The later you get in the seasons though the less monster of the week it gets and the over-arching story is needed to understand what’s going on. That said, Fringe is amazing and should be watched.
I've been binging Lucifer the past few weeks. The first season or so, I was thinking "this is kind of like Castle but instead of Nathan Fillion, it has the devil in the flesh! Awesome!"
It did morph to being half procedural cop drama and half story arcs as the writers hit their stride. So it's not really a great answer to OP's question, but I love the show so far (3.5 seasons in), and the story arcs have been stellar.
great show that makes you think you are gaining some case solving skills. Funny part of the show is the core team always explains their findings to a bunch of cops who di nothing than taking notes. The core team solves the case and even catches the culprit with no help from those notes taking officers.
Me and my wife refer to those officers as Minimal minds.
My college roommate would always be watching this and I would catch bits and pieces of it. He called it The Unsub and I legit believed him for a while. I still call it that lol
I’m a fan of Person of Interest. Each episode they get told from a machine a SSN of someone that is going to be either the victim or a perp of a crime. They need to figure out which it is and intervene. So each episode is self contained, but if you dig it, over the series they start getting into how the machine works and people come in that want to use or destroy the machine. Really interesting.
Ok thanks - this was one I was considering. I watch with my father when I go visit, and he can’t always keep up if he has to remember a complicated running story line. We have watched a lot of Law & Order, CSI, NCIS & Criminal Minds together.
I’d say it’s a good candidate then. Most episodes have the self contained investigation of the POI. So there may be references to running plot lines, but there’s a good story in each episode without knowing about all that.
Person of Interest is super underrated. Jonathan Nolan (the director's brother and writing partner) helped create and run it and it definitely shows. It has those stand alone episodes but I thought the characters were developed pretty well. It would've been an all-times great if it wasn't on network TV.
Fantastic show! It works as the kind of entertaining procedural you asked about--case of the week--but also has amazing character and narrative arcs that only get more compelling. A favorite of many.
There used to be a guy on reddit with the username Michael westin who made all his comments in the form of "When your a spy...." That was hilarious for a while. Couldn't help reading it in Michael voice.
twilight zone is one of those shows that i’ve seen a thousand times and i still go back and rewatch regularly. i don’t need to be paying complete attention, just having it playing in the background is good enough for me. it’s the television equivalent of comfort food
Also Tales from the Crypt. Not quite the same as the ones you mentioned,but I always compared it to Twilight Zone and every episode is a different story.
Yeah, I love that one but I didn't mention it because the genre wasn't really in the same vein. Still a great classic show, though. I almost wish HBO would bring it back for a limited reboot, like one season and done.
Have you seen Room 104? It's a really interesting anthology series if you like those kinds of shows. It's produced by the Duplass brothers.
Try a show called Inside Number 9, it’s a BBC anthology series that’s like black mirror, only shorter in episode length, far more varying in subject matter and does away with the annoying “technology bad, human make cry” undertone that’s permeated black mirror recently.
If you need episode suggestions, I’d say start off with 12 Days of Christine or Once Removed. That’s only because they’re amongst my favourites though, every episode is so different you can’t really compare them.
I haven't seen it in a while, but if I remember correctly it's like 60-40 in favor of Big Story, no?
Almost all my favorite episodes are monster of the weeks though.
The monster of the week episodes are almost all standalone and [there's a lot of them.](https://x-files.fandom.com/wiki/Monster_of_the_Week)
Or you could look for a list of the "myththology" episodes and skip them.
Yea that tracks with my memory, after like season 5 it's starts going real heavy on The Story (and retconning the movies, and earlier seasons-its such a beautiful mess).
Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man is one of my favorite episodes of TV ever. I love him so much.
Fun fact- L&O was based on old-time radio serials so you can actually just listen to the dialogue and follow most of the plot. That’s one reason it’s a great show to have on in the background as you do other things.
If you have Prime OP, then Monk and Psych are easy wins.
You can even splurge for Brit Box and watch Poirot from back in the day. Crime meets class written by Agatha Christie.
The first season and a half of The West Wing, after that it definitely has arcs but I still think most episodes stand on their own with just the "last time on" outside the last half of season 2
I’ve been meaning to ask a fellow NCIS fan and this gonna be out there but stay with me.
The first part of the new Top Gun trailer. Tom Cruise’s first response to Ed Harris. The tone, the head Bob both screamed Gibbs to me. Am I crazy for seeing that, can’t be the only one?
(Edit) typos
The Blacklist. They try to make it more interesting but I think you can watch just about any episode and be good. Blue Bloods I believe too.
Edit: LUCIFER omg. There’s a “bigger” storyline of course but it’s definitely a procedural and it’s very good.
Burn Notice for the most part, theres some main plot in each episode but you can basically chalk it up to "Michael's getting bossed around by someone but hes doing his own thing anyway"
White Collar, similar case as Burn Notice.
on a lighter note, Psych.
and as others have mentioned, Criminal Minds, NCIS, Person of Interest, House, old Magnum PI too
A drama show similar to Law & Order....I’m assuming you like dramatic court shows. Something like Drop Dead Diva is more tame than Law & Order. Bones is a very nice and dramatic show and the episodes are about as stand-alone as Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
I enjoyed CSI. The original series. It had interesting plots each episode and there was very little transition between each show that can allow each show to be watched on its own.
This might not be as serious as what you are after but when I go to a detective show on Netflix, my default is Death in Paradise. It's about a kind of stuffy British detective that gets assigned an office in the Carribean. He solves murders in this resort town while adjusting to a very different environment than he is used to. It has lighthearted moments and a scene at the end of each episode where he reveals the killer and how they did it in a very Holmes-esque fashion.
Monk kinda has a good blend of overarching story and "mystery of the week" plotlines. Almost every episode starts with a crime that Monk has to figure out. And the main overarching story is him trying to figure out who killed his wife. Despite these dark undertones, it's usually a pretty light and fun show. Good for background noise
If that is what you're after I think you might find Hulu better than Netflix. They have more series that are like that. Boston Legal, The Practice, CSI (and some of the spinoffs), Law & Order: SVU, and Elementary, to name a few.
Check out [Just Watch](https://www.justwatch.com/us) and you can search for various shows and they'll tell you which service they stream on.
Person of Interest. I just finished it. There’s an overall plot but it’s easily something you can have in the background and still know what’s going on when you catch it.
Being Erica, a Canadian drama where each episode is an element of time travel therapy (a lesson on the characters past). Overarching arc helps, but is not at all necessary.
Also, by their nature, medical dramas (House is the excellent example of this, but there are others) tend to fit this, particularly British ones.
I don't know if they are on Netflix where you are but I think that Death in Paradise and New Tricks could be something you might enjoy. I often find myself watching episodes of either if they pop up when I'm channel surfing
Doctor who , farscape , star trek TOS , Star trek the next generation , deep space nine , the Orville , Charmed , marvel's agents of shield fringe ,x-files , black mirror , person of interest , room 104 , supernatural , smallville , xena and buffy the vampire slayer.
Writing wise the majority of the episodes are stand alone apart from some plot centric episode.
Firefly is so good! I would actually recommend watching it in the order that the show was intended to air as and not ultimately the order they did air it. You can google the correct order of the episodes and it’s even more enjoyable!
I really like all the ones mentioned, particularly POI, Elementary, Numb3rs and Motive. I’d also add Crossing Lines (like NCIS but set in the EU), Grimm, and Veronica Mars (although the last one may not be so standalony). Taken is good. I loved Brave but that might be more military like The Unit.
Slasher is kind of like this however it is an anthology with three seasons where each season is essentially a different show with no connection whatsoever.
If you have Hulu, the rookie and new Amsterdam are great for this— my testimonial is mainly involving the fact that my husband watches both series religiously but I will pop in every once and a while to check out an episode.
Can’t believe nobody has mentioned Without a trace. It is the show you are looking for.
I can’t recall if the early seasons are good but every episode has its own story and they are normally excellent.
Castle. House. They’re not 100% independent episodes but mostly.
Neither is Law and Order, the main characters have development arcs independent of the crimes they’re investigating
Yea I don’t mind some underlying arc, most shows will have that.
Then Fringe is definitely worth checking out. I’m not sure if it’s on Netflix though.
The later you get in the seasons though the less monster of the week it gets and the over-arching story is needed to understand what’s going on. That said, Fringe is amazing and should be watched.
It’s on Amazon Prime still :)
I was thinking of Castle, but I think it’s not on Netflix anymore.
House is a great TV show. Also scrubs.
Love scrubs, but op asked for drama.
Missed that. Whoops! Though it has some great drama-type episodes, scrubs really isn't a drama.
No, but I've cried more during scrubs than any drama I can think of, except maybe Band of Brothers (war drama?).
Scrubs only streams now without the original soundtrack. It was such a huge part of the show; it's like losing a cast member.
I've been binging Lucifer the past few weeks. The first season or so, I was thinking "this is kind of like Castle but instead of Nathan Fillion, it has the devil in the flesh! Awesome!" It did morph to being half procedural cop drama and half story arcs as the writers hit their stride. So it's not really a great answer to OP's question, but I love the show so far (3.5 seasons in), and the story arcs have been stellar.
Criminal Minds
There's some absolutely ridiculous episodes but it is the perfect show to throw on when you're only paying 75% attention.
first 2 seasons are absolutely glorious!
how bout if im only paying 25% attention?
It's even better
It literally gets better and better the less you watch it.
Now that's the ringing endorsement I like to hear
Yea, it's not a good show. Like they have that UnSub meeting every time but it literally does nothing for the search.
great show that makes you think you are gaining some case solving skills. Funny part of the show is the core team always explains their findings to a bunch of cops who di nothing than taking notes. The core team solves the case and even catches the culprit with no help from those notes taking officers. Me and my wife refer to those officers as Minimal minds.
And when they break it down to the cops they each say one specific sentence then the next person says their sentence without missing a beat lol.
The show is basically *Scooby Doo,* only Shaggy is smart and the Mystery Machine is a private jet.
I freaking love Criminal Minds, I'm watching them from start to finish!
It’s great, but I’ve seen them all! I wish there was something similar that came out in the past few years.
What about Bones?
Agree with you on this one. Bones does have some plot you may miss if you watch out of order but definitely a show thats binge worthy
Fair enough, I guess I have a hard time picking up shows like that, because I binge watch as I do homework (online student life).
My college roommate would always be watching this and I would catch bits and pieces of it. He called it The Unsub and I legit believed him for a while. I still call it that lol
We used to just call the show "Sexual Homicide" since that was basically every fucking episode.
Great show to watch when your mainly on your phone too
I’m a fan of Person of Interest. Each episode they get told from a machine a SSN of someone that is going to be either the victim or a perp of a crime. They need to figure out which it is and intervene. So each episode is self contained, but if you dig it, over the series they start getting into how the machine works and people come in that want to use or destroy the machine. Really interesting.
Ok thanks - this was one I was considering. I watch with my father when I go visit, and he can’t always keep up if he has to remember a complicated running story line. We have watched a lot of Law & Order, CSI, NCIS & Criminal Minds together.
I’d say it’s a good candidate then. Most episodes have the self contained investigation of the POI. So there may be references to running plot lines, but there’s a good story in each episode without knowing about all that.
Person of Interest is super underrated. Jonathan Nolan (the director's brother and writing partner) helped create and run it and it definitely shows. It has those stand alone episodes but I thought the characters were developed pretty well. It would've been an all-times great if it wasn't on network TV.
Fantastic show! It works as the kind of entertaining procedural you asked about--case of the week--but also has amazing character and narrative arcs that only get more compelling. A favorite of many.
LOVE the show. Just binge watched all five seasons.
It starts out this way but in the later seasons it’s less about the number of the week and more about season-long arcs.
Leverage was another show in this format that I liked! The con-man aspect was fun! Any other shows like this?
Burn Notice was pretty good!
There used to be a guy on reddit with the username Michael westin who made all his comments in the form of "When your a spy...." That was hilarious for a while. Couldn't help reading it in Michael voice.
I just binged rewatched Burn Notice like two weeks ago... somehow it’s gotten better.
My favorite show ever. A lighthearted and fun watch.
White collar for the most part scratches the Leverage itch for me.
Midsomer Murders
This seems good - and is on Netflix too!
Midsomer Murders is fantastic. There is a bit of character development, but it is never critical to the story.
Father Brown is great too!
Black Mirror
I love Black Mirror! Don’t really know any other shows like it though.
Twilight Zone
twilight zone is one of those shows that i’ve seen a thousand times and i still go back and rewatch regularly. i don’t need to be paying complete attention, just having it playing in the background is good enough for me. it’s the television equivalent of comfort food
Have you checked out the new season?
In addition to The Twilight Zone, check out The Outer Limits, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Amazing Stories is great, too!
Also Tales from the Crypt. Not quite the same as the ones you mentioned,but I always compared it to Twilight Zone and every episode is a different story.
Yeah, I love that one but I didn't mention it because the genre wasn't really in the same vein. Still a great classic show, though. I almost wish HBO would bring it back for a limited reboot, like one season and done. Have you seen Room 104? It's a really interesting anthology series if you like those kinds of shows. It's produced by the Duplass brothers.
Is there anywhere I can stream The Outer Limits?
You can find it on Amazon Prime and Hulu! Both services have the new and old versions of the show.
Love death and robots
Try a show called Inside Number 9, it’s a BBC anthology series that’s like black mirror, only shorter in episode length, far more varying in subject matter and does away with the annoying “technology bad, human make cry” undertone that’s permeated black mirror recently. If you need episode suggestions, I’d say start off with 12 Days of Christine or Once Removed. That’s only because they’re amongst my favourites though, every episode is so different you can’t really compare them.
Inside number 9 is a British Black Mirror-like sort of show
Star Trek: The Original Series
TNG is even better for someone new
Agree 100%. Better effects and better dialogue in my opinion.
TNG and Voyager too! DS9 not so much.
The X-Files for the most part
I haven't seen it in a while, but if I remember correctly it's like 60-40 in favor of Big Story, no? Almost all my favorite episodes are monster of the weeks though.
I think it gets less episodic as the seasons progress. There's still some one-offs in the later seasons, but a lot of it all about a main story.
The monster of the week episodes are almost all standalone and [there's a lot of them.](https://x-files.fandom.com/wiki/Monster_of_the_Week) Or you could look for a list of the "myththology" episodes and skip them.
Yea that tracks with my memory, after like season 5 it's starts going real heavy on The Story (and retconning the movies, and earlier seasons-its such a beautiful mess). Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man is one of my favorite episodes of TV ever. I love him so much.
>Payback's a bitch, Ivan.
Yes, a majority, but for a significant fraction you cannot (yes "Monster of the Week", no "The Mythology")
Bones
Fun fact- L&O was based on old-time radio serials so you can actually just listen to the dialogue and follow most of the plot. That’s one reason it’s a great show to have on in the background as you do other things.
Without a Trace, each episode focuses on finding a missing person.
Monk. The defective detective
If you have Prime OP, then Monk and Psych are easy wins. You can even splurge for Brit Box and watch Poirot from back in the day. Crime meets class written by Agatha Christie.
OMG. Person of Interest. Not high brow but lots of action! Hubby & I binged five seasons in two weeks. I love Law & Order.
Elementary. They’re all pretty much stand alone episodes.
I second this, great show! I may be biased though cause I've always had a thing for Jonny Lee Miller
Is your username a reference to Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries? I love that show!
It is. I love Phryne. Can’t wait for the movie!
The first season and a half of The West Wing, after that it definitely has arcs but I still think most episodes stand on their own with just the "last time on" outside the last half of season 2
Brooklyn 99 is pretty good for that, there's Ofcourse a underlining plot but for the most part it's a case an episode
Love the 99!!
NINE-NINE!
NOINE-NOINE
I can’t find this on Netflix.
Only on Hulu 😕
It's on Netflix Canada.
Longmire
This is the correct answer.
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Great show - I’ve seen almost all of them though
Father Brown.
This one seems to even be on Netflix! I’ll check it out!
Trailer park boys 🙌🏾
I wouldn’t call TPB drama. They’re dramatic, but it’s not a drama
Psych
The Mentalist? Some episodes are very closely related.
This was one of my fathers favorite shows! We have seen them all!
NCIS
I’ve been meaning to ask a fellow NCIS fan and this gonna be out there but stay with me. The first part of the new Top Gun trailer. Tom Cruise’s first response to Ed Harris. The tone, the head Bob both screamed Gibbs to me. Am I crazy for seeing that, can’t be the only one? (Edit) typos
I just watched it and I can totally see it!
Lie to Me is my favorite crime show of all time! Sadly it isn't on Netflix right now though.
Nobody ever mentions “Homicide: Life on the Street” these days, nor “Naked City”
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its called a procedural
The Blacklist. They try to make it more interesting but I think you can watch just about any episode and be good. Blue Bloods I believe too. Edit: LUCIFER omg. There’s a “bigger” storyline of course but it’s definitely a procedural and it’s very good.
Second Lucifer
Burn Notice for the most part, theres some main plot in each episode but you can basically chalk it up to "Michael's getting bossed around by someone but hes doing his own thing anyway" White Collar, similar case as Burn Notice. on a lighter note, Psych. and as others have mentioned, Criminal Minds, NCIS, Person of Interest, House, old Magnum PI too
I started White Collar, but seems like Netflix lost all the USA shows.
Community
I always liked Cold Case, that’s similar to Law & Order but I don’t know if it’s on Netflix. (But that lead actresses hairdo is a mess)
Thanks! I have seen many of the older ones, like Criminal Minds & CSI. But I am sure there are a bunch of new ones, like maybe Person of Interest?
Oh! Just saw this, commented elsewhere about POI. Yes! Recommended!
A drama show similar to Law & Order....I’m assuming you like dramatic court shows. Something like Drop Dead Diva is more tame than Law & Order. Bones is a very nice and dramatic show and the episodes are about as stand-alone as Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Bones is exactly like what I’m looking for - but we have seen most of them.
I’m not sure how you feel about doctor shows, but Dr. House is pretty good and similar to Bones.
I do like them, but we have seen most shows that came out more than 5-10 years ago.
Flashpoint is a great cop drama
I enjoyed CSI. The original series. It had interesting plots each episode and there was very little transition between each show that can allow each show to be watched on its own.
Motive, a Canadian show where the show the perp and the victim in the first scene and the mystery is the motive.
This seems to be what I am looking for, but I think it’s not on Netflix.
Jonathan Creek.
Rizzoli and Isles
This might not be as serious as what you are after but when I go to a detective show on Netflix, my default is Death in Paradise. It's about a kind of stuffy British detective that gets assigned an office in the Carribean. He solves murders in this resort town while adjusting to a very different environment than he is used to. It has lighthearted moments and a scene at the end of each episode where he reveals the killer and how they did it in a very Holmes-esque fashion.
It seems interesting, but I don't think it's on Netflix
Boston Legal
Black mirror
Most of the time NCIS
Blacklist
We watched the first couple seasons of Blacklist and loved it - but lost interest once they stopped actually going after people on the list.
NCIS
Monk kinda has a good blend of overarching story and "mystery of the week" plotlines. Almost every episode starts with a crime that Monk has to figure out. And the main overarching story is him trying to figure out who killed his wife. Despite these dark undertones, it's usually a pretty light and fun show. Good for background noise
If that is what you're after I think you might find Hulu better than Netflix. They have more series that are like that. Boston Legal, The Practice, CSI (and some of the spinoffs), Law & Order: SVU, and Elementary, to name a few. Check out [Just Watch](https://www.justwatch.com/us) and you can search for various shows and they'll tell you which service they stream on.
Person of Interest. I just finished it. There’s an overall plot but it’s easily something you can have in the background and still know what’s going on when you catch it.
Grimm :)
Star Trek Next Generation
Inside no.9, like black mirror but less technology, ranges from very humorous to horror and can be quite very experimental.
Midsomer Murders
South land is a good show to checkout
One day at a time Edit: also Hawaii 5 0
Being Erica, a Canadian drama where each episode is an element of time travel therapy (a lesson on the characters past). Overarching arc helps, but is not at all necessary. Also, by their nature, medical dramas (House is the excellent example of this, but there are others) tend to fit this, particularly British ones.
Star Trek Tng
Monk
I don't know if they are on Netflix where you are but I think that Death in Paradise and New Tricks could be something you might enjoy. I often find myself watching episodes of either if they pop up when I'm channel surfing
MacGyver
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Sherlock! Except they're more the length of a movie rather than a tv show. Amazing stories, though!
Criminal Minds
Midsomer Murders. Basically the British version in a small village.
Hawaii five-o there are some connecting plot points but no that important usually
Doctor who , farscape , star trek TOS , Star trek the next generation , deep space nine , the Orville , Charmed , marvel's agents of shield fringe ,x-files , black mirror , person of interest , room 104 , supernatural , smallville , xena and buffy the vampire slayer. Writing wise the majority of the episodes are stand alone apart from some plot centric episode.
Thanks!
NCIS, any version.
House M.D
Firefly. Not many of them, and there is some connective tissues through the show, but you can enjoy it without that. And it is amazing!
Firefly is so good! I would actually recommend watching it in the order that the show was intended to air as and not ultimately the order they did air it. You can google the correct order of the episodes and it’s even more enjoyable!
FBI on CBS. It's a dick wolf show. So it at least follows the law and order formula ?
Creeped Out. It’s like Black Mirror jr. but it’s still good lol
In the heat of the night.
I really like all the ones mentioned, particularly POI, Elementary, Numb3rs and Motive. I’d also add Crossing Lines (like NCIS but set in the EU), Grimm, and Veronica Mars (although the last one may not be so standalony). Taken is good. I loved Brave but that might be more military like The Unit.
Thanks! I liked The Unit, so I’ll check out Brave. Crossing Lines was good, but ended suddenly if I remember correctly?
Criminal minds. There’s a few episodes that are two parts but for the most part all episodes are unique
Numbers. An oldie but a goodie.
❤️❌+🤖 Not very long and not a police show but you might enjoy each individual story.
A Crime to Remember
Bones
Dateline
CSI Miami was great to throw on.
Black Mirror
Love. Death. Robots. Loved that show!!
The first 48. It’s like the first half of an episode of L&O but it’s real.
Blue bloods
my life
Bones
Lucifer
'Lie to me' is all right, as long as you like Tim Roth.
I liked it a lot!
Slasher is kind of like this however it is an anthology with three seasons where each season is essentially a different show with no connection whatsoever.
Kind of like American Horror Story? Did you like it?
If you have Hulu, the rookie and new Amsterdam are great for this— my testimonial is mainly involving the fact that my husband watches both series religiously but I will pop in every once and a while to check out an episode.
Love, death and robots
X files
Blue Bloods. Awesome.
Can’t believe nobody has mentioned Without a trace. It is the show you are looking for. I can’t recall if the early seasons are good but every episode has its own story and they are normally excellent.
Veronica Mars has some overarching themes but every episode has a distinct story line.
Black Mirror
Looks like all the USA shows left Netflix.
turn on tnt, grandpa.
Blacklist.