Crime shows have made for some of the most popular and longest-lasting shows on TV. However, the average police procedural is also infamous for having some of the most laughable clichés in entertainment. Quite often, even people who don't know much about policing can spot the sillier aspects of a crime show. Some of these clichés make a certain amount of sense while others are just too absurd.
The use of these clichés certainly makes a well-known procedural formula work, but that doesn't protect them from good criticism. These clichés and tropes can sometimes make a series feel much less believable or make it difficult to take its characters seriously. They shouldn't be entirely abandoned, but some of these clichés should definitely be used much less.
10 Crime Follows The Characters
Although it's understandable that CSI technicians and police detectives would always be around murder at work, the same can't be said of spare time. One of the stranger aspects of some crime shows is that detectives find themselves surrounded by murder even while off the clock.
Detectives like Monk, Columbo, and Patrick Jane often find themselves in the middle of murder mysteries even while trying to enjoy a vacation. The idea of crime following the detectives rather than the other way around just seems silly and makes things like murder seem almost omnipresent.
9 Ridiculous Hacking
One of the most ridiculed TV clichés is how Hollywood depicts computer hacking. Rather than a slower and more methodical, relaxed scene in a series like Mr Robot, crime shows tend to depict hacking as the relentless smashing of buttons and lines of Matrix-style code.
Series like NCIS have had some especially absurd hacking scenes, with typical chaotic computer beeping and urgent yet random typing. For the average viewer, the scenes might be acceptable, but to viewers with better IT skills, the whole thing seems ridiculous.
8 People Still Doubt The Detective
Characters like Sherlock Holmes, Shawn Spencer, and Adrian Monk have rarely been proven wrong throughout their various TV series. Despite this fact, the best detectives on TV are still met with skepticism when they present theories on whether a murder took place.
What's strange about this is that in their shows, these characters develop a reputation for never being wrong. Considering this, it seems like a waste of time for characters to question them, much less after they've been working together for several years.
7 Every Crime Is A Gimmick
The decision to include gimmick-based crimes to keep the shows diverse and interesting makes sense. However, when every episode is its own unique gimmick, this can feel forced. These episodes break from the show's regular formula and end up being some of the least interesting on rewatch.
Having different crimes set around different hobbies, professions, and communities helps keep the show lively, but there's also a tendency to overdo it. Sometimes, these episodes feel more like a way for the showrunners to jump on a trend rather than tell a detective story.
6 "Consultants" Stick Around For Every Crime
From Castle to The Mentalist, many police shows follow people who aren't cops but bring a unique set of skills that make them good detectives. While it's impossible to carry these shows by diminishing the star actors, at the very least the other cops could solve more crimes themselves.
The result of this is it often makes the actual police officers seem incompetent in comparison, even other main characters. In fact, some episodes will center around the actual cops trying to get their groove back, but it just reminds viewers of how rarely they actually solve cases.
5 Guest Stars Are The Killers
Fans have been quick to note that guest stars in detective shows almost always end up being the killer. This completely removes the fun of fans who enjoy guessing whom the killer might be before the big reveal. However, if they spot a guest star, they immediately know.
There's almost a rule that the most recognizable actor in any given episode of a crime show is almost certain to be revealed as the killer. This has been true of shows like CSI, Bones, Hawaii Five-0, and Criminal Minds, with notable guest star killers like Tim Curry, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Arnold Volsoo.
4 Unprofessional Characters
From NCIS and CSI to Bones and Criminal Minds, every series has at least one overly quirky character—quirky to the degree of being unprofessional. In fact, some episodes have been centered on these characters' lack of professionalism getting them into trouble.
While having an eccentric colleague may not be the most unrealistic thing in the world, it can be hard to take those characters seriously. Often, they serve to bring comic relief to the story or work as the heart of the main cast. However, they can just as easily deflate any serious tension in the show.
3 Incompetence To Help The Characters
Many crime series love to do anything they can to exaggerate the competence of their stars. Unfortunately, this often leads to using characters written as so incompetent they require a great deal of suspension of disbelief. They also make otherwise serious shows harder to enjoy.
While this makes sense in overtly comedic shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, it's more ridiculous in more serious shows. The issue becomes even worse when shows will make entire departments seem inept, with shows about local cops making federal agents seem incompetent and vice versa.
2 Characters Finish Each Other's Sentences
While not a feature of every crime series, shows like Criminal Minds have a tendency to have characters deliver joint presentations as if rehearsed. Each character will deliver a couple of lines only for the next to take over. The whole thing feels unnecessary and makes the scene feel disjointed.
Many of these shows follow high-intensity cases, and it would make more sense for one person to lead the presentation at a time, rather than pre-scripted joint speeches. In real life, these types of presentations don't usually happen, and only one person is needed to explain a profile to others.
1 Ridiculous TV Cop Jargon
Whether it's the excessive use of terms like "perp" and "unsub" or the overuse of medical terminology to make the series sound smarter, little has been mocked as much as TV cop jargon. It isn't as much a question of the words but their frequency with them being jammed into every conversation.
Characters like Horatio Caine and Seely Booth are especially well known for using a combination of jargon and over-the-top puns. When shows ham it up, like CSI Miami, it helps make the series memorable. More often than not, though, it's just laughed off as silly.