Television series

Rizzoli & Isles

Name: Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: 2010
Cast: Angie Harmon, Sasha Alexander, Bruce McGill, Lorraine Bracco, Jordan Bridges

Rizzoli & Isles is a breezy Boston cop show built almost entirely on the chemistry between its two leads: a scrappy, wisecracking detective and an icy, exacting medical examiner who somehow become each other's whole support system. The cases are competent but secondary — this is a hangout show wearing a procedural's badge, best enjoyed for the banter, the wine nights in, and the slow reveal that total opposites really can complete each other.

TVMaze rating

7.9

If you liked this

The Closer2005

TNT's original odd-couple cop drama, built the same house before Rizzoli & Isles moved in — a fierce, quirky female lead cracking Los Angeles homicides with just as much heart under the prickliness.

But The Southern-charm-meets-LA-grit shtick can feel mannered, and later seasons lean heavier into department politics than banter.

Bones2005

Nearly the same premise — a brilliant, socially awkward forensic anthropologist paired with a streetwise FBI agent — but longer-running, funnier, with a decade of will-they-won't-they to spare.

But The science can feel overexplained, and its tone swings further into quirky sitcom territory than R&I ever does.

Castle2009

All banter, no shame about it — a mystery novelist shadowing an NYPD detective for "research," with crackling chemistry and lighter stakes than most procedurals bother with.

But The central relationship is romantic rather than platonic, changing the flavor, and the mysteries are frothier, less grounded.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Prime Suspect1991

Jane Rizzoli's whole persona — a tough woman fighting for respect in a male homicide squad — is a direct descendant of DCI Tennison, who did it first, harder, and without a single wisecrack.

Helen Mirren's performance as DCI Jane Tennison is one of television's great studies in controlled fury, and the writing treats workplace sexism as the actual subject, not just background texture.

But There's no Maura, no banter, no comfort here — this is bleak, slow-burn British drama that asks you to sit with discomfort rather than resolve it warmly.

Major Crimes2012

The Closer's own spinoff, keeping the same squad room and swapping in a colder, more procedural lead. Great if you like watching a messy found-family cop team argue toward the truth.

But It leans more ensemble than duo, so the tight two-hander intimacy of Jane and Maura gets diluted.

Body of Proof2011no page yet

A medical examiner solving murders straight from the morgue table, this time as the sole star. Dana Delany brings sharp, difficult brilliance very much in the Maura Isles mold, minus the softness.

But Shorter-lived and rougher around the edges, with less chemistry to lean on since there's no true partner figure.

Elementary2012

A modern Holmes and Watson, gender-flipped and relocated to New York, doing the same emotional work as Jane and Maura — hard exterior, secret tenderness — with sharper deductive fireworks.

But Cerebral where R&I is cozy; less humor, more brooding genius, and it demands closer attention from the viewer.

Cagney & Lacey1982

The original mismatched female cop duo, decades before Jane and Maura, proving the format's been quietly great since the '80s and groundbreaking for centering two women in a squad room.

But Dated pacing and production values will test viewers used to modern polish and quick cuts.

Murder, She Wrote1984

Cozier and gentler, an amateur sleuth solving tidy murders every week — good for the same soothing rhythm R&I offers on a lazy evening, minus the gore and the banter.

But No procedural grit, no forensic detail, and a much slower, old-fashioned pace throughout.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit1999

If it's the case-of-the-week comfort and dependable procedural structure you love, SVU delivers that in spades with two decades of episodes to binge through.

But Far darker subject matter, minimal levity, and no equivalent to the Jane-Maura friendship at its core.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit poster

Grace and Frankie2015

Same engine as Jane and Maura — a guarded, prickly woman and a serene, unconventional one thrown together and becoming each other's true family — just swapped from crime drama into sharp sitcom.

Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin's opposites-attract chemistry is just as satisfying as Rizzoli and Isles', and the show earns real laughs and real feeling about starting over late in life.

But No crime, no mystery, and a much slower, character-driven pace — a completely different genre wearing a familiar friendship shape.

Engrenages2005no page yet

Take the police-and-medical-examiner-and-justice-system ensemble of R&I and strip out every ounce of comfort — Spiral follows a similarly tangled Parisian squad through cases that spill messily into corruption and years-long consequences.

One of the great sustained European crime dramas, morally exhausting in the best way, with a scuzzy realism that makes American procedurals look positively sanitized by comparison.

But Subtitled, grim, and structurally demanding — plots run across whole seasons rather than resolving neatly, with little warmth to soften them.