Top 300 Gritty/Anti-Hero/Villain Type TV Shows
The best gritty TV-14 or TV-MA type TV shows that got the brutal, gruesome or flat-out disturbing with theor main protagonists.
Also listed in order for the most part.
Also adding two new Law & Order shows to this list soon.
Also listed in order for the most part.
Also adding two new Law & Order shows to this list soon.
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- CreatorSteven BochcoMichael KozollStarsDaniel J. TravantiMichael WarrenBruce WeitzThe lives and work of the staff of an inner city police precinct.
- CreatorDick WolfRick EidStarsJerry OrbachJesse L. MartinDennis FarinaTwo Part drama which focuses on the New York criminal Justice System showing a violent crime Investigated by Police Detectives and then the criminal prosecution in court by the District Attorneys.
- CreatorDavid GreenwaltJohn McNamaraStarsAdrian PasdarLisa DarrLisa BlountJim Profit is a newly promoted junior executive at a multinational conglomerate, who uses ruthless methods to climb the corporate ladder. He is not above using blackmail, bribery, extortion, or worse to take down one rival after another.
- CreatorTom FontanaStarsErnie HudsonJ.K. SimmonsLee TergesenA series chronicling the daily activities of an unusual prison facility and its criminal inhabitants.
- CreatorDavid ChaseStarsJames GandolfiniLorraine BraccoEdie FalcoNew Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano deals with personal and professional issues in his home and business life that affect his mental state, leading him to seek professional psychiatric counseling.
- CreatorDick WolfStarsMariska HargitayChristopher MeloniIce-TFollows the New York City Police Department's (NYPD) Special Victims Unit (SVU), a specially trained squad of detectives who investigates sex crimes including rape, child sexual abuse, human trafficking and domestic violence.
- CreatorRene BalcerDick WolfStarsKathryn ErbeVincent D'OnofrioJamey SheridanFollows the New York City Police Department's (NYPD) Major Case Squad (MCS), a force of detectives who investigate high-profile murder cases, while also showing parts of the crime from the perpetrator's point of view.
- CreatorRobert CochranJoel SurnowStarsKiefer SutherlandMary Lynn RajskubCarlos BernardCounter Terrorism Agent Jack Bauer races against the clock to subvert terrorist plots and save his nation from ultimate disaster.
- CreatorDavid SimonStarsDominic WestLance ReddickSonja SohnThe Baltimore drug scene, as seen through the eyes of drug dealers and law enforcement.
- CreatorShawn RyanStarsMichael ChiklisMichael JaceJay KarnesFollows a gang of corrupt Los Angels Police Department (LAPD) cops called The Strike Team, who uses illegal methods to maintain law and order, whilst engaging in a series of undercover dealings secretly in order to get rich.
- CreatorDonald P. BellisarioDon McGillStarsDavid McCallumSean MurrayMark HarmonFollows the Major Case Response Team (MCRT) from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), as they get to the bottom of criminal cases connected to Navy and Marine Corps personnel.
- CreatorDavid MillsStarsYancey AriasBrian BenbenBobby CannavaleA drug cartel leader and his family try to keep what is "rightfully" theirs.
- CreatorSteven BochcoDavid MilchStarsDennis FranzJimmy SmitsGordon ClappDetectives from NYPD's 15th Precinct investigate homicides within their precinct.
- CreatorPaul AttanasioStarsRichard BelzerClark JohnsonYaphet KottoAn American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Unit.
- CreatorVince GilliganStarsBryan CranstonAaron PaulAnna GunnA chemistry teacher diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer turns to manufacturing and selling methamphetamine with a former student to secure his family's future.
- CreatorAnn BidermanStarsLiev SchreiberEddie MarsanDash MihokRay Donovan, a professional "fixer" for the rich and famous in Los Angeles, can make anyone's problems disappear except those created by his own family.
- CreatorAlex GansaHoward GordonStarsClaire DanesMandy PatinkinDamian LewisA bipolar CIA operative becomes convinced a prisoner of war has been turned by al-Qaeda and is planning to carry out a terrorist attack on American soil.
- CreatorAnn BidermanStarsMichael CudlitzShawn HatosyRegina KingThe lives of Police Officers working for the Los Angeles Police Department.
- CreatorCourtney A. KempStarsOmari HardwickLela LorenNaturi NaughtonJames "Ghost" St. Patrick, a wealthy New York nightclub owner who has it all; dreaming big, catering to the city's elite, and living a double life as a drug kingpin.
- CreatorMichael BrandtDerek HaasMatt OlmsteadStarsJason BeghePatrick John FluegerMarina SquerciatiFollows District 21 of the Chicago Police Department, made up of two different groups: the uniformed cops and the Intelligence Unit.
- CreatorJohn LinsonTaylor SheridanStarsKevin CostnerLuke GrimesKelly ReillyA ranching family in Montana faces off against others encroaching on their land.
- CreatorDavid WolstencroftStarsPeter FirthHugh SimonNicola WalkerThe missions of MI-5, the UK's domestic intelligence organization.
- CreatorJosh FriedmanStarsLena HeadeyThomas DekkerSummer GlauSet after the events in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Sarah Connor and her son, John, try to stay under-the-radar from the government, as they plot to destroy the computer network, Skynet, in hopes of preventing Armageddon.
- CreatorPaul T. ScheuringStarsDominic PurcellWentworth MillerAmaury NolascoA structural engineer installs himself in a prison he helped design, in order to save his falsely accused brother from a death sentence by breaking themselves out from the inside.
- CreatorHunt BaldwinJohn CovenyStarsRobert TaylorKatee SackhoffLou Diamond PhillipsWalt Longmire is the dedicated and unflappable sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming. Widowed only a year, he is a man in psychic repair but buries his pain behind his brave face, unassuming grin and dry wit.