True Detective
True Detective is an anthology series that has had four seasons on HBO from 2014 through 2024, with a fifth season in development. Each season stands alone with its own cast, location and plot, but they all focus on detectives solving murder cases. The show has received significant critical acclaim and viewership, with the second season commonly seen as the weakest of the four. We disagree and find the fourth season to be too “out there” for our taste. All of the seasons offer some strange occult or similar themes, but the fourth season pushes it to the limit, or at least to our limit. Overall, True Detective is an excellent show with excellent writing and cast performances. Here are a few other shows like True Detective you may have missed that we think you may like.
Shows Like True Detective – Fargo
Fargo has run for five seasons on FX from 2014 to 2024. FX has not confirmed a sixth season as of this writing. Fargo is based on the 1996 Coen Brothers film, and four of the five seasons take place in Minnesota and/or the Dakotas. The show is a black comedy crime drama like the movie. Like True Detective, it is an anthology series, and each season stands alone with its own cast, location and plot. Unlike True Detective, there is an occasional minor callback to a previous season and there is a lot more humor.
Fargo is an excellent show, with 226 award nominations and 51 wins. The fourth season is good but considered the weakest, as it strays from the usual format. Season four takes place in 1950 and the location moves to Kansas City. Fargo is the most like True Detective of any of the shows we recommend. We liked this show a lot and believe you will too if you liked True Detective.
See streaming options at Fargo.
Shows Like True Detective – Bosch
Bosch ran for seven seasons on Amazon Prime Video from 2014 to 2021. A follow up series Bosch:Legacy has run for two seasons on Amazon Freevee in 2022 and 2023 with a third season to be released in 2024. Bosch features Titus Welliver as Harry Bosch, an LAPD detective. Harry quits the department after season seven and becomes a private detective for Bosch:Legacy. Each season’s crime stories are based on one or more Michael Connolly Bosch novels. Connolly also wrote The Lincoln Lawyer novels that are the basis for the movie and Netflix show.
Welliver is excellent as Bosch, a committed and talented detective who can also rub people the wrong way. The show has been a critical success but has been overlooked at awards season. Each season introduces new cases but there is some continuity across seasons. We liked this show a lot and believe you will too if you liked True Detective.
See streaming options at Bosch.
Mare of Easttown
Mare of Easttown was an HBO miniseries in 2021. It is unlikely that there will be another season. The show starred Kate Winslet as Mare Sheehan, a detective in Easttown, Pennsylvania investigating a young girl’s murder and another’s disappearance. The show received critical acclaim and won several awards. It was also one of those “water cooler” shows that people talked about. Its popularity only increased after a popular Saturday Night Live skit “Murder Durder” parodied the show and skewered the accents in it.
If you like True Detective, you will definitely like Mare of Easttown.
See streaming options at Mare of Easttown.
City on a Hill
City on a Hill ran for three seasons on Showtime from 2019 through 2022. The show took place in 1990s Boston and starred Kevin Bacon as slimy FBI Agent Jackie Rohr. Jackie offended pretty much everyone he interacted with, including Assistant District Attorney DeCourcy Ward, played by Aldis Hodges. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were two of the executive producers of the show; not surprising for a crime show set in Boston. The show didn’t really move the needle much in terms of interest but did receive generally favorable reviews.
We enjoyed this show, if only for Bacon’s unscrupulous actions and creepy appearance.
See streaming options at City on a Hill.
These are four shows like True Detective we liked and we think you will too.
Want to see shows like The Sopranos? See our post at The Sopranos.
