Drama-Crime-Cops, Detectives, Private Investigators, & FBI

In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Based in Quantico, Virginia, the Behavioral Analysis Unit (B.A.U.) is a subsection of the F.B.I. Called in by local Police departments to assist in solving crimes of a serial and/or extremely violent nature where the perpetrator is unknown (referred to by the Unit as the unknown subject or "unsub" for short), the B.A.U. uses the controversial scientific art of profiling to track and apprehend the unsub. Profiling entails coming up with basic characteristics of the unsub and the victims (referred to as the victimology), using evidence from the case and matching that information to historic precedents and psychological analyses as a means to solve the case. Because of the nature of the work conducted by the B.A.U. - the work being time consuming and psychologically demanding - its members are fiercely loyal to the Unit and to its other members. Also because of the work's overall demanding nature, not many members of the B.A.U. have been able to maintain a happy or stable family life.

Los Angeles police detectives investigate crimes and district attorneys prosecute the offenders.

As any detective can tell you, investigating missing property or deaths is comparatively easy compared to elusive missing people. However in New York City, there is a special unit of the FBI that is designed to find them. Using the vast resources of their bureau, the team, lead by Agent Jack Malone, race against time in the tight 72 hour window after a disappearance while hope for a recovery is still typically possible.

A superstar magician Cameron Black whose career is ruined by scandal has only one place to turn to practice his art of deception, illusion, and influence, the FBI where he'll become the world's first consulting illusionist, helping the government solve crimes that defy explanation, and trap criminals and spies by using deception.

Former CIA operative is lured back to his old life when the NYPD needs his help to stop a serial killer. Dr. Dylan Reinhart (Alan Cumming) is a gifted author and university professor living a quiet life teaching psychopathic behavior to packed classes of adoring students. But when top NYPD detective Lizzie Needham (Bojana Novakovic) appeals to him to help her catch a serial murderer who is using Dylan's first book as a tutorial, Dylan is compelled by the case, comes out of retirement and taps into his old skill set. Though Dylan and Lizzie initially clash, when it comes to catching killers, they realize they will make an ideal team if they both trust their instincts. Based on the James Patterson book.

Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), now retired from the N.Y.P.D., joins the District Attorney's office as an investigator. Through him, and the various lawyers, jury members and court officials we meet along the way, the show explores the intricate workings of the jury system.

In the Los Angeles office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Special Agent Don Eppes and his team investigate critical and baffling crimes with a special edge. That advantage is Don's brother, Charles Eppes, a brilliant universalist mathematician who uses the science of mathematics with its complex equations to ferret out the most tricky criminals. With this team, the forces of evil learn their number is up.

Lilly Rush is a Philadelphia police detective working for the department's homicide squad and being assigned "cold cases": crimes that were committed many years before and have not been solved. Lilly must try to re-think the crime scenes and interview other people involved with the victims to find a link to solving the cases.

Malcolm Bright, one of the best criminal psychologists around, uses his twisted genius to help the NYPD solve crimes.

On the streets of San Francisco a team of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Behavioral Analysis Unit use profiling to catch some of the most horrific serial killers and unidentifiable subjects.

Carrie Wells, a former police detective, has a rare ability to remember virtually everything she experiences including detailed visual recall. She returns to police work and uses her ability to solve crimes.

Brilliant, but socially inept, forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperence Brennan works at the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington DC. After consulting for him on a FBI case, she is approached by cocky yet charming Former Army Ranger turned Special Agent, Seeley Booth to help the Bureau solve crimes by identifying human remains that are too far gone for standard FBI forensic investigations. Brennan's empirical, literal view of the world causes friction with Booths emotive, instinctive attitude creating a volatile relationship. However as their case load increases the symbiotic partnership produces results and with the support of Brennan's Squint Squad, murderers, past and present should be on the look out.

CBS's successful CSI franchise gets transplanted to the Big Apple. Cases involving sewer rats as witnesses, a victim whose head was slammed in a pizzeria oven, and murders of commodities traders, and--of course--a Red Sox fan. CSI: NY is a bleaker, grimmer version of its Las Vegas and Miami cousins. The team is made up of a pleasantly New Yawk but indistinct cast of characters. The teams leader Detective Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise), is a former Marine from Chicago. Mac is a veteran of the NYPD who lost his wife on 9/11, and as such must work to rebuild his personal life while supervising his team. He is organized, efficient, dedicated, and very proper in his management style. His second in command for the first 6 seasons is Detective Stella Bonasera (Melina Kanakaredes), Stella is half-Greek, half-Italian, and entirely New York City. She helped Mac through the impact of his wife's death and has been by his side ever since. She is a savvy investigator, yet she often speaks before she thinks. Stella leaves New York to head a crime lab in New Orleans and is replaced by Detective Jo Danville (Sela Ward). Jo is a former FBI criminalist and an experienced psychological profiler. She and Mac quickly form a strong friendship and an even stronger working rapport. Jo is still haunted by her ousting from the FBI after blowing the whistle on improper lab procedure, so she works to regain her professional reputation. Joining them is younger CSIs Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo), Aiden Burn (Vanessa Ferlito, who has since left the show), Aiden's replacement Lindsay Monroe (Anna Belknap) and medical examiner turned CSI Sheldon Hawkes (Hill Harper). Rounding out the cast is the teams legal muscle Homicide Detective Don Flack (Eddie Cahill), Medical Examiner Sid Hammerback, M.D. (Robert Joy) and lab tech Adam Ross (A. J. Buckley).

A homicide detective, a medical examiner, a newspaper reporter and a young assistant district attorney work together to solve homicide investigations.

Brilliant LAPD detective Charlie Crews has survived the extreme abuse befalling an innocent cop in prison, and was exonerated for the murders and released after 12 years of hell in jail. He could retire on his settlement, but chooses to resume police work. Nevertheless, the grim experience has made him more philosophical and tempted to put justice - especially for the innocent - above chasing the presumably guilty and legally by-the-book, as his new partner Dani Reese must experience and learn to cope with.

After the unsolved murder of his wife, Trudy, Adrian Monk develops obsessive-compulsive disorder, which includes his terror of germs and contamination. His condition costs him his job as a prominent homicide detective in the San Francisco Police Department, but he continues to solve crimes with the help of his assistant and his former boss.

Centers on Robert T. Ironside, a tough, sexy and acerbic police detective relegated to a wheelchair after a shooting who is hardly limited by his disability as he pushes and prods his hand-picked team to solve the most difficult cases.