Since getting a TV for my 18th birthday in September and flicking onto Disney+, I've been thrust into the fascinating and addictive world of crime dramas; specifically, the 40-minute-long American type.
As a chronic binge-watcher, I realised a few seasons into my first series that it was taking a lot longer to get to crucial plot points than it did with other programmes I had watched in the past. Looking at the episode guide, realising I still had nine seasons to go, I asked myself; how many more crimes could there possibly be to solve?
Watching series like Bones, NCIS and The X-Files, you begin to realise that the regular episode has an identical format: a crime is committed, reported to the team (FBI, city police department, detectives, or otherwise) and the crime is solved over the course of the episode. These series go on for upwards of 20 seasons, with often more than 20 episodes per season, raking in tens of millions of viewers per episode on reruns and streaming on top of the initial premiere. So, the evidence speaks for itself; there is plenty of interest for these series to go on forever, despite their repetitive formula.
The question I should be asking here is ‘Why do people keep watching crime dramas for so long?’. Surely watching the same format of a procedural drama for more than 300 episodes becomes monotonous for the viewer. In addition to this, I have found myself finishing one series, and immediately moving onto an almost identical programme – they are addictive.
In my (very enjoyable) research, I found three main reasons that people keep coming back to crime dramas.
First, the inclusion of multiple-episode story arcs. With a procedural crime drama, this is an easy thing to include, with long-term progressions like serial killings (for example Cat Adams, ‘Criminal Minds’, Christopher Pelant, ‘Bones’, and Jerry Tyson, ‘Castle’), and kidnappings, as well as taking cases to trial. If these cases take place across multiple episodes, the viewer is invested in seeing the case to the end. Often, a new case will be introduced before the existing one is closed, leading to the viewer sticking around for a bit longer.
Another reason for why people keep coming back to these dramas is for the parts of the episodes that are not strictly related to the case. Interspersed into the episodes, between interrogations and arrests, are the interpersonal relationships and dynamics between the team working together to put away the criminals - which is just as, if not sometimes more interesting, than the crime itself. TV shows like these are commonly great examples of the ’found family’ trope, where previously unrelated characters form a family-style unit due to shared experiences. Often, there is also a drawn-out slow-burn romance present somewhere within this team (for example Castle and Beckett, ‘Castle’, Brennan and Booth, ‘Bones’, and Mulder and Scully, ‘The X-Files’), and this is another motivation for the viewer to see the series through.
Finally, the last reason for why we keep watching these shows, no matter how long they go on for, is that we actually think we can solve the crimes. Since I've started watching crime dramas regularly, I think I have become significantly better at working out the murderer before the police get there. I think the fact that the viewer sees chronologically as much as the detectives/agents see, meaning that they can follow along and feel involved, just makes it so easy to watch episode after episode at a time.
In conclusion, my argument for the reason that crime dramas go on for so long is a mix of the inclusion of ‘special’ episodes and story arcs, the bonds between crime-fighting team members, and also us as the viewer’s innate need to solve the crime as we are watching. Most of all, crime dramas are just fun to watch! (if sometimes a little gory).
Here are some of the longest-running dramas:
Law & Order (1990 - ) (24 Seasons)
Police officers in New York apprehend criminals and bring them to justice. (Spin-offs include Law & Order SVU, which has 26 seasons).
Midsomer Murders (1997 - ) (24 Seasons)
An experienced Detective Chief Inspector and his new Sergeant investigate murders around the rural community of Midsomer County.
NCIS (2003 - ) (22 Seasons)
Special Agent Gibbs leads a team solving criminal cases related to Navy and Marine Corps personnel with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Hawaii Five-O (1968-1980, 2010-2020) (22 Seasons)
A federal task force attempt to wipe out organised crime from sun-soaked Hawaii.
Criminal Minds (2005 - ) (17 Seasons)
A unit of FBI profilers investigate the motives and means of the most evil criminals to find out what triggers them.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000-2015) (16 Seasons)
A group of forensic investigators for the LVPD solve crimes by meticulously combing the crime scene for any evidence giving them a lead in the case.
Bones (2005-2017) (12 Seasons)
Dr Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist teams up with Special Agent Seeley Booth to solve murders where all that is left of the victims is their bones.
Chicago P.D. (2014 - ) (12 Seasons)
The intelligence team and uniformed cops of the Chicago P.D. battle against each other with their differing ideas whilst solving crimes.
The X-Files (1993-2018) (11 Seasons)
Special Agents Scully and Mulder investigate unsolved cases for the FBI. Mulder believes that the supernatural could be at work, whilst Scully believes science can explain any crime.
Castle (2009-2016) (8 Seasons)
Detective Beckett seeks author Richard Castle’s help after a psychopath commits murders inspired by his novels.
Comments