13 Shows to Watch If You Miss the 'Law & Order' Franchise

Fans of the Law & Order franchise are in for a rough fall TV season. The flagship series and its Mariska Hargitay-led spinoff, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, are among countless network shows delayed by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Meantime, Christopher Meloni's Law & Order: Organized Crime was never on the fall schedule to begin with (it's slated for midseason 2024).

With new L&O episodes still on the distant horizon, we’ve put together a list of similar(ish) dramas that can satisfy your desire for pulsing legal arguments, just takedowns and solved mysteries. From procedurals to prestige limited series, courtroom-centric shows to ripped-from-the-headline narratives, there are plenty of cases to peruse.

Related: Everything to Know about 'Law & Order: SVU' Season 25

13 Shows to stream if you’re missing the 'Law & Order' franchise

1. True Detective

HBO’s anthology crime drama pairs strong lead performances with complex season-long investigative arcs. In Season 1, the Emmy-winner featured Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson’s detective characters pursuing an occult-influenced serial killer. Season 2 centered on interlocking criminal investigations concerning the death of a corrupt politician in California, while Season 3 spanned three time periods revolving around a reopened missing children’s case in the Ozarks. True Detective: Night Country, the show’s fourth season starring Jodie Foster as the lead detective on an Alaskan disappearance case, has been delayed to January 2024.

You can stream True Detective on Max.

2. Chicago P.D.

Created by Law & Order mastermind Dick Wolf himself, Chicago P.D. makes up a third of NBC’s powerhouse OneChicago franchise, which continues to be a primetime ratings mainstay for the network on Wednesday nights (although it, too, has been delayed by the Hollywood strikes).

Renewed for an 11th season back in April, the Chicago Fire spinoff follows the Intelligence Unit of CPD’s 21st district, which investigates the city’s most notorious crimes under the leadership of Sergeant Hank Voight (Jason Beghe). As the team contends with high-stakes cases, Voight must learn to acclimate to a changing cultural attitude toward the police and shift his “ends justify the means” approach to cracking down on crime.

You can catch reruns of Chicago P.D. on NBC or stream the show on Peacock.

Related: Dick Wolf's Net Worth In 2023 Basically Has a Zero for Every 'Law & Order' Show

3. Criminal Minds

A consistent ratings hit for its CBS network during its 15-year run, Criminal Minds follows a group of elite criminal profilers contracted by the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, which employs psychological analysis to map out a criminal’s motivations in hopes of stopping them. The police procedural launched a bevy of franchise series, including a South Korean adaptation and the COVID-era revival Criminal Minds: Evolution. While Criminal Minds can err into unrealistic territory, fans of Law & Order are sure to enjoy its close-knit team dynamics whose resolve is to deter crime.

You can watch Criminal Minds on Paramount+.

4. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Beginning in 2000 and running for a whopping 15 seasons, with multiple location-specific spinoffs in tow, CSI is procedural gold. Set in Sin City, the show follows a specialized forensics team that works to piece together the nature of the grisly cases they solve. With more than 300 episodes and six Emmys across its decade-and-a-half-long tenure, CSI unpacks crimes big and small, sure to enthrall any Organized Crime and SVU aficionado. The series stars George Eads, Eric Szmanda, Robert David Hall and Paul Guilfoyle. Its spinoffs include CSI: Miami, CSI: NY and the currently-airing CSI: Vegas.

You can stream CSI on Hulu or Paramount+.

5. Oz

Before his popular turn as the righteous (and at times overzealous) Detective Elliot Stabler on SVU, Christopher Meloni found his breakout role in a character on the opposing side of the law: the sexually motivated sociopathic killer Chris Keller in HBO’s Oz. The series, which ran for six seasons starting in 1997, catapulted Meloni to his star-making vehicle two years later.

A gritty and realistic cable crime-thriller, Oz centers on the inmates and officers inside the Oswald State Correctional Facility, known as a hotbed for power struggles, warring factions and acts of vengeance. More specifically, Oz takes place in the fictional maximum security prison’s “Emerald City,” an experimental wing of the institution that aims to facilitate rehabilitation.

Oz is available for streaming on Max.

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6. Mare of Easttown

Starring Kate Winslet as a hardened, lone-wolf investigator, this Emmy-winning HBO show unravels the circumstances leading to a brutal murder that rocked a small Pennsylvania town. The Oscar winner plays a skilled cop who has to persevere through personal turmoil as she uncovers the facts behind a cold missing person case and the killing of a girl in which everyone can be accused. While the limited series offers a prestige take on the cop drama, Law & Order fans will enjoy Winslet’s sturdy portrayal and the crime show’s twists and turns.

Mare of Easttown is available for streaming on Max.

7. The Closer

If you’re on the hunt for another police procedural with an expert interrogator who has a penchant for closing cases, look no further than the Kyra Sedgwick vehicle The Closer. The TNT drama, which ran for seven seasons, focuses on a CIA-trained deputy police chief who runs the Priority Homicide Division of the Los Angeles Police Department. With her unorthodox style and intrinsic ability to read people, Brena Leigh Johnson is able to elicit confessions and solve the city’s most brutal, sensitive cases. Similar to Law & Order, The Closer tackles everything from criminal syndicates to sex offenses.

Select episodes of The Closer are available to stream on TNT, with full viewing relegated to renting or buying options on Amazon, Google Play and other platforms.

8. The Practice

Legal drama connoisseur David E. Kelley’s The Practice centers on the partners and associates of a Boston law firm who deal with the ethical and moral debates that arise in criminal proceedings—sure to enthrall the Law & Order fans on the search for more courtroom action. The Emmy-winning eight-season show spurred Boston Legal as a spinoff and was described by creator Kelley as a rebuttal to the romanticized view of the U.S. legal system depicted in the famed L.A. Law, on which he served as executive producer. Grounded in realism, The Practice stars Dylan McDermott as Bobby Donnell, the senior defense attorney and firm’s founder.

Stream The Practice on Prime Video or Hulu.

9. Mindhunter

From executive producers Charlize Theron and de facto showrunner David Fincher, Mindhunter explores the foundation of modern-day criminal psychology through two FBI agents who pioneered serial-killer profiling in the late 1970s. The highly-rated yet short-lived period show stars Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany, and its mesmerizing visuals, psychological elements and attention to character detail are sure to entice any L&O devotee with a craving for satisfying suspect analysis.

Both seasons of Mindhunter are available on Netflix.

10. Unbelievable

SVU enthusiasts are sure to find commonalities in Unbelievable, the ripped-from-the-headlines story that explored the heartbreaking details surrounding a woman’s testimony of a serial rapist, which was initially dismissed by police and resulted in the charge of a false report. In the miniseries, which is based on a 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning article, two female detectives, portrayed by Toni Collette and Merritt Wever, investigate a string of sexual assaults with the same M.O. to track down the criminal and validate the initial report. The Emmy-nominated crime drama also stars Kaitlyn Dever as Marie, the 18-year-old Washingtonian woman who was coerced into a plea deal after being pressured into recanting her statement.

Unbelievable is streaming on Netflix.

11. Broadchurch

This British ITV crime drama from Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall unfolds as the murder of an 11-year-old boy in an English coastal town spurs a media frenzy, threatening to rip apart a community already reeling with fear and grief. The three-season BAFTA-winning show initially focuses on this singular crime and branches out in later installments, featuring main detectives played by Olivia Colman and David Tennant. Jodie Whittaker and Phoebe Waller-Bridge also appear. Acclaim for the series is attributed to its lived-in qualities and strong ensemble performances.

Broadchurch is available on streaming via PBS Masterpiece’s Amazon channel or to buy as a download on Amazon, Google Play and others.

12. Line of Duty

Fans of Organized Crime will find plenty to peruse in BBC Two’s police procedural Line of Duty, which follows Deputy Sergeant Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) as he gets transferred to Anti-Corruption Unit 12 after refusing to cover up his team’s unlawful shooting. The unique, well-received show follows Arnott as he’s partnered with the highly respected undercover officer Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure), who harbors a keen investigative instinct. Together, they work to uncover the organized criminal ties within the Central Police. Line of Duty ran for six seasons and racked up a plethora of BAFTA nominations during its tenure.

Line of Duty is streaming on Hulu, Prime Video and Peacock.

13. Homicide: Life on the Street

Before there was The Wire, there was Homicide: Life on the Street, both based on former Baltimore City Sun reporter David Simon’s book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. An oft-overlooked, Emmy-winning gem, this fast-paced procedural chronicles the fictionalized work of BPD’s Homicide Unit. The series, which ran for seven installments and was capped off with a 2000 TV movie, marked the breakout role of Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and featured the first appearance from Richard Belzer’s Detective John Munch, who would later crossover in and serve as a series regular in SVU.

Homicide: Life on the Street is not currently available for streaming due to music rights issues.

Next, 'Law & Order' Gets Delayed By Dual Strikes: Everything You Need to Know About Season 23