One of my favourite genres of Television for the past few years, is the murder show. The hour long dramas that come on at 9 or 10pm and start with a discovery of the body scene.

I’ve blogged before about those scenes, and I still wonder if they are written and sold and directed separately from the main show. It seems like an ideal way for new directors to practice, but it especially seems to be an ideal scene to write and sell separately.

For over 10 years, I’ve watched almost every show where the police detective gets help from a skilled or talented civilian. None have had the same dead body reveal.

I am blogging today about how this particular formula is used by almost every cop/murder show on TV.

It may have started with Sherlock Holmes. He took the name Consulting Detective, as pretty much any of the list I’m about to share could.

I watched a show where a Grand Chess Champion who was afraid to leave his Hotel room, solved murders with an assistant and the police.

I am trying to remember them all.  I can’t.

Do you remember these?
The one with the handsome fake psychic
The one with the real psychic and the other one with a psychic
The Canadian one where the guy is an ambulance psychic
The one who told the police he was a psychic who worked with the police, but he was really just a Sherlock Holmes smart guy.
The one with the handsome art thief
The one with the Devil Himself
The one with the schizophrenic university professor that seems people
The one with the immortal that renews nude in the Hudson river
The one with the Grimm
The one with Houdini
The one with a Bionic man and woman
The one with a guy with a computer/Internet link in his head
The one with the Zombie
The one that takes a pill and becomes smart
The one who is a Faye
The one who is the coroner
The other one who is the Coroner
The other one where the Coroner is best friends with the Italian Detective
The one where a team and the machine save lives with a cop.
The one where his partner is an android, and the 70s one with an android
The one where he’s a pathologist
The one where he’s a taxi driver
The one where he’s solving murders while gamblers bet if he can
The one where she is best friends with a Vampire
The one that had identic Memory, although she becomes a cop
The one where he’s a magician
The one where he’s an author
The one where he’s a fat paranoid nerd that’s good with computers
The one where he’s a car, although not helping police directly

I know I am missing lots.  How many have you seen?
Add to the list if you liked a show where a non cop helped the cops with some talent or skill