20 best shows like Bending The Rules (2012)

Common Law is an American comedy-drama television series, which ran on USA Network from May 11 to August 10, 2012, and stars Michael Ealy and Warren Kole as two Los Angeles Police Department detectives who can't stand each other and are ordered to see a couples therapist to remedy the situation. The series was created by Cormac and Marianne Wibberley and was produced by CBS Television Studios and Junction Entertainment. While originally planned to premiere on January 26, 2012, the series was pushed back until summer 2012. The series premiered following Fairly Legal on Friday, May 11, 2012. The show was canceled by the USA Network after one season and 12 episodes on October 31, 2012, due to low ratings.

The story of Mac Conway, a Marine who returns home to Memphis from Vietnam in 1972 and finds himself shunned by those he loves and demonized by the public. As he struggles to cope with his experiences at war, Conway is drawn into a network of killing and corruption that spans the length of the Mississippi River.

Miles Daly works as muscle for a murderous crime ring in Nevada and attempts to change professions and become a movie producer, laundering money through a Hollywood film with the help of washed-up filmmaker Rick Moreweather. Based on Elmore Leonard’s 1990 New York Times bestselling novel.

When they're not hanging out at their favorite hot dog stand pontificating on what they'd go through to enjoy a night with their favorite female celebrities, Jared Franklin and Peter Bash are chasing down their latest clients...sometimes literally. With business cards in hand, they're ready to nab a client within seconds after a car accident, arrest for solicitation or any other incident where their legal services may be needed. Once in the courtroom, they show their flair for the dramatic and the shocking.

A medical student who becomes a zombie joins a Coroner's Office in order to gain access to the brains she must reluctantly eat so that she can maintain her humanity. But every brain she eats, she also inherits their memories and must now solve their deaths with help from the Medical examiner and a police detective.

A skeptic is forced to work with a firm believer of the paranormal on unexplained occurrences in Los Angeles.

In this mismatched buddy cop dramedy, an amazingly handsome, happy-go-lucky FBI agent is paired with a local, hard scrabble Michigan homicide detective. As they solve crimes together, their polar opposite methods only slightly outweigh their disdain for each other.

Ex-cop and recovering alcoholic Hank Dolworth partners with his best friend, former criminal Britt Pollack, in an unlicensed private investigation business. The series is set in Ocean Beach, San Diego, California, although it is portrayed as a distinct town, with Dolworth having once been a member of the fictional Ocean Beach Police Department.

A grieving teen finds an unexpected connection with two classmates at her new high school after they all land in the same Shoplifters Anonymous group.

Three women living in three different decades: a housewife in the '60s, a socialite in the '80s and a lawyer in 2018, deal with infidelity in their marriages.

Buddy Dobbs, a slacker on the run from a loan shark, steals a man's identity and ends up posing as a small town's new gay pastor.

James, a disgraced firefighter turned grifter, seizes a chance, illicit opportunity to reverse his life’s worsening course as he attempts to prey upon Pastor Byron Brown, who turns out to be far more dangerous than he appears.

Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley and produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for ABC. The series aired from October 3, 2004, to December 8, 2008. Boston Legal is a spin-off of long-running Kelley series The Practice, following the exploits of former Practice character Alan Shore at the legal firm of Crane, Poole & Schmidt.

A bright-eyed New York lawyer takes his first big case defending an eccentric poetry professor accused of murdering his wife.

Fastlane is an American action/crime drama series that was broadcast on Fox from September 18, 2002 to April 25, 2003. On August 14, 2005 G4 began rebroadcasting the complete series. After finishing its initial run on the network, Fastlane stopped airing on G4. Fastlane also aired on TVOne sometime around 2006.

A hit man from the Midwest moves to Los Angeles and gets caught up in the city's theatre arts scene.

Follow the life and crimes of five diverse and treacherous manicurists working at the Nail Artisan of Manatee County salon, where there is a lot more going on than silk wraps and pedicures.

A true-crime satire that explores the aftermath of a costly high school prank that left twenty-seven faculty cars vandalized with phallic images.

Honest cop Tony Jr. gets advice from his unscrupulous father, retired NYPD officer Tony Sr., about everything from his job to his love life.

The Unusuals is a comedy-drama television series that aired on ABC from April 8 to June 17, 2009 in the U.S. and Global in Canada. The pilot and first episode were written by Noah Hawley, a former writer and producer for Fox's Bones. An ABC press release described The Unusuals as "like a modern-day M*A*S*H" that "explores both the grounded drama and comic insanity of the world of New York City police detectives, where every cop has a secret". Its premise elaborated:The initial series order was for 10 episodes. Show creator Noah Hawley announced via his Twitter account in mid-May 2009 that ABC would not be bringing the show back for a second season.

Corrupt ex-cop turned hitman Nick Sax's life is changed forever by a relentlessly positive, imaginary blue winged horse named Happy.

Martial Law is an American/Canadian crime drama that aired on CBS from 1998 to 2000, and was created by Carlton Cuse. The title character, Sammo Law, portrayed by Sammo Hung, was a Chinese law officer and martial arts expert who came to Los Angeles in search of a colleague and remains in the US.The show was a surprise hit, making Hung the only East Asian headlining a prime-time network series in the United States. At the time, Hung was not fluent in English, and he reportedly recited some of his dialogue phonetically. In many scenes, Hung did not speak at all, making Martial Law perhaps the only US television series in history that featured so little dialogue from the lead character.

Laura Holt, a licensed private detective, opens a detective agency but finds that potential clients refuse to hire a woman, however qualified. To solve the problem, Laura invents a fictitious male superior whom she names Remington Steele. Through a series of events that unfold in the first episode, "License to Steele," a former thief and con man, whose real name is never revealed, assumes the identity of Remington Steele. Behind the scenes, Laura remains firmly in charge.

Keen Eddie is an American action, comedy-drama television series that aired in 2003 on the Fox Network. The series follows a brash NYPD detective who goes to London when one of his cases goes sour and remains to work with New Scotland Yard. The basic premise of the show bears a close resemblance to the popular 1980s British series Dempsey & Makepeace, the only notable difference being that the female partner has been replaced by a female housemate. Stylistically, the series derived inspiration from British feature films by Guy Ritchie, such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. The soundtrack and incidental music for the first episode was provided by British techno duo Orbital. Daniel Ash of Love and Rockets scored the rest of the series.The series was scheduled to premiere during the 2002–2003 television season, but was postponed and premiered in summer 2003. The series was then moved to Thursdays with its seventh episode to help improve its ratings, but Fox canceled the series due to its low ratings of 5.1 million viewers.The American cable network Bravo picked up the series to begin airing in January 2004, including the six episodes never aired on Fox. All thirteen episodes of the series were released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment on September 7, 2004. Unfortunately, the original score was replaced due to music licensing issues.

A close-knit anthology series dealing with stories involving malice, violence and murder based in and around Minnesota.

Detective Lieutenant Everett Backstrom is a man with no filter. After a five-year exile to the traffic division for offensive behavior, he has returned from disgrace to lead Portland's newly minted S.C.U. Tasked with navigating the city's most sensitive and serious cases, he must solve each crime as he tries, and fails, to change his own self-destructive behavior. Based on renowned Swedish criminologist and novelist Leif G.W. Persson’s hit series of books of the same name.

Caitlin "Cat" Sullivan is an NYPD detective working in Brooklyn. After her driving privileges are suspended, she relies on Leo Romba, a highly skilled Brooklyn cab driver from France. Leo becomes Cat's driver and a consultant on her cases. While solving crimes with Leo, Cat is also running her own unauthorized investigation into the death of her father, an NYPD detective thought to have been executed by the Capella crime family. In doing so, she clashes with her boss, Captain Baker, and her ex-husband Gregg, who has picked up the case for the FBI.

Two unlicensed Swedish private investigators try to make a living in Los Angeles.

Comedy thriller about two well-meaning idiots who become entangled in a hideous world of crime, conspiracy and corruption.

Low Winter Sun is an American television drama series developed by Chris Mundy, starring Mark Strong and Lennie James. The series premiered on August 11, 2013, on AMC, with the first season consisting of ten episodes. It is based upon the 2006 British two-part miniseries of the same name.

A single-camera ensemble comedy following the lives of an eclectic group of detectives in a New York precinct, including one slacker who is forced to shape up when he gets a new boss.

Magnus - perhaps the police's worst investigator - is set to solve a murder from another world, and then we mean a completely different world.

Neal Caffrey, a con man, forger and thief, is captured after a three-year game of cat and mouse with the FBI. With only months left serving a four-year sentence, he escapes to look for Kate, his girlfriend. Peter Burke, the FBI agent who initially captured Caffrey, finds and returns him to prison. This time, Caffrey proposes a deal with the FBI, as part of a work-release program. After some hesitation, Burke agrees, and thus begins this unconventional arrangement where Caffrey helps Burke apprehend white collar criminals.

The State's Attorney's dedicated team of prosecutors and investigators navigates heated city politics and controversy head-on, while fearlessly pursuing justice.

Former Syracuse, New York, police detective Carrie Wells has hyperthymesia, a rare medical condition that gives her the ability to visually remember everything. She reluctantly joins the New York City Police Department's Queens homicide unit after her former boyfriend and partner asks for help with solving a case. The move allows her to try to find out the one thing she has been unable to remember, which is what happened the day her sister was murdered.

Laura Diamond, a brilliant NYPD homicide detective balances her “Columbo” day job with a crazy family life that includes two unruly twin boys and a soon-to-be ex-husband — also a cop — who just can't seem to sign the divorce papers. Between cleaning up after her boys and cleaning up the streets, she’d be the first to admit she has her “hot mess” moments in this hilariously authentic look at what it really means to be a “working mom” today. Somehow, she makes it all work with the help of her sexy and understanding partner, and things becomes even more complicated when her husband, ironically, becomes her boss at the precinct. For Laura, every day is a high-wire balancing act.

After joining forces with a veteran bounty hunter, sixteen-year-old fraternal twin sisters Sterling and Blair dive into the world of bail skipping baddies while still navigating the high stakes of teenage love and sex.

Starting over isn’t easy, especially for small-town guy John Nolan who, after a life-altering incident, is pursuing his dream of being an LAPD officer. As the force’s oldest rookie, he’s met with skepticism from some higher-ups who see him as just a walking midlife crisis.

Frank Tagliano (Steven Van Zandt), is a former member of the New York mob. After testifying in a trial in the United States, Tagliano is relocated to Lillehammer in Norway through the FBI's witness protection program. Frank Tagliano was intrigued by Lillehammer when he saw television images of the Winter Olympics in 1994, and therefore chooses to start his new life there. The transition from being a feared and respected gangster in New York, to become an unemployed immigrant in Norway, is not simple. Frank discovers that to get up and in the Norwegian rural society, he must resort to the old, ruthless methods. The spelling of the series title alludes to Tagliano's dog Lily, and the way that Frank and some other anglophones pronounce the town's name.

After a serial killer imitates the plots of his novels, successful mystery novelist Richard "Rick" Castle receives permission from the Mayor of New York City to tag along with an NYPD homicide investigation team for research purposes.

An actor returns home after a public meltdown. Partnering with his police detective friend, he tries to use his acting experience to solve real crimes.

Constable Benton Fraser, an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is attached to the Canadian consulate but works with Chicago Police Department to solve crimes.

Dogged investigator Allegra Dill returns to her border-town Texas home after her sister is murdered. What begins as a search for a killer turns into an all-consuming fight to bring her corrupt hometown to its knees.

New Zealand's capital is a hotbed of supernatural activity... so Officers Minogue and O'Leary, who featured in the vampire documentary What We Do In The Shadows, take to the streets to investigate all manner of paranormal phenomena.

Walter Sherman, an Iraq War veteran, has the extraordinary ability to help people find the unfindable.

Comedy drama following a mismatched pair of police officers who disagree on everything with their partner, from policing to their personal life.

Three "good girl" suburban wives and mothers suddenly find themselves in desperate circumstances and decide to stop playing it safe and risk everything to take their power back.

Twisted true stories of people who have gone missing, leaving behind secrets and frantic loved ones; these missing persons investigations lead to unexpected outcomes.

In early 90s Boston, an African-American District Attorney comes in from Brooklyn advocating change and forms an unlikely alliance with a corrupt yet venerated FBI veteran invested in maintaining the status quo. Together they take on a family of armored car robbers from Charlestown in a case that grows to encompass and eventually upend Boston’s city-wide criminal justice system.

The Defenders is a drama about two colorful Las Vegas defense attorneys who go all-in when it comes to representing their clients. Nick and Pete are the local go-to guys with an eclectic client list who are still looking to hit their own jackpot.