I recently watched ‘Lucifer’ on Netflix. A very charming, smart and altogether “special” man helping the police solve crimes. I love this show, but it also made me realize I had “seen this before”. This concept where an (idiot) savant works as a civilian consultant for the LAPD, the FBI or some other police unit. I don’t mind the repetition one bit. It is a fascinating concept: civilians with exceptional powers, abilities, qualities, connections and insights help catch the bad guys. The savant is usually quite charming, he is very prone to break the law, he has a tendency to drive the detective he is partnered up with crazy and – very important – he also has a dark side… In Lucifer’s case he is the Devil himself. 

1. Lucifer

And I mean that in the literal sense. Because Lucifer is the actual devil. After spending an eternity in Hell, condemned by his Dad to punish the dead for their bad behavior during their life on earth, Lucifer decides he needs a vacation. He and his personal Demon, a beautiful but soulless woman named Mazekeen, decide to take this well needed break from Hell in the City of Angels. What happens next is epic. You need to watch it. I binge watched Lucifer in record time. As the Devil he quickly settles into a very hedonistic, narcissistic, ego centrical lifestyle. But this all slowly starts to change when he begins working with detective Decker. A very smart and beautiful police woman that’s not only immune to his devilish charisma but also helps him become a better person, I mean Devil, or maybe just Angel.

2. The Mentalist

This is probably the show you thought of first, when I suggested the whole ‘brilliant but tormented civilian consultant’. And to be fair, The Mentalist was the first show I ever saw in this genre. Simon Baker was my first savant love and that love is still going strong. He plays a grief strikken former mentalist, who is helping the police to solve crimes and catch killers. But he actually only has one real mission. His wife and child where murdered due to his arrogance. So now he has decided to use his gift to find their killer and bring him to justice.

3. The Blacklist

Reddington is a master mind criminal and informant to the FBI, who has an obsession with agent Elisabeth Keene. Is he her dad? Her safe keeper? The cause of all evil in her life? We don’t know. But we keep watching, because together they catch a lot of high profile criminals. Reddington is played by James Spader, who is very interesting and charismatic. Fascinating to watch.

4. Limitless

I saw the movie first: it’s about an unsuccessful writer – played by Bradley Cooper – who’s life is falling apart, until he is introduced to a very exclusive drug, called NZT. This drug turns him into the smartest human on the planet. After the movie came the TV show. Badley Cooper is now a very successful politician and we follow a deadbeat musician, that starts taking NZT to turn his life around. Every time he takes a pill he becomes insanely smart and helps the police solve all kinds of crimes. The “beautiful and smart” police detective in Limitless is played by Jennifer Carpenter, who was “the sister” in Dexter.

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5. White Collar

Neal is a very talented and high profile art forger and thieve. When he is caught by FBI agent Peter Burke he is offered a deal to work as an informant. Together they solve cases and they become good friends. But there is always a little bit of mistrust. After all, Neal is a world class deceiver and Peter is a cop. So. no female detective in this one, but it is very entertaining. It also helps that Matt Bomer is very easy on the eyes.

6. Castle

Richard Castle is a best-selling mystery novelist. He is very arrogant and irritating. He wants to be a consultant for the Ney York Police Department so he can get over his writer’s block. The beautiful detective he is assigned to does not want to work with him at first. But of course she starts to fall for his annoying charismatics. I only watched one season: apparently I was immune to his allure.

7. Fringe

This TV show checks all the boxes of the typical “savant civilian consultant” TV show, except one. Yes, there is a highly intelligent consultant involved (two even) and of course, the FBI agent they help is very brave, smart and beautiful and sure, they catch bad guys and cross all kinds of lines. But Fringe is darker than most of the other shows. It is a real thriller. It’s not funny, there are no moments to relax: it is one scary *ss show. And also very gross. You have to be fascinated by/ have a stomach for weird and creepy diseases, savagely dissected human bodies and strange, out of this world viruses. I had to stop after two episodes: I need something a little bit lighter.

8. Medium

It’s been a very long time since I watched Medium and I don’t think I saw it through till the end. But I do remember liking it at first. Medium is about Allison Dubois – played by Patricia Arquette – who can speak to the dead. Kind of a handy skill when it comes to solving murders.