Police Drama Movies

Filmed entirely on location in Hawaii, the show followed Jack Lord as he played Steve McGarrett, head of an elite state police unit investigating "organized crime, murder, assassination attempts, foreign agents, felonies of every type." James MacArthur played his second-in-command Danny ("Danno") Williams, with local actors Kam Fong, Zulu, Al Harrington, and Herman Wedemeyer, among others, playing members of the Five-O team. Guest stars included Helen Hayes, Ricardo Montalban, Leslie Nielsen, Herbert Lom, Hume Cronyn among others. McGarrett's nemesis is the evil Wo Fat - "a Red Chinese agent in charge of the entire Pacific Asiatic theatre.

Season two of 21 Jump Street finds a team of youthful LAPD officers continuing to weed out adult criminals by posing as high-school teenagers -- a sort of Mod Squad for the 1980s. Back in harness are Johnny Depp as Officer Tom Hanson, Peter DeLuise as Officer Doug Penhall (less chubby and comical and more "buff" and action-prone than in the series' maiden season), Holly Robinson as Officer Judy Hoffs, and Dustin Nguyen as Officer Harry Truman Ioki. And as before, the team takes its orders from no-nonsense police captain Adam Fuller (Steven Williams). This year's crop of guest stars is an impressive one, including Lynne Moody, Marcia Rodd, former Adam-12 leading man Kent McCord (as Tom Hanson's father), and a young Brad Pitt, cast as a popular high schooler who inexplicably commits suicide. Among the season's top episodes are the two-part "Besieged," in which the team swoops down upon a deadly crack ring and also attempts to expose a rogue cop, and "Christmas in Saigon," in which viewers learns the real name of Vietnam refugee H.T. Ioki. Season two ends on a semi-cliffhanger, as the LAPD higher-ups consider the possibility of disbanding the Jump Street team. ~ Rovi

With the inauguration of its second season, this popular "procedural" series streamlines its title, forsaking the cumbersome Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service for the more familiar NCIS. Joining series regulars Mark Harmon (Leroy Jethro Gibbs), Shana Alexander (Kate Todd), Michael Weatherly (Tony DiNozzo), Pauley Perrette (Abby Sciuto) and David McCallum ("Ducky" Mallard) is former guest actor Sean Murray as MIT-educated lab tech Tim McGee, who is invited to join the NCI team by head man Gibbs himself. Amidst such story elements as kidnappings, serial killers, serial rapists, crop circles, mob hits, transsexuals, disembodied eyeballs and bikini contests, this season permits the viewer to learn just a tiny bit more about the clouded past lives of Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard; we also meet for the first time Ducky's 96-year-old mother, played by Nina Foch (actually 80 years old at the time, and only nine years older than her "son" David McCallum!) And given the world climate, it isn't surprising that the Season Two episodes would make numerous pointed references to the Iraq War and the general unrest in the Middle East. Episodes of note include "Call of Silence", with Charles Durning in the Emmy-nominated role of a highly decorated marine who confesses to committing murder in the heat of battle--60 years earlier; "Doppelganger", which per its title amusingly featutres a team of Virginia law-enforcement officers who are virtual clones of the familier NCI-ers; and "SWAK", wherein team member Tony is among the victims of a bio-terrorist attack. The devastating season finale "Twilight" marks the return of the team's most formidable adversary, Hamad/Mossad double agent and terrorist Ari (Rudolf Martin), who among other acts of villainy coldbloodedly murders one of NCIS' most popular leading characters! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The first full season of Homicide: Life on the Street (in its third year on the ABC prime-time schedule) features a new addition to the Baltimore PD homicide unit: night-shift commander Megan Russert (Isabella Hofmann), whose blunt manner rubs everyone -- especially her day-shift counterpart, Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) -- the wrong way. Among the season's various story arcs: Det. Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin) and his wife separate, whereupon she takes the kids and goes into hiding; detectives Munch (Richard Belzer) and Lewis (Clark Johnson) decide to open their own bar, with some behind-the-scenes help (and hindrance) from their young colleague Bayliss (Kyle Secor); and the entire division goes on an all-out search for the elusive "white glove killer." In other developments, the cops find out what happened to their former co-worker Crossetti, who had completely vanished from sight at the end of season two; Det. Pembleton (Andre Braugher) considers resigning when he thinks he has been made the patsy in a high-profile coverup; and Felton, Howard (Melissa Leo), and Bolander (Ned Beatty) are seriously injured in a botched arrest -- for which Giardello may have to take the fall. Additionally, several guest stars dot the Baltimore landscape, including NBC newsman Tim Russert, and, in a crossover with the NBC series Law & Order, Chris Noth in his familiar role as NYPD detective Mike Logan. As the season draws to a close, Russert is suddenly and unexpectedly promoted, and Pembleton's family is placed in jeopardy by a vengeance-seeking psycho. ~ Rovi

Jailed on a trumped-up charge near the end of season three, LAPD undercover officer Tom Hanson (Johnny Depp) is released from prison as 21 Jump Street enters its fourth season. The release has been engineered by Tom's partner, Officer Dennis Booker (Richard Grieco), who then resigns from the force (the better for actor Grieco to launch his own spin-off starring series, Booker). Back at 21 Jump Street headquarters, Tom resumes his duties as a member of a team of youthful cops who pose as teenagers in order to root out and bring down adult criminals. As in previous seasons, season four offers an interesting array of guest performers, among them future stars Robyn Lively and Shannen Doherty, hearing-impaired standup comedien Geri Jewell, and basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. One episode, "Old Haunts in a New Age," affords the viewer a rare opportunity to see actress Pamela Segall, who is otherwise best known for her cartoon voice-over work on such animated series as King of the Hill (in which she essays the male role of Bobby Hill!). Although 21 Jump Street would be canceled by the Fox network at the end of its fourth season, the series lived on for an additional year in off-network syndication. ~ Rovi

NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) is more than just an action drama. With liberal doses of humor, it's a show that focuses on the sometimes complex and always amusing dynamics of a team forced to work together in high-stress situations. NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), a former Marine gunnery sergeant, whose skills as an investigator are unmatched, formerly led this troupe of colorful personalities. Gibbs, a man of few words, only needs a look to explain it all. The team includes NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), an ex-homicide detective who may come off as the world's oldest frat boy, but whose instincts in the field are unparalleled; forensic specialist Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette), a talented scientist whose dark wit matches her Goth style and eclectic tastes, NCIS Special Agent Timothy McGee (Sean Murray), an MIT graduate whose brilliance with computers far overshadows his insecurities in the field and Ziva David (Cote de Pablo), a former Moussad agent who shares a bond with Gibbs over the death of his arch nemesis, Ari, the terrorist who killed former NCIS Special Agent Kate Todd. Assisting the team is medical examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum), who knows it all because he's seen it all, and he's not afraid to let you know. Rounding out the team is NCIS director Jennifer Shepard (Lauren Holly) who has a romantic history with Gibbs. From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, these special agents travel the globe to investigate all crimes with Navy or Marine Corps ties. The 19 episodes of Season 5 aired from 2007-8 on CBS.

Still not completely recovered from the serious injuries incurred during the near-apocalyptic Season Three finale of NCIS, Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) has at the outset of Season Four retired from his position as head of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service comprised of Ziva David (Cote de Pablo), Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette), Tim McGee (Sean Murray) and Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum). Now the team is under the command of hotheaded DiNozzo--but not for long. Emerging from his self-imposed exile when his coworker Ziva is placed in jeopardy in the season opener "Shalom", Gibbs has assumed command of the team by the next episode "Escape", and within a few weeks he's working at full throttle. However, despite the tantalizing revelations throughout Season Three, the intensely private Gibbs still remains something of an enigma to the other NCI-ers--a fact that proves most frustrating to the unit's director Jennifer Shepard (Lauren Holly, who also happens to be Gibbs' former lover. (Among the "clues" to Gibbs' former life this time around is the unexpected appearance of his sister Sarah, played by Troian Bellisario, daughter of series producer Donald P. Bellisario). Newcomers to the recurring-character roster this year included Scottie Thompson as Tony's girlfriend Jeanne Benoit, a DC-based doctor; and Susanna Thompson as Lt. Col. Hollis Mann, Gibbs' counterpart in the Army CID, with whom Gibbs implicitly begins a romance as the season winds down. Season Four concludes with the cliffhanging "Angel of Death", in which all the team members are ordered to take a Homeland Security polygraph tests. Can it be that the many secrets long withheld by Gibbs and his cohorts are at last to be exposed for the world to see? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Filmed entirely on location in Hawaii, the show followed Jack Lord as he played Steve McGarrett, head of an elite state police unit investigating "organized crime, murder, assassination attempts, foreign agents, felonies of every type." James MacArthur played his second-in-command Danny ("Danno") Williams, with local actors Kam Fong, Zulu, Al Harrington, and Herman Wedemeyer, among others, playing members of the Five-O team. Guest stars included Helen Hayes, Ricardo Montalban, Leslie Nielsen, Herbert Lom, Hume Cronyn among others. McGarrett's nemesis is the evil Wo Fat — "a Red Chinese agent in charge of the entire Pacific Asiatic theatre.