The other day I realised that the trope of “Detective show, but the protagonist is a THING” is incredibly widespread. These are the variations that I have gathered so far. THING is:

  • a zombie who eats brains to solve crimes (iZombie)
  • the devil (Lucifer)
  • an angel (Angel)
  • an eccentric genius (Sherlock)
  • a con artist (The Mentalist)
  • a mystery novelist with writers block (Castle)
  • a criminal profiler who empathizes with serial killers (Hannibal)
  • a white-collar criminal (White Collar)
  • a 14-year-old immature cop (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
  • a serial killer (Dexter)
  • son of a serial killer (Prodigal son)
  • brothers who fight ghosts ’n stuff (Supernatural)
  • the USA’s most wanted man, being used as a CI to catch criminals (Blacklist)
  • a middle school cop (Filmore)
  • a pie-maker with the power to bring dead people back to life (Pushing Daisies)
  • a newly-wed with the ability to chat to ghosts (Ghost Whisperer)
  • a deception expert (Lie to Me)

Most of the time, there’s a buddy detective whose qualities mirror those of the THING

If we allow superhero shows (Marvel and DC) we can add Constantine, Jessica Jones, Batman and a whole lot more. I wouldn’t say they’re similar to the sitcoms above, though, so they don’t make this list

I don’t think this is necessarily a “bad” thing, since I’ve generally enjoyed the shows