to lies, betrayal and infidelity -- threatening to tear them and the city of Providence, RI apart.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, serious, suspenseful, political, dramatic, captivating, erotic, dark drama, clever