[Ben__Tyler]

Who are your 1 - 3 favorite TV cop characters
(be it a detective, or a uniformed / undercover cop, but not a private detective or a lawyer) so far and please say why, for anyone named ?

[RossTerry]

Jack Bauer
Gil Grissom

[Jason Seaver]

1. Elliot Stabler, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - the guy investigates some of the sickest crimes out there and you can't shake the feeling that he's about to explode. As much as I love him, I honestly can't wait for the episode where he's written out. See also "Rudy Pemberton, Homicide: Life On The Street"

2. Matt Sikes & George Francisco, Alien Nation - has any other sci-fi cop show worked? Or had characters who were as much fun? I think not. The only competition in the sci-fi area is Constable Odo of Deep Space Nine.

3. Sheriff Lucas Buck, American Gothic. Ain't never been a better bad cop. Do I really have to explain this choice?

Can't quite fit Inspector Sledge Hammer on the list, dang it.

[Chris]

1. Pemberton, Homicide: Life on the Streets. I have always loved Braugher in almost anything, but here he was sensational. When he would go in to the "box" with someone, you always felt there was potential for him to lose it, snap and kill the guy. And yet, he was normally so calm and just went through the grilling. Excellent acting.

2. Andy Griffith - come on, who wouldn't want to be holed up in Sherrif Andy's jail?

3. Sherrif Wigums (The Simpsons)

4. (honorable mention) Det. Lennie Briscoe, who I always find fits the role just right

[Raasean Asaad]

1.Vic Mackey, The Shield. Watch the show from day 1 and you'll be a fan too. It's definitely the other side of the Commish.

2.Pembleton, Homicide. Yet another great confrontational police detective.

3.Adrian Monk, Monk. I'm cheating since he's no longer a cop but definitely a detective in the Columbo mode, you think he's a clown until he blows your plan and slaps the cuffs on you.

[Win Joy Jr]

Belker - Hill Street Blues

Went from a one-joke character to a very evolved character that you could understand his motivations. My favorite line one day was when Furillo said "Unleash Belker". You also could believe Belkers humanity when seeing someone, even a suspect, die.


Nick - CSI

A guy who likes his job and does not seem to be doing it for the paycheck.

Furrillo - Hill Street Blues

A cop who did his best to walk a tight rope between 2 sides. Tried to treat people with respect, but was not one to toy with and would walk that fine line to get the job done when needed (the tactic when trying to get a confession about a Nun's murder and the time when he had to protect his wife from being eleminated as a witness). Sometime he had issues on what he had to do to get his job done. The bit about going to confession after using questionable tactics in getting a confession really stood out.

[James T]

Jack "I'm gonna need a hacksaw" Bauer - does whatever is neccessary to complete his job.

Chief Wiggum - the complete opposite to what a chief is suppose to be.

Comm. Jim Gordon - The father figue to Batman and the perfect example of a great leader for people to follow.

[Lew Crippen]

You guys have already mostly named mine:

Captain Frank Furillo of Hill Street Blues: more integrity, combined with an occasional weakness than any other cop. Ran a great precinct professionally with a cast of characters. I’ll give a nod to most of the rest of the cast including Sgt. Phil Esterhaus (‘’Let’s be careful out there’)

Detective Andy Sipowicz of NYPD Blue: he has probably become a bit too likeable the last few seasons, but who else has the edge of Andy, a ton of personal weaknesses and is the last person you would want suspecting you? Plus his wives get a bit better-looking every time.

Detective Frank Pemberton of Homicide, Life on the Street: the complete opposite of Sipowicz—neat and controlled—here his control was his weakness. Another cop who always knew if you were lying. Add to him most of the rest of the cast.

One of the cops from The Wire would be on the list, if it had been on just a bit longer.

[chuck_b]

Easy choice - Vic Mackey, "The Shield".

The anti-cop in raw, living color. A show that grabs you in each episode and taunts you with the preview of the upcoming show. Mackey is the best parts of Andy Sipowitz, Dirty Harry and John Kelly (NYPD - David Caruso) all rolled into one.

With an unclear vision who are the bad guys and who are the good guys, Mackey marshalls an un-hollywood like tactical squad into episodes which can carve up an hour like no other show. His tension, compassion and temper create a walking time bomb, unlike the small firecraker now boiling over in Franz's Sipowitz. With a stellar regular cast, multiple cross-episodic storylines and gritty guest performers, Michael Chiklis leads his merry band of street weary cops unlike most screen cops before him.

Whereas predicting the plot lines in most network cop shows has become childs play, The Shield and Mackey, combined with the extra freedom of the F/X channel, leave a pit in your gut as you are driven into storys too real to predict.

[Randy Tennison]

Detective Andy Sipowicz of NYPD Blue has to be one of the most realistic cops on tv. He's failed and flawed, but the guy you'd want working on the case if it involved your family.

Adrian Monk is a terrific character. I really enjoy that show.

Nash Bridges is just the defination of cool. While not too realistic, is was a great character, and a very cool show.

[LarryDavenport]

I can't narrow it down to three single cops*, so I picked the three greatest cop shows, IMO.

1) Boomtown

Officer Ray Hechler (Gary Basaraba) His portrayal of a blue collar cop makes it hard to believe he got his degree from Yale. Detective Bobby "Fearless" Smith (Mykelti Williamson) on Boomtown. Besides being a great detective he's ahell of a story teller. Detective Joel Stevens (Donnie Wahlberg) a good man who has to make hard decisions at home while working on difficult cases. And the greatest DA of them all, David McNorris (Neal McDonough) I will miss most of all.

2) Homicide: Life in the Streets

Detective John Munch (Richard Belzer). Sure, Pembleton (Andre Braugher)was a great detective and Bayliss (Kyle Secor)was complex, but Munch was the most fun to watch and I loved his conspiracy theories and his genuine affection for his partner Bolander. In fact Homicide had a lot of great characters including Lt. Giardello (Yaphet Kotto), and the underated Sgt. Howard (Melissa Leo), and Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin).

3) Hill Street Blues

It could get to be a bit of a soap opera, especially when it focused on the cops home lifes and romances, but the first couple seasons when Officer Andy Renko (Charles Haid) and Officer Bobby Hill (Michael Warren) were ambushed and had to recover from their wounds and learn to be partners again was an early high point to the show.

Honorable mention: Dear Detective Brenda Vacarro starred as Detective Kate Hudson in this short lived TV sereies from the 1970's based on the superior French film "Tendre Poulet".

* I stuck to cops, not Feds, spies, western sheriffs, U. S. Marshals, private eyes, amateur sleuths, investigative journalists, or vampires with souls (feel free to start a new topic).