5 Best Detective TV Shows Nobody Talks About Anymore
By Zach LawsJuly 5, 2026 8:18 am EST
Who doesn’t love a good detective TV show? From “Dragnet” to “Colombo” to “Monk,” audiences can’t get enough of a gumshoe solving crimes with wit, intelligence, and eccentricity. Our fascination with detectives goes back before the invention of the small screen, with literary sleuths like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot (both of whom have been brought to life multiple times on film and television). It doesn’t take a Philip Marlowe to understand why: mysteries are by their very nature intriguing, and it’s exciting to watch someone uncover the truth.
Be we might need a world class slueth to figure out why so many great detective TV shows have been seemingly lost to time. The most famous examples have endured for decades, and some hold up even better than their reboots. But there are just as many that are so forgotten no one has bothered to remake them
Here are the five best detective TV shows nobody talks about anymore. In assembling this list, we looked to shows that have been forgotten for reasons that have nothing to do with quality and everything to do with outside circumstances. Perhaps they star an actor who was more famous for another show, or suffered in later seasons from the departure of an actor, or lost relevance because the people behind it moved onto bigger, better things. Whatever the reason, each of these shows are hidden gems just waiting to be rediscovered. It might take a little investigating, but you can track these down on streaming.
Barnaby Jones
CBS
Because he was most famous for playing Jed Clampett on “The Beverly Hillbillies,” people often forget Buddy Ebsen starred on another long-running series, “Barnaby Jones.” One of five classic ’70s detective shows that still hold up today, the CBS series showed off Ebsen’s more dramatic side, albeit in a way that was just as charming and lovable as his famed hillbilly. Despite running for eight seasons, few people today have probably even heard of it, although you can easily catch up with it on streaming.
Ebsen plays Barnaby, a former Los Angeles private detective whose son, Hal (Robert Patten), followed him into the family business. When the younger Jones is murdered while working on a case, his dad comes out of retirement to find the killer. Rediscovering his love for the job, Barnaby decides to go back to work full time with his widowed daughter-in-law, Betty (Lee Meriwether). By season five, Barnaby’s first cousin, J.R. (Mark Shera), arrives from Chicago to investigate his father’s death and decides to stick around for good.
“Barnaby Jones” aired from 1973 to 1980, and towards the end of its run, Ebsen took on a smaller role as he looked towards his own retirement. Later seasons suffer from his diminished screen time, with the episodes primarily focusing on Meriwether and Shera. But those early seasons are truly special thanks to Ebsen’s twinkling eye and easy smile. “Barnaby Jones” earned two Emmy nominations throughout its run, including one for Meriwether as best supporting actress in a drama series
Ironside
Martin Mills/Getty Images
When most people think of Raymond Burr, their mind immediately goes to “Perry Mason” (one of five TV shows to watch if you like “Sugar”). That series was a pioneer in the courtroom drama, which centered on a criminal-defense attorney who acted almost like an investigator as he tried to prove his clients innocence. It’s perhaps for that reason that his other long-running crime drama, “Ironside,” isn’t as well remembered, but that doesn’t mean it’s not (almost) just as good
Robert T. Ironside (Burr), aka Chief Ironside, worked as chief of detectives for the San Francisco police department for 25 years before a gunshot left him paralyzed from the waist down. Although he’s in wheelchair, Ironside refuses to let his disability force him into retirement. Instead, he convinces Police Commissioner Dennis Randall (Gene Lyons), to make him a special department consultant. After tracking down his would-be assassin, Ironside sets up his own task force with Detective Sergeant Ed Brown (Don Galloway) and Officer Eve Whitfield (Barbara Anderson), solving crimes with his brains and know-how.
“Ironside” premiered as a TV movie in 1967, then aired for eight seasons on NBC. During its run, it won two Emmys, including one for Anderson in best supporting actress in a drama series, and earned Burr five bids as best lead actor. It also features an early appearance by a young Harrison Ford before he starred in his best movies, which should give you extra incentive to check it out
McMillan & Wife
NBC
Because “Colombo” is regarded as one of the ’70s TV shows that laid the groundwork for prestige TV, people don’t often realize that it originally aired as one of many rotating programs on what was known as “The NBC Mystery Movie.” Initially, there were two other shows that aired alongside it as one of the original “wheel series”: “McCloud,” which became the subject of a running gag on some of the best episodes of “Mystery Science Theater,” and “McMillan & Wife,” which holds up pretty well
Rock Hudson stars as Stuart “Mac” McMillan, a former criminal defense attorney who’s been newly elected as San Francisco’s police commissioner. His wife, Sally (Susan Saint James), often drags him to chic social events, where they inevitably end up investigating robberies and murders. The pair are assisted in their investigations by Mac’s right-hand man, Sergeant Charles Enright (John Schuck), as well as their drunken, tough-talking maid, Mildred (Nancy Walker)
Like the other shows in the Mystery Wheel, “McMillan & Wife” only ran a handful of times each year, and between 1971 to 1977 it aired 40 episodes over six seasons. It’s probably for the best, considering its high concept might’ve stretched credulity after a while. By the end, the show was retooled as just “McMillan,” as both Saint James and Walker left after season five, depriving it of its “Thin Man”-esque charm. The show racked up seven Emmy nominations throughout its run, including lead and supporting actress in a drama series bids for Saint James and Walker, respectively.
Peter Gunn
NBC
Blake Edwards was a pioneering comedy director, from the “Pink Panther” series to his late-career masterworks “10,” “S.O.B.,” and “Victor/Victoria” (which provided his wife, Julie Andrews, with one of her best movie roles). Before that, he created the TV detective series “Peter Gunn,” which he also wrote and sometimes directed. Today, it’s best remembered for Henri Mancini’s iconic main title theme, which earned Emmy and Grammy nominations and was featured prominently in “The Blues Brothers.” But that discounts the shows many other qualities.
Unlike most TV gumshoes, Peter Gunn (Craig Stevens) is a smooth operator, known for his expensive suits, impeccably groomed hair, and sophisticated tastes. Gunn likes to operate out of a jazz club called Mother’s, where he can visit his lounge singer girlfriend, Edie Hart (Lola Albright) and hang out with the owner (Hope Emerson). Peter is so good at rounding up guilty parties that he’s often brought in by jaded police Lieutenant Jacoby (Herschel Bernardi) to assist with cases
Looking at the show today, which ran for three seasons and earned eight Emmy bids between 1958 and 1961, you can see many of the stylistic techniques and thematic motifs that would characterize the best Blake Edwards films, which also include “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” and “Experiment in Terror.” In many ways, “Peter Gunn” encompasses everything that made those films so distinct and special, from “Tiffany'”s chic style to “Roses”‘s humanistic characterizations to “Terror”‘s noir aesthetic. Edwards returned to the series with the 1967 feature film “Gunn” and again with the 1989 TV Movie “Peter Gunn.”
The Streets of San Francisco
Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Today, “The Streets of San Francisco” is best remembered as the show that made Michael Douglas a household name. Because he didn’t have another starring role on a long-running series after that until “The Kominsky Method” (one of Chuck Lorre’s best TV shows), it can be easy to forget that Douglas was initially a TV star, and easier still to forget about his big break. That’s a shame, because the ABC series helped lay the groundwork for the best cop shows of all time
As the title would suggest, the show takes place of the streets of San Francisco, where a widowed veteran cop, Lieutenant Michael Stone (Karl Malden), is re-assigned to the homicide division. He’s partnered with the younger Inspector Steve Keller (Douglas), who makes up for his lack of experience with an energetic approach. Throughout their time together, a father-son dynamic develops between the two, adding a heightened emotional tension to the series
Airing for five seasons between 1972-1977, “The Streets of San Francisco” was a gritty, true-to-life cop drama that predated “Hill Street Blues,” “Homicide: Life on the Street,” and “NYPD Blue.” It earned 16 Emmy nominations, including lead and supporting actor in a drama series nominations for Malden and Douglas, respectively. Douglas left the show after season four, having won an Oscar for producing “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” ahead of a successful movie career. He was replaced with Richard Hatch as Inspector Dan Robbins, who failed to replicate the magic with Malden that made the show a hit.
