Television series

Poker Face

Poker Face turns its human lie-detector heroine loose on the American backroads for an old-fashioned, one-crime-per-episode mystery, each one solved by watching how the murder happened before Charlie does. It's funny, warm, and stuffed with great character-actor cameos and Natasha Lyonne's world-weary drawl. Easy to binge, easier to dip into — comfort food for people tired of serialized dread.

TVMaze rating7.1

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Columbo1968

Poker Face's entire structure — show you the crime first, then watch the detective piece it together — is lifted straight from Columbo's playbook, right down to the rumpled, underestimated genius solving it.

But Slower pace and dated 70s production values; some episodes meander a while before the good stuff kicks in.

Columbo poster

Monk2002

Another network mystery-of-the-week built around a quirky, socially awkward genius whose flaws are as central as his talent — equally cozy, equally addictive to binge.

But The comedy leans broader and more sitcom-ish, and Monk's OCD is played for laughs in ways that feel dated now.

Monk poster

Veronica Mars2004

A sharp-tongued outsider solving other people's messes with wit as her main weapon, plus the same pleasure in local color and class tension that Poker Face loves.

But Serialized mystery arcs replace the case-a-week format, so it's a bigger commitment with less flexibility.

Veronica Mars poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Sting1973

Charlie is a reformed grifter who reads liars for a living; The Sting is the con-artist's-eye view of exactly the world she escaped, filmed with just as much warmth for its crooks.

Long before Charlie was running from casino owners, this Newman-Redford caper showed how satisfying it is to watch professional liars out-con each other, staged with the same playful, twisty delight.

But No detective, no mystery to solve — you're watching the con get built, not unpicked, which is a genuinely different pleasure.

The Sting poster
More like this (8)

Only Murders in the Building2021

A starry comic mystery that treats the whodunit as pure pleasure rather than dread, stacked with celebrity guest stars and genuine warmth between its leads.

But More ensemble sitcom than hardboiled procedural — the crime-solving is looser and less rigorously fair-play.

Only Murders in the Building poster

Murder, She Wrote1984

The gold standard of American mystery-of-the-week television; a smart woman wandering into a new small town's worth of secrets every single episode, decade after decade.

But Very much of its era — gentle, low-stakes, and paced for a much less impatient audience.

Murder, She Wrote poster

The Rockford Files1974

A shabby, charming drifter-investigator show that understands blue-collar America the way Poker Face does, one diner and trailer park at a time.

But 70s crime-of-the-week rhythms feel slow next to Poker Face's zippier editing and jokes.

The Rockford Files poster

Search Party2016

A darker, weirder amateur-detective comedy that starts small and spirals into something much stranger, with the same appetite for oddball supporting characters.

But Gets considerably nastier and more cynical as it goes; the warmth of Poker Face is largely absent.

Search Party poster

Justified2010

Not a mystery show exactly, but the same pleasure in regional texture, memorable one-off criminals, and a laconic lead who's smarter than everyone around him.

But Trades puzzle-solving for shoot-outs and serialized crime plots — a different genre wearing similar clothes.

Justified poster

Russian Doll2019

Natasha Lyonne again, but stranger — a time-loop puzzle box with the same rasp, the same wardrobe instincts, and the same refusal to be anything but itself.

But Far more surreal and existential than mystery-of-the-week comfort food; no cases, no road trip, different engine entirely.

Russian Doll poster

Liar Game2007no page yet

Same core engine as Charlie's gift — reading deception under pressure — but stripped of comfort, with the stakes raised to survival, showing how unsettling that power looks in a different register.

Takes the "can you spot the lie" premise Poker Face plays for cozy fun and turns it into a genuinely tense psychological thriller where trusting the wrong person can ruin your life.

But Subtitled, soapier, and considerably darker — this is paranoia and desperation, not road-trip whimsy.

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst2015

Poker Face turns "watching someone realize they're being lied to" into cozy entertainment; The Jinx is the unvarnished, real-world version of that exact fascination, minus the jokes and the safety net.

A real amateur investigation into a real, decades-old set of lies, told with the same patient fascination for the moment a liar's story finally cracks that Poker Face dramatizes for fun.

But This isn't fun — it's grim, true, and ends in a place no sitcom-adjacent mystery would go.

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst poster

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