Shows to watch

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.

NCIS: New Orleans is a drama about the local field office that investigates criminal cases involving military personnel in The Big Easy, a city known for its music, entertainment, and decadence. Leading the team is Special Agent Dwayne Pride, a.k.a. "King," a native of New Orleans who is driven by his need to do what is right. Working with Pride is his longtime friend and colleague Special Agent Christopher Lasalle, who plays hard but works harder; tough and acerbic Special Agent Tammy Gregorio, a former FBI Agent who was sent to New Orleans to investigate NCIS and upon completion joined Pride's team, Forensic Agent Sebastian Lund, a brilliant scientist who left the lab and, after much training, became an agent; and Special Agent Hannah Khoury, a seasoned agent who specializes in international counter-intelligence and has spent most of her career on overseas assignments. Supporting them is coroner Dr. Loretta Wade, who is as eccentric as she is smart, and Investigative Computer Specialist Patton Plame, an animated and talented hacker. This colorful city that harbors a dark side is a magnet for service personnel on leave, and when overindulgence is followed by trouble, Pride's team is at its best.

An L.A. prosecutor moves to Washington after losing a high-profile double murder case, but when the killer strikes again, she returns to seek justice under her own terms.

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.

Special agent Avery Ryan works to solve crimes as a CyberPsychologist for the FBI.

This show centers on the NYPD's Major Case Squad (and the offbeat, Sherlock Holmes-like Detective Robert Goren) in its efforts to stop the worst criminal offenders in New York. It also puts a new twist to the "Law & Order" formula: now, in each episode, we see the crimes as they are planned and committed.

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.

In this legal drama, Andy Griffith plays Ben Matlock, a criminal-defense lawyer based in Atlanta. Matlock typically identifies and confronts the perpetrator in a dramatic courtroom scene. His goal, most often, is to prove reasonable doubt of his client's guilt. Rumor suggests that the character is based on lawyer Bobby Lee Cook, Georgia's colorful "dean of criminal-defense attorneys."

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.

The best private pathologist in Miami, Dr. Beaumont Rosewood, Jr., whose rare heart condition that could kill him at any moment fuels his lust for life, gives a second opinion when friends or family of the deceased are not satisfied with official police findings. His state-of-the-art laboratory equipment, Sherlock Holmes-like powers of deduction and quick wit are his main tools. He also relies and depends on his trusty assistants and cute couple, Pippy and TMI, and works with no-nonsense detective Annalise Villa, who doesn't always go strictly by the book, to see the case to its conclusion.

Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, formerly Atlanta police officer and CIA-trained interrogator, is given the opportunity to run her own division of elite officers of the Los Angeles Police Department. Her unusual procedure for obtaining confessions, blatant disregard for politics, and southern accent make her a marked woman. However, with all the bluster and bravado, she still maintains her title, The Closer.

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

Having lost her medical license in the aftermath of a family tragedy, Megan Hunt M.D. joined the medical examiners and proved herself a forensic genius. Yet even diplomatic Medico-legal Investigator Pete Dunlop can't prevent her arrogant attitude and total disregard for any authority or social norm to cause grave aggravation all around. Still, as long as the perpetrators suffer most, the bulldozer approach pays off on the balance.

In sultry Charleston, where summer is long and secrets simmer behind every door, sex and crime walk hand in hand as two adversaries, a gorgeous Yankee litigator and a southern City Attorney, struggle to hide their intense attraction while clashing over a police sex scandal that threatens to implode the city.

A New York City homicide Detective cracks case after case while raising wild twin boys and locking horns with her less than helpful Police Detective ex-husband.

This "Closer" spinoff follows cases handled by the Major Crimes division of the LA Police Department. The 7-member team is headed by Capt. Sharon Raydor, whose intellectual smarts combined with a calm, even temperament help a team of experts solve high-profile murder cases. In addition to running the show, Raydor helps guide and protect her teenage charge, a witness in a horrific crime, who finds a safe refuge among members of the major-case squad.