5 Great Blue Bloods-ish Shows While We're Waiting for Season 14
We’ve all rewatched Blue Bloods several times over while waiting for the next season, and to avoid making ourselves dizzy with another binge, we compiled a list of similar shows.
5. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit ( 1999–Now)
While Law & Order has always been an incredibly popular series, SVU managed to surpass it in every single way. This spin-off show focuses on solving sex-related crimes, and yes — it can be mentally taxing at times. But the stories it tells, both inspired by real-life events or completely fictional, are worth every tear you shed.
Law & Order: SVU has two dozen seasons (!) by now, so if you’ve somehow never watched it, by all means, do. The compelling law enforcement team, the interesting and often heartbreaking cases, and the great overarching storylines will make this series totally worth your while, even if everyone doesn’t share the same last name.
4. Chicago P.D. (2014–Now)
We know what you might be thinking: how dare we even suggest you watch the archnemesis show of Blue Bloods while waiting for the Reagans to come back? Truth be told, our reasoning here is simple — it’s a great and well-made police procedural that deserves your time. Also, this rivalry has always been pointless.
Part of Dick Wolf’s One Chicago franchise, Chicago P.D. is one of the best shows in the genre, and it only becomes better if you watch it together with the other One Chicago shows. Blue Bloods doesn’t exactly boast many crossovers, but here, you’ll be surprised by the sheer excitement you feel when your favorite characters meet.
3. NCIS ( 2003–Now)
Stepping away from the common police force, how about joining the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in their adventures? With a focus on the military police, the NCIS series is one of the most popular shows in the world, and it has a metric ton of equally popular and beloved spin-offs set in different regions or states of the US.
Once you join the NCIS hype train, you won’t be out of content any time soon. For months or even years, you’ll always have new stories to come back home to, whether they’ll be set in LA or Hawaii. Hell, there’s even an Australia-based spin-off! Don’t worry about running out: thousands of hours of watch time are waiting for you.
2. The Wire (2002-2008)
When it comes to police procedurals, they often make the same mistake: they tend to dehumanize suspects and criminals to some degree. Even Blue Bloods often sees Danny get carried away, expecting you to forget that the person in front of him is a living human, too. Well, The Wire certainly doesn’t make that mistake in the slightest.
Famous as one of the best police shows to have ever police-shown, The Wire makes sure to focus not only on the law enforcement officers but on the “bad guys,” as well. Coupled with fantastic performances from the show’s cast and the gritty and dark atmosphere of the show, it makes The Wire an exceptional show and a must-watch.
1. The Shield (2002–2008)
If even The Wire didn’t tickle your dark senses enough, enter The Shield. The only show on our list that doesn’t take place in a real-life location, The Shield creates a fictional area of Los Angeles called The Farm that’s plagued with criminal activity and an immensely grim atmosphere. That place is no Manhattan, that’s for sure.
The Strike team — the local law enforces — are also incredibly far from the law. They don’t care for legal issues or even basic humanism and drag criminals to their base of operations where the Strike team employs brutal and unhinged methods of getting to the bottom of things. These fellows will spill a lot of blood, even if it’s blue.