I Watched 13 Different Crime Procedurals In 2025. Why The Non-Franchise Shows Were My Favorites

Another year of television is ending with the final days of the 2025 TV schedule, so the time is right to look back at the highs and lows of what the networks delivered over the past twelve months. For the part of my job that involves primetime, I ultimately ended up watching 13 crime procedurals. I wasn’t on the edge of my seat for all of them, and didn’t catch every one live on a weekly basis, but I've realized on looking back that my favorites are the ones that weren’t part of a franchise.

The stage is set for the 2026 TV schedule but let's first look back at the procedural crimes of 2025.

My 2025 Crime Procedurals

Once I got over my slight existential crisis at how many scripted crime shows I watched over the past year, I realized that my choices weren’t limited to just my two most-covered networks: NBC and CBS. Check out my full list:

1. The Rookie - ABC (streaming with a Hulu subscription)
2. Will Trent - ABC (streaming on Hulu)
3. FBI - CBS (streaming with a Paramount+ subscription)
4. FBI: International - CBS (streaming on Paramount+)
5. FBI: Most Wanted - CBS (streaming on Paramount+)
6. Elsbeth - CBS (streaming on Paramount+)
7. Murder in a Small Town - Fox (streaming on Hulu)
8. Law & Order - NBC (streaming with a Peacock subscription)
9. Law & Order: SVU - NBC (streaming on Peacock)
10. Law & Order: Organized Crime - NBC (streaming on Peacock)
11. Chicago P.D. - NBC (streaming on Peacock)
12. The Hunting Party - NBC (streaming on Peacock)
13. Found - NBC (streaming on Peacock)

I’d be lying unless I admitted that I’m a devoted watcher of the Law & Order shows, and Chicago P.D. is technically the only police drama within the One Chicago world. I mourned as much as any fan at the shocking cancellations of FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International. The franchises admittedly do have a lot going for them.

The Appeal Of Franchises (And What Doesn't Always Work)

Can I cite moments from SVU going back decades, and do I enjoy regularly joking about why Hudson University is the worst place to be in the Law & Order world? Sure. Does every crime on Chicago Med and Chicago Fire leave my eyes peeled for a Chicago P.D. cameo? Of course. Was I entertained whenever a crossover could happen between FBI and its very different spinoffs? Naturally.

I love my shared-universe TV shows. I get as excited as a Bensler shipper (although I’m not one myself) when Christopher Meloni rejoins Mariska Hargitay in primetime. I’m still frustrated that FBI: International didn’t get nearly as good of an ending as FBI: Most Wanted. I’d need a pretty elaborate flow chart on my wall to keep track of how some of these shows are connected, and that’s impressive.

Despite all of this, I have to say that sometimes it’s more fun to watch TV without needing an elaborate flow chart. Sometimes I don’t want to have to wonder if something is an Easter egg, or if a familiar face is just one actor playing two different characters. (It happens more often than you’d think in the Law & Order franchise.) I don't always need everything to be connected. And that brings us to…

My Non-Franchise Crime Shows Of 2025

While I didn’t necessarily cover the non-franchise crime series as much as the Law & Orders and the FBIs, I did enjoy my breaks TV universes full of very similar shows. Admittedly, The Rookie isn’t quite as franchised as most of the other entries on my list, but it did have a short-lived spinoff starring Niecy Nash, and another spinoff is in the works with Jay Ellis in the leading role. So, these are the standalones I’m counting from the past year:

1. Will Trent
2. Elsbeth
3. Murder in a Small Town
4. The Hunting Party
5. Found

These are five very different shows, with Will Trent based on a series of novels by Karin Slaughter. Murder in a Small Town splits its focus between a leading man playing a police chief and a leading woman who plays a librarian-turned-politician. Elsbeth didn’t even start out as a comedy before making the switch this fall. Found wove a serialized story very closely with the case of the week, and the same is true for The Hunting Party.

And I could enjoy all of them without needing to consult any notes or use commercial breaks to wrack my brain for Easter eggs or do any deep dives on why actors seem so familiar. The mysteries and the chases were fun to focus on without keeping an eye out for crossover openings.

These are also relatively easy shows to jump into. For as much as I'm an SVU loyalist, diving into a show that's 27 seasons in is pretty intimidating, especially when longtime fans are always excited to talk about ties back to the golden years. There's a lot to enjoy in non-franchise options without needing to do any homework, and I'd recommend at least trying any of them. One stands out as my favorite, though.

My Favorite Crime Show Of The Year: Elsbeth

If you’re surprised that I’d rank the funniest of the crime procedurals as my favorite, you still couldn’t be more surprised than I was! In fact, Elsbeth is so different from The Good Wife and The Good Fight that even a returning star wasn’t enough for me to disqualify it from my non-franchise list. Upon looking back, the CBS drama-turned-comedy was the crime procedural I looked forward to the most per week.

Admittedly, a lot of that goes back to the celebrity guest stars, since Elsbeth has a knack for recruiting stars to play killers or, like Stephen Colbert in the Season 3 premiere, murder victims. I’ll still cite the Season 2 premiere with a murderous Nathan Lane as one of my favorite episodes of 2024, and it’s hard to believe how many stars were willing to come back for an episode with Chicago-esque musical numbers. The Conners’ Laurie Metcalf and Will and Grace’s Eric McCormack even showed off some skills that they never got to us on their famous sitcoms.

That’s not to say that there aren’t dramatic moments between celebrities killing off characters in outlandish ways, and it wasn’t hard to buy Elsbeth as a drama before it was changed to a comedy for the current awards season. Leading lady Carrie Preston has easily carried the show between both genres, and Michael Emerson (a.k.a. Preston’s real-life husband) didn’t just make a cameo for some laughs.

All of this is to say that while I love my crime shows set within franchises, Elsbeth is a breath of fresh air. I don’t have to keep my eyes peeled for possible crossover hints, I can laugh throughout an episode, and – as promised ahead of Elsbeth’s premiere – I can enjoy it without needing to know The Good Wife and The Good Fight. I’m excited to see the returns of my procedurals that haven’t been cancelled (R.I.P. FBI: International, FBI: Most Wanted, and Found) for a fictionally crime-filled new year.