The true crime fixation has always been somewhat real for TV viewers, but the obsession grew more real with the rise of the streaming realm. Netflix, Peacock, Amazon, Hulu, HBO Max, and Paramount+ have all joined in with the “fun,” and we’ve done our part to round up the 50 best true crime shows. So true crime fans: lock the doors, draw those blinds, and pick a show to watch from the list below.
Last updated September 8, 2023.
1. The Staircase (The O.G.)
Year: 2004-2018
Starring: Michael Peterson
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (14 episodes)
Director: Jean-Xavier de Lestrade
Trailer: Watch here
This doesn’t technically qualify as the O.G. true crime series of all time, but one would be hard-pressed to find a more notoriously bingeable classic than Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s The Staircase. The story of Michael Peterson emerged in this simmering series that delved into the part he played in his wife’s 2001 death. Kathleen did, of course, die under mysterious circumstances, and theories still abound that might reveal a cause more extraordinary and downright bizarre. Michael has been already been convicted and released for time served, but follow-up episodes happened, along with an HBO dramatization that appears further down in this list.
2. Under The Banner Of Heaven
Year: 2022
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Gil Birmingham, Daisy Edgar-Jones
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (7 episodes)
Director: David Mackenzie
Trailer: Watch here
Now for something completely different. This series will hit the spot for who’s still salty about how True Detective‘s second season shook out. The story is based upon Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction bestseller, for which A Story of Violent Faith is a subtitle, so you can accurately guess that things don’t go well for the character played by Daisy Edgar-Jones (who also had quite an ordeal in this year’s Fresh). The story presents a husband-as-suspect to a double murder, but it swiftly becomes apparent that there’s much more going on, and Andrew Garfield shines as a detective who’s also a devout Latter Day Saints member. Those lingering Spidey senses do still come in handy for him, as well as for this show’s audience. Cue some swirling conspiracies that the Mormon church hasn’t enjoyed IRL, which means that this one strikes a chord on multiple levels. That’s a hallmark of an enduring true-crime show, for sure.
3. Chernobyl
Year: 2019
Starring: Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Emily Watson, Jesse Buckley, Paul Ritter
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (5 episodes)
Director: Johan Renck
Trailer: Watch here
Nuclear crimes (and their cover ups) are definitely crimes, so this show counts for the list. Showrunner Craig Mazin (who is now masterfully helming The Last Of Us in a completely different realm for HBO) did the thing here, long after his work on The Hangover franchise, to give us an unflinching look at one of the most devastating man-made disasters in history. Not only that, but this series proved that event TV could still exist on HBO even after Game of Thrones. Through five rollercoaster episodes, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant explosion yielded heroic sacrifices and catastrophic f*ckups and the horrifying, heartbreaking story that one won’t find in the history books. Mazin and director Johan Renck left no detail unturned in their quest for authenticity, and the dynamic duo of Jared Harris and Stellan Skarsgård can’t be beat for an all-encompassing portrait of the best and worst that humanity has to offer.
4. The Jinx: The Life And Deaths Of Robert Durst
Year: 2015
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (6 episodes)
Director: Andrew Jarecki
Trailer: Watch here
In early 2022, Robert Durst died while incarcerated, but it took a hell of an effort to put him behind bars in the first place. During the production of The Jinx, no one knew whether he’d ever pay for his fatal crimes, given that Durst had been repeatedly been accused of murder but never successfully convicted. His luck did eventually run out, but when this series debuted in 2015, this limited series highlighted the wild history of its subject while pointedly noting his long-standing status as a suspect in his wife’s disappearance 40+ years prior. And as it turned out, his ultimate conviction involved Durst killing someone who knew too much about that old crime. This project dives into police files and archival footage just like many other true crime docuseries tend to do, but the end result is wholly unique and hits even harder after his conviction.
5. I’ll Be Gone In The Dark
Year: 2020
Starring: Michelle McNamara, Patton Oswalt
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (7 episodes)
Director: Liz Garbus
Trailer: Watch here
The life and work of the late Michelle McNamara — citizen investigator, blogger, and admitted developer of a “murder habit” — takes center stage in this revelatory series. At the time of her death, Michelle’s husband (Patton Oswalt) decided to do everything possible to complete the book that became the subject of this limited story, which emerges as a “portrait of an artist” who also happened to live for the pursuit of justice. Michelle’s book led to the arrest of her biggest obsession, the Golden State Killer, and this led to closure for the victims (and their families) who suffered for decades after the perpetrator’s 50 rapes and 12 murders. Following Joseph James DeAngelo’s capture, he pled guilty on the day after this series’ debut, and the entire shakedown followed miraculous efforts by McNamara and her post-death collaborators, investigative journalist Billy Jensen and crime writer Paul Haynes. It’s a story of obsession, yes, but one that thankfully led to progress.
6. Narcos/Narcos Mexico
Year: 2015 – 2021
Starring: Wagner Moura, Pedro Pascal, Boyd Holbrook, Scoot McNairy, José María Yazpik, Alejandro Edda, Michael Peña, Diego Luna
Genre: Crime dramatization
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 3 (30 episodes)
Creators: Carlo Bernard, Chris Brancato, Doug Miro
Trailer: Watch here
First, the franchise tangled with the sometimes comically sad yet inherently destructive saga of Pablo Escobar (Wagner Maura) and associated drug lords. Then it took on fresh legs with a spinoff. As such, Scoot McNairy guided this explosive saga home, years after Narcos introduced us to his brother from another mother, the rough-and-tumble Agent Murphy (Boyd Holbrook). The spinoff began with Michael Peña’s wild-eyed Kiki Camerena’s ill-fated dive into taking down drug cartels that, as we later learn, never truly fall but end up sprouting hydra heads. Scoot picked up the story as a fictionalized character with plenty of demons of his own while he sought to carry on Kiki’s legacy and realize that this is a never-ending war.
7. McMillion$
Year: 2020
Starring: Agent Doug
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (6 episodes)
Directors: James Lee Hernandez, Brian Lazarte
Trailer: Watch here
Agent Doug Matthews, who is vital to the appeal of this miniseries, remains a fantastic character despite being a real-life person. It’s also really something that a popular fast-food Monopoly game became the subject of a decade long, fraudulent ring that inspired one of the most entertaining true crime series in existence. This is a simple story, really, but it’s wild to behold the sheer audacity of all involved. The mob surfaces, yes, and there’s a hefty dose of Florida going on, along with almost unprecedented glee in this retelling of events, and you can’t help but get swept up in the madness. What a fun story that you don’t have to feel even guilty about gawking at while watching. A win-win in a genre that could often (pardon the pun) use a little life.
8. The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Year: 2016
Starring: Cuba Gooding Jr., Sterling K. Brown, David Schwimmer, Nathan Lane, Sarah Paulson, Kenneth Choi, John Travolta, Courtney B. Vance
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV14
Seasons: 1 (10 episodes) of a larger anthology series
Directors: Ryan Murphy, Anthony Hemingway, John Singleton
Trailer: Watch here
The trial of the century transformed into an adapted horror tale through the deft hand of Ryan Murphy, who might (after Dahmer and The Watcher) now be the real godfather of the more exploitative wing of the true crime genre. Cuba Gooding Jr. stealthily stepped into those gloves, and David Schwimmer uttered “Juice” so many times that I nearly forgot about Ross Geller’s own reign of terror. Further, we’ve got another look at how Robert Kardashian not only helped to engineer O.J.’s (temporary) freedom following the death of Nicole Brown Simpson, but also how he inadvertently changed the very nature of fame throughout this televised trial (and by extension, through his family following his death). The nostalgia runs heavy here, obviously, because O.J.’s Bronco-bound chase turned out to be one of those moments where you always remember where you were when it popped up on TV. If the TV show fits, you must acquit (?), or something like that.
9. Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story
Year: 2022
Starring: Evan Peters, Niece Nash, Molly Ringwald, Penelope Ann Miller
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (10 episodes)
Directors: Carl Franklin, Clement Virgo, Jennifer Lynch, Gregg Araki, Paris Barclay
Trailer: Watch here
Ryan Murphy and Netflix continue their long-running love affair, even when things get seriously grody as in “cannibalism.” This series not be my cup of tea (because I do like to keep my appetite intact), but the masses quickly racked up over a billion hours of viewing time. Obviously, things got icky with Evan Peters as the infamous cannibalistic serial killer who carried out his shocking crimes from within his Wisconsin apartment. Make sure that you don’t eat too much before settling down to binge this selection, and get ready because Monster will return in anthologized form while focusing upon a different serial killer.
10. The Case Against Adnan Syed
Year: 2019
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-14
Seasons: 1 (4 episodes)
Director: Amy Berg
Trailer: Watch here
Devotees of the Serial podcast climbed aboard this followup series from Amy Berg (Deliver Us From Evil, Phoenix Rising), who follows up with exclusive Syed access and new revelations that throw all kinds of legal proceedings into disarray. As listeners already know, Syed served two decades in prison for the murder of his girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in 1999. Various motives from other parties do rear their heads, and no matter how you felt about the podcast’s accounting of events, get ready to relive and reassess them. As a late-breaking update, Syed’s conviction was actually vacated in September 2022, which has prompted an additional episode to go into production. Look for that installment in 2023.
11. When They See Us
Year: 2019
Starring: Jharrel Jerome, Asante Blackk, Freddy Miyares, Michael Kenneth Williams, Felicity Huffman
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (4 episodes)
Director: Ava DuVernay
Trailer: Watch here
This unsettling but valuable watch retells the Central Park Five case, in which five teenagers (ranging from ages 14-16) of color were arrested and charged with a host of crimes, including the rape and attempted murder of Trisha Meili, in 1989. All five defendants were convicted, and this series follows the ghastly mechanisms of corruption by police and prosecutors, who not only crushed these young men but also their families. You may not recognize the wrongly accused — Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, and Korey Wise — by name, but Ava DuVernay (who created, co-wrote, and directed here) made it her mission to imprint their journeys upon viewers.
12. Dirty John
Year: 2018
Starring: Connie Britton, Eric Bana, Julia Garner, Jean Smart
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (8 episodes)
Director: Jeffrey Reiner
Trailer: Watch here
This adaptation of a popular podcast (hosted by Christopher Goffard of L.A. Times) brought John Meehan’s psychopathic tendencies into full view through a wild-eyed portrayal by Eric Bana. Likewise, Connie Britton doled out a convincing version of Debra, who was swept up by a charismatic “anesthesiologist,” who seems to be the ideal catch but soon casts an intricate web of con-man tactics. This is a cautionary real-life tale, but it’s also an indictment of a system that allowed a manipulator to flourish. Progressively, John’s backstory disintegrates, and he terrorizes those who challenge him. This show might actually make you feel better about your own dating choices because damn, this John wasn’t simply dirty. He was downright filthy.
13. Dopesick
Year: 2021
Starring: Michael Keaton, Rosario Dawson, Peter Saarsgard
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (8 episodes)
Directors: Danny Strong, Barry Levinson, Michael Cuesta, Patricia Riggen
Trailer: Watch here
Tough subject comes to light here with Michael Keaton (executive producing) taking on the massive Oxycontin epidemic from the inside out and also (as the star) portraying a doctor who plays his own role in the mess. Big Pharma’s a big bad guy here, and this series is an intense adaptation of Beth Macy’s New York Times bestseller full of heroes and villains and a wide-spanning set of crimes staring down justice. Keaton clearly relishes being able to tackle such complex stories, and it’s a personal story for him, too, given that he lost a nephew to addiction.
14. Murder On Middle Beach
Year: 2020
Starring: Madison Hamburg
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (4 episodes)
Director: Madison Hamburg
Trailer: Watch here
This project arrives as an intensely personal one for director Madison Hamburg because it charts his own search for his mother’s killer. If that doesn’t sound harrowing enough, consider that Hamburg felt driven to do so because law enforcement’s trail ran absurdly cold. There’s also a point in the docuseries where he may have interviewed his mother’s killer on camera. And if that still doesn’t intrigue you, consider that Madison put himself into some incredibly risky situations to capture audio footage, and although Barbara Hamburg’s murder remains unsolved to this day, if there’s anyone who can possibly solve this crime, it’s this fearless filmmaker. Quite simply, Hamburg wasn’t afraid to get raw and dangerous in a project that upends the genre.
15. Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives.
Year: 2022
Starring: Sarma Melngailis
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (4 episodes)
Director: Chris Smith
Trailer: Watch here
This project charts the fall of celebrity NYC restauranteur Sarma Melngailis, who wasn’t exactly thrilled with this show’s ending, which she called “misleading,” but block out a handful of hours because once you start watching this, you don’t be able to stop. Vegan beefs will abound while viewers will wonder how, exactly, Sarma fell under the spell of shifty Anthony Strangis (who previously operated as “Shane Fox”). Before anyone really knew what was happening, he’d convinced her that dog immortality could exist, and the two had shafted her employees for paychecks and soon began living the fugitive life. Her fall from grace led to hard time at Riker’s Island, and the show explores how it went down under the most bizarre of circumstances.
16. Making A Murderer
Year: 2015-2018
Starring: Steven Avery, Brendan Dassey
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 2 (20 episodes)
Director: Laura Ricciardi, Moira Demos
Trailer: Watch here
This series helped to kick off the current avalanche of true-crime streaming content, and for good reason. Viewers relished the chance to offer input while sleuthing their way to new clues on the Teresa Halbach murder. The Steven Avery and Brandon Dassey trials captivated millions upon millions of Netflix users who dove into a rabbit hole over old and new evidence alike, and the genre would never be the same again. As well, this series inspired filmmakers and streaming services to consider and execute several spins on true crime, and we’re seeing the results spread far throughout his list.
17. Murder in Big Horn
Year: 2023
Rating: MA
Seasons: 1 (3 episodes)
Trailer: Watch here
Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon may be running far behind the original schedule, but this series adopts the same somber theme. This three-part docuseries charts the longstanding epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Big Horn County, Montana. Through in-depth interviews of Native families and local law enforcement, Native journalists persist in seeking enough information to secure a rare arrest in these cases. What emerges is a powerful and stirring portrait of communities that hopes to heal long-lasted wounds of grieving families, who have been attempting to seek the truth for centuries on end.
18. Unsolved Mysteries (Revival)
Year: 2020-2022
Starring: The ghost of Robert Stack
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 3 (21 episodes)
Trailer: Watch here
Obviously, we’re dealing with a revival here (the original series ran for 14 years and bounced between networks), and this series hasn’t made a huge headline-making splash like other entries on this list, but this is still true-crime bread and butter and impossible to ignore. These quietly-executed episodes stay compelling like the original while inviting audience participation by anyone who has clues on how to solve these crimes. The ghost of former full-time host Robert Stack looms large, and the original creators (Cosgrove/Meurer Productions) teamed up with the Stranger Things production company (21 Laps Entertainment) to bring us a product that feels both fresh and faithful to its predecessor.
19. Wild Wild Country
Year: 2018
Starring: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (6 episodes)
Directors: Maclain Way, Chapman Way
Trailer: Watch here
Mark and Jay Duplass helmed this limited series that dives into a 1980s Oregon ruckus between ranchers and a cult leader, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Actually, this series revisits the first bioterror attack on U.S. soil, in which over 750 people were poisoned with salmonella, and that’s only the beginning of the madness that transpired. In the end, the show digs into the FBI’s crusade to stop the Rajneeshees and their thousands of followers from causing more mayhem with comparisons to the Jonestown Massacre flying along with incidents of sketching wiretapping. It’s just nuts, man, but the limited series offers a lot of insight into future church-and-state collisions and honestly makes the Heaven’s Gate happenings seem moderate in comparison.
20. The Staircase (Dramatization)
Year: 2022
Starring: Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Sophie Turner, Patrick Schwarzenegger
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (8 episodes)
Director: Antonio Campos, Leigh Janiak
Trailer: Watch here
This dramatization of the Michael Peterson story (previously covered in Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s docuseries, which is our #1 pick) had a lot to prove, and it justified its own existence in spades. Colin Firth taught a master class in keeping the audience wondering about his character’s motives, which were seemingly muddled by his contradictory personality traits and his slightest of wavering expressions. Toni Collette went to extreme lengths to reenact speculative theories on how Kathleen could have died, and so much could have gone wrong during the most brutal scenes. However, the HBO series managed to respectfully wrap its hands around her memory while also considering the forensics of Kathleen’s autopsy report. The owl theory also receives its day in the sun, but ultimately, this series does well by treating Kathleen as a person, and a wife and a mother, not a chalkboard drawing in a crime scene.
21. Pam & Tommy
Year: 2022
Starring: Lily James, Sebastian Stan, Nick Offerman, Seth Rogen
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (8 episodes)
Director: Craig Gillespie
Trailer: Watch here
As much fun as this show was — and it was overall a freaking blast — it’s easy to forget that the central crime of this show led to a lot of emotional devastation. Pamela Anderson endured many years of ongoing public humiliation after real intimate moments got captured on tape and stolen and distributed to the masses. Director Craig Gillespie had the unenviable task of balancing the rock-and-roll spirit of this project with showcasing all of the Pamela fallout during this dramatization. And although the subject herself was not onboard with this project, Lily James rightfully earned accolades by going to a dark place to dredge up those feelings as the show also frivolously tossed mullets around like it ain’t no big deal.
22. Extremely Wicked Shockingly Evil And Vile
Year: 2019
Starring: Zac Efron, Lily Collins
Genre: True crime dramatization
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 110 minutes
Director: Joe Berlinger
Trailer: Watch here
Before Evan Peters was skewing the hell out of the Netflix audience in Dahmer, Zac Efron delivered a disarmingly charming performance as Ted Bundy. Joe Berlinger, who subsequently turned the true-crime genre on its head with Netflix’s Crime Scene series, directed this dramatization about a serial killer who flourished underneath everyone’s nose, and that includes his own family. Seeing Efron fully out of his usual element will spook you, and Lily Collins similarly treads into disturbing territory as Ted’s girlfriend who goes through hell in her own way.
23. Atlanta’s Missing And Murdered: The Lost Children
Year: 2020
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (5 episodes)
Director: Maro Chermayeff, Sam Pollard
Trailer: Watch here
This one’s a necessary exploration of the 1979 to 1981 years in Atlanta, where 30+ African-American children/young adults either went missing or were discovered to have been murdered. Law enforcement swiftly pinned down a suspect and declared the case to be closed, but they moved far too rashly. Dozens of families never received the answers they sought, and racial tensions quickly rose to a boil during a time when the city hoped to become a Southern mecca of commerce and culture. This case’s twisted legacy unfurls at the hands of filmmakers Maro Chermayeff and Sam Pollard.
24. Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal
Year: 2023
Genre: Documentary
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (3 episodes)
Trailer: Watch here
This Netflix series timed itself impeccably, given that it released at around the same time of the real-life trial that ended with formerly prominent attorney and disgraced heir Alex Murdaugh convicted of murder. That trial recently ended, and a verdict came swiftly regarding the deaths of Alex’s son and wife, and this series aims to take a hard look at the evidence, along with damage control from the defendant, who may have been financially motivated, at the very least. The series also takes a grim look at the legal system and those who know how to (again, allegedly) manipulate it from within their own sordid stories.
25. Black Bird
Year: 2022
Starring: Taron Egerton, Ray Liotta, Paul Walter Hauser, Greg Kinnear
Genre: True crime dramatization
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (6 episodes)
Creator: Dennis Lehane
Trailer: Watch here
This limited series brings us one of Ray Liotta’s final onscreen appearances, and yes, you’ll soon see him in the flat-out crazy Cocaine Bear, but first, prepare yourself for six hours of flat-out intensity. Liotta portrays Big Jim Keene, a veteran cop and dad to Taron Egerton’s Jimmy in this Dennis Lehane-produced adaptation of Jimmy’s In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption memoir. The drug-dealing Jimmy does end up in hell, meaning that he takes an FBI deal to go undercover at a max-security prison, where he ends up tangling with Larry Hall, a suspected serial killer played by Paul Walter Hauser. Surely, you’ve seen his work before, and he’s at his unsettling best in this unyieldingly tense series that never takes its foot off the gas.
26. The Dropout
Year: 2022
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Naveen Andrews, William H. Macy, Laurie Metcalf, Elizabeth Marvel
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (8 episodes)
Director: Michael Showalter
Trailer: Watch here
Amanda Seyfried assumed the voice Elizabeth Holmes, and that was only the beginning of exploring this enigma wrapped in a Steve Jobs-style black turtleneck. Her performance was so thorough, in fact, that Jennifer Lawrence dropped out of a similar project while stating that her predecessor had everything covered. Although the series is oddly paced, the end result is an intriguing look at how (as dubbed by Forbes) “the world’s youngest self-made woman billionaire” built a blood-testing empire upon a lie. As we now know, Holmes has been sentenced to over a decade in prison for various degrees of fraud, and this show charts the rise of a monster while posing questions on why, exactly, she got so far with her bad deeds.
27. John Wayne Gacy: Devil In Disguise
Year: 2021
Starring: John Wayne Gacy
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-14
Seasons: 1 (6 episodes)
Director: Rod Blackhurst
Trailer: Watch here
This docuseries is as disturbing as can expect due to subject matter, but more than that, director Rod Blackhurst (Amanda Knox, which is further down this list) made it a mission to also (slightly) drag the true crime genre while exploring a notorious serial killer. As Blackhurst told Indiewire, “I have always struggled with the way that true crime continues to be commodified.” He further made good on his intention to add something other than salaciousness to this project, which culminates after a full decade of work from a pair of independent journalists, Alison True and Tracy Ullman. What emerges is a wide-ranging exploration that, among other goals, exposes flaws in the justice system that led Gacy’s own victims to be sidelined in news coverage. Let’s just say that the end result is haunting in more ways than one.
28. Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story
Year: 2018
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (6 episodes)
Directors: Jenner Furst, Julia Willoughby Nason
Trailer: Watch here
This essential watch ends up being a portrait of the times that we live in today. The docuseries charts the horrible tragedy of Trayvon Martin’s death at the hand of George Zimmerman, and how the subsequent fallout launched a series of ongoing debates about how police responded and how the prosecution struggled against societal forces including race in America. As well, the project charts the burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement and points towards much work to be done, including on the issues of gun violence and how much of an uphill battle is still faced by marginalized communities who seek justice with devastating results.
29. The Watcher
Year: 2022
Starring: Bobby Cannavale, Naomi Watts, Margo Martindale, Mia Farrow, Jennifer Coolidge
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (7 episodes)
Director: Ryan Murphy, Paris Barclay, Jennifer Lynch, Max Winkler
Trailer: Watch here
This is not an objectively good series. Few people are arguing that point, but Ryan Murphy has (again) pulled together some compelling TV, and you gotta respect that game. Bobby Cannavale does the most as a patriarch who slowly comes undone as a mystery entity terrorizes his family with unsettling letters, and Naomi Watts keeps everyone guessing until the very end. Jennifer Coolidge is typically fantastic as a realtor who damn well should have known to disclose this house’s issues. The show is gloriously full of red herrings while adding flavor to the already mind-boggling investigative report from The Cut, and all of the potential suspects appear to have a delightful time with claiming and ducking responsibility. Despite the potentially triggering subject matter, this still happens to be a playful series with more to come.
30. Mindhunter
Year: 2017-2019
Starring:
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 2 (19 episodes)
Directors: David Fincher, Carl Franklin, Andrew Dominik, Asif Kapadia, Tobias Lindholm, Andrew Douglas
Trailer: Watch here
Here’s an example of a guilty pleasure that true crime viewers don’t have to feel even slightly guilty about watching. If you haven’t yet experienced this David Fincher-helmed series, you have an array of (fictionalized) serial killers awaiting you. Damon Herriman picks up Charles Manson (he also portrayed the cult leader for Quentin Tarantino), and takes on Dennis Rader, David Berkowitz, Ed Kemper, Monte Rissell, Richard Speck, Wayne Williams, Jerry Brudos are also up for the sampling.
31. The Landscapers
Year: 2021
Starring: David Thewlis, Olivia Colman
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (4 episodes)
Director: Will Sharpe
Trailer: Watch here
Will Sharpe (yes, the same dude who played pouting, stormy Ethan in The White Lotus) directed this offbeat “love story” about a pair of apparently ordinary Britons who may or may not have something to do with dead bodies found in their back yard. Olivia Colman and David Thewlis star in a story that’s anything but expected when it comes to tone. This won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but the project’s collective talent (onscreen and off) is immense, and several of the parts end up being worth more than the total sum of where this story goes.
32. Web Of Death
Year: 2023
Genre: Documentary series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (6 episodes)
Trailer: Watch here
Online sleuthing has been ongoing since the inception of the Internet, and a few years ago, HBO’s We’ll Be Gone In The Dark captured the stellar work of one online-sleuth-turned-author, Michelle McNamara, whose dogged (and collaborative) determination led to the capture of the elusive Golden State Killer. In this Netflix series, an even larger village comes together to piece together digital footprints and come together through the (occasionally productive) social media realm to solve the most disturbing unsolved cases, including a murder that has stumped sleuths for a full 50 years.
33. Candy
Year: 2022
Starring: Jessica Biel, Melanie Lynskey, Timothy Simons
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (5 episodes)
Director: Michael Uppendahl, Jennifer Getzinger, Ben Semanoff, Tara Nicole Weyr
Trailer: Watch here
Jessica Biel’s got range for miles while playing a suburban churchgoer, Candy Montgomery, who bludgeoned her next-door neighbor with an ax. Melanie Lynskey also gets to dig into another juicy, acclaimed role (murder victim Betty Gore) in this series, and the show takes several turns that make the audience abandon any black-and-white approach to evaluating motives and exactly what happened here. It’s a hell of a set of performances and one that’s particularly unsettling because of exactly how the Candy and Betty dynamic shapes up and devolves.
34. Dateline
Year: 1992 –
Starring: Lester Holt, Keith Morrison, Andrea Canning, Josh Mankiewicz, Ann Curry, Stone Phillips
Genre: News, documentary
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 31 seasons (2720+ episodes)
Trailer: Watch here
One would be remiss to not consider this long-running series’ place within America’s fascination with the true crime genre. For nearly two decades, this mainstay always seems to be around when a true-crime junkie needs a quick fix, and the show has captivatingly shown the at-home audience what happens with the doors are blown off cold cases with drastic results. If you never did catch this show in its Friday night time slot, there’s always syndication and streaming to make Stone Phillips happen again.
35. Tiger King
Year: 2020
Starring: Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin, a bunch of big cats
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 2 (12 episodes)
Directors: Eric Goode, Rebecca Chaiklin
Trailer: Watch here
Obviously, this show is not high art, but it did turn into a sensation during the early days of the pandemic. It also happened to be content that few could resist during a dearth of other fresh options, but the series was entertaining, Big Cat people are in a league of their own in terms of exploitative bad deeds, and the show dives into the world of Joe Exotic, rival Carole Baskin, and a dastardly murder-for-hire scheme that landed the former behind bars in real life. Also, there’s a whole array of odd supporting characters, and some really bad music videos to boot. Yeehaw.
36. The Lady And The Dale
Year: 2021
Starring: Liz Carmichael
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-14
Seasons: 1 (4 episodes)
Director: Nick Cammilleri, Zackary Drucker
Trailer: Watch here
Room 104 duo Mark and Jay Duplass stick with HBO to present the story of Elizabeth Carmichael, who promised the world with a fuel-efficient vehicle that was otherwise unheard of in the 1970s. From there, a mountain of intrigue eventually turned into an avalanche of exposed fraud that took her investors for a merciless ride. Interestingly enough, this series can be viewed as an auto-industry based precursor for what Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes later pulled off (at least for awhile) with blood testing.
37. Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields
Year: 2022
Genre: True crime documentary
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (3 episodes)
Creator: Joe Berlinger
Trailer: Watch here
Not too many bread-and-butter true crime series rose to the top of the crop this year, but the latest entry in Joe Berlinger’s Crime Scene made the grade. Berlinger’s anthology series revolves around settings as central characters that (arguably) aid and abet the flourishing of violent crimes. And as with the Cecil Hotel, there’s definitely a vibe that helps one understand why the so-called “Texas Killing Fields” were plenty spooky enough before bodies were discovered. In this case, Calder Road (part of the marshy surroundings between Galveston and Houston) turned into a focal point connected to the disappearance of four young women, whose murders remain cold cases to this day. This series traces decades of history tied to Calder Road’s ominous vibe, led by one grieving father who’s still searching for the truth.
38. Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer
Year: 2019
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (3 episodes)
Trailer: Watch here
The title of this series sounds like an Internet meme gone incredibly wrong, but the real story runs darker. A major trigger warning is in order for instances of animal cruelty and, just like the title indicates, amateur sleuths do team up to take down a maniac. If you’re expecting something as (relatively) light as Tiger King, then you’ll be a little shook, but it’s certainly a different type of true crime series than you’ll find on the rest of the list.
39. The Act
Year: 2019
Starring: Joey King, Patricia Arquette
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (8 episodes)
Director: Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, Adam Arkin, Christina Choe, Steven Piet, Hannah Fidell)
Trailer: Watch here
Oh, this was a painful series to witness in several spots (including that dental stuff), but what a set of powerhouse performances from Joey King and Patricia Arquette. The latter portrays Dee Dee Blanchard, who’s all up in the Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy while putting her daughter, Gypsy Rose, through torturous “treatments” for the entirety of her childhood. At a certain point in this stranger-than-fiction real-life story, Gypsy has had enough and puts an end to her own imprisonment with fatal results. All of that was already public knowledge to true-crime watchers, but the value of this production is how it exposes the obsession-fueled nightmare that led Gypsy toward such a drastic path that landed her with a 10-year prison sentence.
40. Unbelievable
Year: 2019
Starring: Toni Collette, Merritt Wever, Kaitlyn Dever
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (6 episodes)
Director: Lisa Cholodenko, Michael Dinner, Susannah Grant
Trailer: Watch here
A major trigger warning arrives for this series, which feels almost insurgent in its approach and delivers powerhouse performances from Toni Collette, Merritt Wever, and Kaitlyn Dever. The two former ladies play detectives who uncover ties between sexual assault cases that could actually achieve justice in a world where less than 1% of rapes are followed by felony convictions. Meanwhile, Dever shines a light on how so-called “imperfect victims” fight the ultimate uphill battle to tell their true stories while also not-infrequently being treated like criminals themselves. Boy, her character goes through hell while confronted with a massive burden of proof, which ends up being a legal nightmare. Admittedly, this sounds god-awful as viewing material, but it’s a watchable paradigm-shifter of a series.
41. Friend of the Family
Year: 2022
Starring: Anna Paquin, Jake Lacy, Colin Hanks, Mckenna Grace,
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (9 episodes)
Director(s): Eliza Hittman, Rachel Goldberg, Steven Piet, Jamie Travis, Lauren Wolkstein
Trailer: Watch here
Man, do not tangle with Jake Lacy, who’s in the midst of his villain track following his douche bro portrayal in The White Lotus and his chilling role as Robert Berchtold, who manipulated his way into the good graces of the Broberg family and groomed young Jan. Berchtold actually ended up kidnapping the young girl twice, and this isn’t an easy watch, but it sure as heck shows Lacy’s range and should set him up nicely for a continuing career in TV. Maybe something lighter next time, through?
42. Love & Death
Year: 2023
Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Jesse Plemons, Lily Rabe, Krysten Ritter
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (7 episodes)
Trailer: Watch here
The second Candy Montgomery series (see also Hulu’s Candy) proves that the ax murdering adulterer is having a bit of a moment. As well, David E. Kelley seldom misses, and this HBO Max series takes a more straightforward, linear approach to the horrific story, for which we already know what will come. Love & Death is a more immersive experience than the Hulu show in a way, but it also doesn’t bring enough new insight to the table to fully justify a binge for anyone who’s not a serious true crime junkie. That’s not for lack of trying or talent because there’s a ton of it on display here, especially with Elizabeth Olsen portraying the ennui-filled housewife who’s looking for that missing puzzle piece in life.
43. The Vow
Year: 2021-2022
Starring: Keith Raniere
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 2 (15 episodes)
Director: Jehane Noujaim, Karim Amer
Trailer: Watch here
Keith Raniere (referred to by many as a cult leader) now sits behind bars after a 100+ year sentence hopefully ensures that he’ll never see the light of day. This series takes some unsettling peeks behind the curtain of NXIVM, which professed to be a self-help group but ended up being anything but that. In the end, Raniere was convicted on a host of sex trafficking charges and while collar crimes, and this series delves into the emotional and legal fallout for not only the organization but Raniere’s former associates and followers. Especially with Season 2, the show takes an often uncomfortable look at the psychological manipulation happening behind the group’s so-called “secret sex sorority,” and the details are chilling to behold.
44. Crime Scene: Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel
Year: 2021
Starring: One of the scariest hotels in the universe
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (4 episodes)
Director: Joe Berlinger
Trailer: Watch here
Joe Berlinger, who’s done everything from directing Zac Efron as Ted Bundy to helming a Metallica documentary, turns the true crime genre upside down with this inaugural season of a series that treats notorious crime locations as characters within their own story. This installment takes a peek behind the soiled curtains of a notorious Los Angeles hotel that’s known as a murder trap. It’s a place where Richard Ramirez once took refuge from his crimes, and it’s where a young woman named Elisa Lam met a mysterious end with plenty of eerie, viral footage that fueled speculation about what really happened to her.
45. How To Become A Cult Leader
Year: 2023
Starring: Peter Dinklage (as narrator)
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (6 episodes)
Trailer: Watch here
Allow the docile tones of Peter Dinklage to carry you through several disturbing 30-minute journeys that illustrate how a handful of infamous cult leaders got it done. That is to say, you’ll learn how Charles Manson, Jim Jones, Heaven’s Gate leader Marshall Applewhite and more convinced their flocks to do their bidding, and that also meant the ultimate deadly sacrifices. This series hails from the creators of How to Become a Tyrant, so expect some dark humor to pepper what would otherwise be serious subject matter.
46. Inventing Anna
Year: 2021
Starring: Julia Garner
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (9 episodes)
Directors: David Frankel, Tom Verica, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Nzingha Stewart, Ellen Kuras
Trailer: Watch here
A whole lot of grifter-focused series surfaced this year, but Julia Garner raised all the eyebrows as the unusually-accented German-Russian-WTF fake heiress Anna Delvey. The dramatizations are hefty, and at least one of Delvey’s real-life victims sued over how this series portrayed her. In the end, however, Jessica Pressler’s original character study of Delvey receives the confounding adaptation that it deserves. People almost desperately wanted to believe in Delvey’s twisted version of the American Dream, and the rest is gravy-coated fallout.
47. Dr. Death
Year: 2021
Starring: Joshua Jackson, Grace Gummer, AnnaSophia Robb, Christian Slater, and Alec Baldwin
Genre: Drama series
Rating: TV14
Seasons: 1 (8 episodes) and more to come
Directors: Stephen Frears, Maggie Kiley
Trailer: Watch here
Joshua Jackson stars as real life doom-neurologist Dr. Christopher Duntsch, whose terrifying reign of medical terror became the subject of a successful Wondery podcast. All told, dozens of Duntsch’s patients never recovered from their seemingly routine spinal surgeries, and it was up to two fellow surgeons, Robert Henderson (Alec Baldwin) and Randall Kirby (Christian Slater), to sound the alarm. Before all was said and done, prosecutor Michelle Shughart (AnnaSophia Robb) fought like hell to stop Duntsch, and this docuseries takes a lengthy look at the man behind the surgeon’s mask and the tragic circumstances surrounding a system that potentially allowed a predator to flourish.
48. The Girl From Plainville
Year: 2022
Starring: Elle Fanning, Chloë Sevigny, and Colton Ryan
Genre: Drama miniseries
Seasons: 1 (8 episodes)
Director(s): Lisa Cholodenko, Zetna Fuentes, Pippa Bianco, Liz Hannah, Daniel Minahan
Trailer: Watch here
This limited series set out to do the seemingly impossible: to dramatize an incredibly sensational true-crime story without heading straight into exploitative territory. To those who frequent the Internet, the story’s skeleton will sound familiar enough: Michelle Carter was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the so-called “texting-suicide” case that involved the death of her boyfriend, Conrad “Coco” Roy III. The series takes its name and its basis from Jesse Barron’s 2017 Esquire same-named investigative report, which detailed how Carter admitted to instructing the suicidal Roy to “get back in” after he began to be overwhelmed by exhaust fumes from his vehicle. Elle Fanning takes on the tough role of Carter while the show dives into the real-life texts that filled their two-year relationship. It didn’t look great from the get-go and didn’t improve, but the show looks beyond the headlines and the messages themselves to dig into what brought Carter and Roy to that pivotal point and the wreckage that followed.
49. Killer Sally
Year: 2022
Starring: Sally McNeil and family
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (3 episodes)
Director: Nanette Burstein
Trailer: Watch here
Do not expect an easy ride from this series, which will likely lead one to run screaming at the mere mention of anabolic steroids. This project takes some decided turns while promising to unveil insight into why bodybuilder Sally McNeil killed her also-bodybuilder husband. The couple’s grown children take journeys back in time to provide insight into what they remember from that turbulent time as well as how they view their mother’s legal plight. Sally ended up serving 25 years beyond bars and unsuccessfully attempted to appeal her conviction. Although no all-encompassing questions get answered during the course of this docuseries, the end result of this Valentine’s Day murder illuminates plenty of red flags that, tragically, should have been noticed earlier.
50. D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?
Year: 2022
Genre: Docuseries
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (4 episodes)
Trailer: Watch here
You’ve undoubtedly seen a D.B. Cooper documentary or two, and you’ve probably caught wind of how much fun Justified and Loki presented their own versions of the story. This four-part series fills in a few more blanks about the legendary criminal who got away with all that cash over 50 years ago. To this date, the mystery of Cooper’s real identity has not been definitely solved, but nonetheless, the mystery of how he pulled off this heist continues to fascinate.