Best of the 00s: Best Procedurals

Procedurals: also known as cop/doctor shows, or shows that I enjoy and frequently watch in syndication. They're ubiquitous, but here are five that stand out to me, each with a representative episode.

Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC, 1999-present)

Every person has their favorite L&O; mine is SVU. The show is sometimes criticized for the intensity of its characters' "taking it personally" (particularly Christopher Meloni's Elliot Stabler) but I think the element of the personal, and its execution by SVU's rock-solid cast, is what makes SVU the best Law and Order franchise.

Episode: "Ghost", February 22, 2005

This episode serves as the follow-up to 2003's excellent "Loss," where the show's A.D.A Alexandra Cabot went into the Witness Protection Program after being shot while working on a case involving a powerful drug cartel. Cabot's return in "Ghost" to testify against that cartel features a great performance by Stephanie March as Cabot grapples with the past and rejoins colleagues who believed she was dead.

Bones (Fox, 2005-present)

I got sucked into watching Bones in reruns on TNT this summer. (They show two episodes a day! You can watch a whole season in two weeks!) The show utilizes unique characterization in a manner that frequently elevates what can be rote about mystery procedurals, particularly in the standout chemistry between Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz.

Episode: "Aliens in a Spaceship", November 15, 2006

This episode, which introduces the serial killer The Gravedigger, is Bones firing on all cylinders. The Gravedigger's m.o. of placing victims in sealed containers and demanding ransom be paid before their air runs out comes brilliantly into play as Brennan and Hodges find themselves trapped underground in Brennan's car and use their collective scientific ingenuity to craft a series of MacGyver-esque survival-prolonging tactics. Shows featuring intelligent characters don't always utilize their alleged knowledge - this episode was a refreshing example of what can happen when they do.

Cold Case (CBS, 2003-present)

There is one surefire way to get me to weep like a baby: put on an episode of Cold Case. Sure, it'll take about fifty minutes, but when that ending montage comes where the ghost of the victim appears to their loved one to show that they're finally at peace, I am Cold Case's bitch. Recently I was watching an episode I hadn't seen before, and midway through I was all, "I'm totally okay. I'm definitely not going to cry during this one," and twenty minutes later I was reaching for the tissues.

Episode: "Forever Blue", December 3, 2006

I've written about this episode, which centers on the tragic story of two police officers in love in the late 60s, before, and there's really not much to add to that. I'll just say that I watched it again recently and not only did it still make me weep at the end, but it's become one of those things where knowing what happens at the end makes me weep throughout the episode.

House, M.D. (Fox, 2004-present)

Did Fox ever luck out with Hugh Laurie - he has defined the character of Gregory House so thoroughly that he carries the show over ebbs and flows in quality that would destroy one with a less charismatic lead. The show also benefits from functioning in a clearly defined niche - diagnostic medicine - which distinguishes it from other shows in a genre that can often feel tired.

Episode: "House's Head", May 12, 2008

This first part of the fourth season finale started with an intriguing premise: how does House solve a diagnostic mystery when a) he's the patient and b) he has a head injury resulting from a bus accident. The hour of step-retracing and fantasy sequences culminated in a gut-punch of an ending when House realized that his clues were pointing to Anne Dudek's Amber having been in the accident with him, which in turn lead to what is almost certainly the show's best-executed character exit.

Grey's Anatomy (ABC, 2005-present)

If it were a more consistent show, Grey's would probably be on my best dramas list. However, the highs have been so high that the show is impossible to ignore. When ads originally ran for the show, it didn't seem like it would depart too far from the standard medical show format. The tack of having patient problems reflect the interpersonal relationships of the doctors wasn't always as subtle as it could have been, but with a solid cast, creator Shonda Rhimes made it work. Every time I think I'm ready to give up on Grey's, it sucks me back in.

Episode: "It's the End of the World"/"As We Know It", February 5/12, 2006

Grey's was on fire in its second season (for serious, the season was concluding while my sophomore year in college was coming to a close and my friends and I were totally obsessed. One of my non-watching friends came by during one of the season's final episodes when he was leaving for the summer, and we were all fully watching the TV over his shoulder as we hugged and said our goodbyes.) and this two-parter - the first part of which was ABC's post-Super Bowl selection - is a perfect example of the show firing on all cylinders. Like many Grey's sweeps episodes, this pair featured an outlandish central case - a man comes in with an unexploded bomb lodged in his chest. Sterling guest performances by Christina Ricci as the EMT holding the bomb in place and Kyle Chandler as the bomb squad leader, plus the storyline of George assisting Bailey as she gave birth (which included the notorious first appearance of "va-jay-jay") made this a Grey's classic.