20 best shows like Payback (1999)

A former Marine out to punish the criminals responsible for his family's murder finds himself ensnared in a military conspiracy.

Before there was Batman, there was GOTHAM. Everyone knows the name Commissioner Gordon. He is one of the crime world's greatest foes, a man whose reputation is synonymous with law and order. But what is known of Gordon's story and his rise from rookie detective to Police Commissioner? What did it take to navigate the multiple layers of corruption that secretly ruled Gotham City, the spawning ground of the world's most iconic villains? And what circumstances created them – the larger-than-life personas who would become Catwoman, The Penguin, The Riddler, Two-Face and The Joker?

Robyn McCall, an enigmatic former CIA operative with a mysterious background, uses her extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn.

Set in the aftermath of Jax Teller’s death, Ezekiel "EZ" Reyes is fresh out of prison and a prospect in the Mayans M.C. charter on the Cali/Mexi border. Now, EZ must carve out his new identity in a town where he was once the golden boy with the American Dream in his grasp.

A contemporary and culturally resonant drama about a young programmer, Elliot, who suffers from a debilitating anti-social disorder and decides that he can only connect to people by hacking them. He wields his skills as a weapon to protect the people that he cares about. Elliot will find himself in the intersection between a cybersecurity firm he works for and the underworld organizations that are recruiting him to bring down corporate America.

The true story of a decades-long conflict between the Los Angeles Police Department, under the determined leadership of Police Chief William Parker, and ruthless criminal elements led by Mickey Cohen, a one-time boxer who rose to the top of L.A.'s criminal world. The series is a fast-paced crime drama set in Los Angeles during the 1940s and '50s. It's a world of glamorous movie stars, powerful studio heads, returning war heroes, a powerful and corrupt police force and an even more dangerous criminal network determined to make L.A. its West Coast base.

The lives of an ambitious businesswoman, a charming gang enforcer and a troubled teen collide amidst a desperate — and sinister — pursuit of wealth.

Syd Burnett has left her complicated past behind to become an LAPD detective. Paired with a new partner, Nancy McKenna, a working mom with an equally complex past, Syd is pushed to examine whether her unapologetic lifestyle might be masking a greater personal secret. These two women don't agree on much, but they find common ground when it comes to taking on the most dangerous criminals in Los Angeles.

Grace, a morally and emotionally-conflicted undercover detective, is tormented by the possibility that her own actions contributed to her son’s death. Grace’s search for the truth is further complicated by her forbidden relationship with Jimmy, the crime boss who may have played a hand in the crime.

Two different young men coming together from different places stand side by side and fight against a conspiracy. They go after a past that doesn't leave behind. They bring to account of old notebooks, dirty cases, big and small lies. They're in a life with the Mafia, money, intrigue. They face against Halka, the terrifying face of which they have yet to know.

Follow a disillusioned teen recruited into a storied high school for assassins. Maintaining his moral code while surviving a ruthless curriculum, vicious social cliques, and his own adolescent uncertainties may prove fatal.

Given superstrength and durability by a sabotaged experiment, a wrongly accused man escapes prison to become a superhero for hire.

When the head of a criminal organisation, Finn Wallace is assassinated, the sudden power vacuum his death creates threatens the fragile peace between the intricate web of gangs operating on the streets of the city. Now it’s up to the grieving, volatile and impulsive Sean Wallace to restore control and find those responsible for killing his father.

As a young associate, Mitchell McDeere brought down the prestigious Memphis law firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke, which operated as a front for the Chicago mob—and his life was never the same. After a difficult decade, which included a stay in the Federal Witness Protection program, Mitch and his family now emerge from isolation to reclaim their lives and their future—only to find that past dangers are still lurking and new threats are everywhere.

Robert McCall is a former agent of a secret government agency who is now running his own private crime fighting operation where he fashions himself as "The Equalizer." It is a service for victims of the system who have exhausted all possible means of seeking justice and have nowhere to go. McCall promises to even out the odds for them.

Simon Templar is The Saint, a handsome, sophisticated, debonair, modern-day Robin Hood who recovers ill-gotten wealth and redistributes it to those in need.

What does it take to be a detective in one of America's toughest cities? Follow one homicide unit as Detroit's finest unearth the crisis and revelation, heartbreak and heroism of these inner city cops in Detroit, Michigan.

After a tragic ending to her short-lived super hero stint, Jessica Jones is rebuilding her personal life and career as a detective who gets pulled into cases involving people with extraordinary abilities in New York City.

Alex Godman, the English-raised son of Russian mafia exiles, has spent his life trying to escape the shadow of their past, building his own legitimate business and forging a life with his girlfriend Rebecca. But when a murder forces his family's past to return to threaten them, Alex is drawn into the criminal underworld and must confront his values to protect those he loves.

An action-packed Las Vegas thriller about a former military operative turned security expert who is drawn into a high-stakes game where an organization of wealthy individuals gamble on his ability to stop some of the biggest crimes imaginable from playing out. Can he take them down from the inside and get revenge for the death of his wife, or is it true what they say: the House always wins.

Person of Interest follows former CIA paramilitary operative, John Reese, who is presumed dead and teams up with reclusive billionaire Finch to prevent violent crimes in New York City by initiating their own type of justice. With the special training that Reese has had in Covert Operations and Finch's genius software inventing mind, the two are a perfect match for the job that they have to complete. With the help of surveillance equipment, they work "outside the law" and get the right criminal behind bars. 

The elite unit of the New York office of the FBI brings to bear all their talents, intellect and technical expertise on major cases in order to keep New York and the country safe.

The story of the Miami Police Department's vice squad and its efforts to end drug trafficking and prostitution, centered on the unlikely partnership of Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs - who first meet when Tubbs is undercover in a drug cartel.

Lawyer-by-day Matt Murdock uses his heightened senses from being blinded as a young boy to fight crime at night on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen as Daredevil.

In a town in southern Spain where racial tensions run high among the workers in its many greenhouses, a cop investigates the murder of a young woman.

In 2008, a fight over land in a seaside town near Rome spirals into a deadly battle between organized crime, corrupt politicians and the Vatican.

The numb existences of Martin Jones, a police officer with secrets to hide, and Jesus, a traumatized avenging son, collide in a ghostly Los Angeles where several ruthless criminal gangs fight for their turf and dictate who lives and who dies.

A locally born and bred S.W.A.T. lieutenant is torn between loyalty to the streets and duty to his fellow officers when he's tasked to run a highly-trained unit that's the last stop for solving crimes in Los Angeles.

A sexy, suspense-driven legal thriller about a group of ambitious law students and their brilliant, mysterious criminal defense professor. They become entangled in a murder plot and will shake the entire university and change the course of their lives.

The disastrous meltdown of a nuclear power plant in Northern Spain created a contaminated no-go zone and left the nearby provincial city and inhabitants in a state of shock and mourning. Three years later, while the city prepares for the commemoration ceremony, a mutilated body is found in a warehouse. Police inspector Hector Uria's search for the murderer takes him deep into the no-go zone and into his own past.

Just an ordinary boy from the Sofia suburbs becomes the first bulgarian undercover cop. Forced by his father when he was young to lie and cheat, Martin becomes the perfect liar. That skill, and also the hatred of the 'underworld' makes him the perfect match for a dangerous mission - to infiltrate the crime organisation of a rich and powerful businessman. While infiltrating and living in fear of being uncovered, Martin falls in love with the most inappropriate woman - Djaro's girlfriend, Suni. Just when he gains the trust of the mobsters, it appears that the real enemy is in the police. Martin is alone against all, facing difficult decisions.

New Orleans judge Michael Desiato is forced to confront his own deepest convictions when his son is involved in a hit and run that embroils an organized crime family.

Banshee: Origins is a series of webisodes based on the American drama television series produced by Cinemax called Banshee. The series offers flashbacks in-between the time where Lucas Hood was arrested and when Sheriff Lucas Hood first arrived in Banshee.

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 group of vigilantes known informally as “The Boys” set out to take down corrupt superheroes with no more than blue-collar grit and a willingness to fight dirty.

When a mafia family named Koçovars are in danger of losing control of their neighborhood, “The Pit,” their youngest son must come back home, a place he could never truly escape.

A character drama based on the 2001 Elmore Leonard short story "Fire in the Hole." Leonard's tale centers around U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens of Kentucky, a quiet but strong-willed official of the law. The tale covers his high-stakes job, as well as his strained relationships with his ex-wife and father.

Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior was a short-lived American police procedural drama that aired on CBS. The show debuted in 2011 as a spin-off from the successful Criminal Minds, which had premiered in 2005. This edition's profiling team also worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia. In an April 2010 episode of Criminal Minds, during the show's fifth season, the original team met the new team and worked with them to find a San Francisco serial killer. This episode served as the new series' backdoor pilot. Just like the parent series, CBS owned the underlying North American rights, while ABC owned the international rights. The series premiered on February 16, 2011, and filled the Wednesday 10 pm time slot, airing immediately after the original Criminal Minds. CBS cancelled the series on May 17, 2011. The series ends with a cliffhanger. On September 6, 2011 CBS DVD released the complete series as a 4 disc-set. It is packaged as "The DVD Edition". There are numerous special features and two episode commentaries with the cast and crew. The set includes the backdoor pilot from season five of the original show.

After faking his own death, notorious gangster Volkov (Wolf) retires overseas with a new identity. When his parents die in a car accident 20 years later, he secretly returns to his hometown and learns that the nephew of a local mobster is responsible for his parents’ death. After killing the man, a battle between the old-newcomer and local crime bosses unfolds.

Police duo Bishop and Pike are two best mates bonded by the same moral code, despite their differences. Packed full of humour, action and emotion, Bulletproof is about friendship, conspiracies and ghosts from the past.

Two homicide detectives, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim, are assigned to investigate cases involving people with superhuman abilities, referred to as “Powers.” Set amidst today’s paparazzi culture, Powers asks the questions, what if the world was full of superheroes who aren't actually heroic at all? What if all that power was just one more excuse for mischief, mayhem, murder, and endorsement deals?

Working for the FBI's Deep Cover Operations division, Martin Odum can transform himself into a different person -- whether it's an assignment as a Serbian extremist, a corrupt Chicago police officer, a British special forces colonel, or a legendary computer hacker. But when he learns that his life, itself, may be a lie, he faces the demands of his job and a desire to solve the mystery of his identity. And given the choice between the two, Odum doesn't always make the right decision. From the producers of "Homeland," "Legends" is based on Robert Littell's award-winning book.

Nikita will stop at nothing to expose and destroy Division, the secret U.S. agency who trained her as a spy and assassin.

Walking Tall is an American television drama series that ran on NBC in 1981 for one season of seven episodes. The first 5 episodes aired Saturday nights at 9:00 p.m.. The last 2 episodes aired Tuesday nights at 10:00 p.m. NBC reran all 7 episodes from April-August 1981. This one-hour show was based on the 1973 film Walking Tall, which was based on the life of Buford Pusser. Here, Pusser is the sheriff of McNeal County, Tennessee, fighting criminals each week in 1969.

A small group of military veterans sets out to rob a major bank in Pittsburgh. When things go awry, they're forced to take more than a dozen hostages from all walks of life, including a wealthy and powerful businessman's daughter.

Plague decimates late 16th century Seville, a crowded city where many have arrived to embark for the New World to seek their fortune.

Elijah Kane is prepping his team for court to convict Nicoli Putin of murder when they're ambushed by Putin's men. The season finale of True Justice Season 1.

After years of blood, sweat and tears, a woman of humble origin ends up becoming a drug trafficking legend, with all that that means...

On Christmas Eve, a hit-man enters a church to confess his sins to a priest. While at first the Confessor seems to be an evil, cold-blooded killing machine and the Priest the ultimate arbiter of good, as the Confessor’s journey is revealed, it becomes clear that both men are much more complicated than either could have suspected.

It takes a brave, selfless man to make himself a "human target" in order to save the lives of those in danger. Based on the popular DC Comics comic book and graphic novel, Human Target is a full-throttle action drama centered on Christopher Chance, a unique private contractor/security expert/bodyguard hired to protect.