Supernatural is the best "cop show" that isn't about cops

Esquire

"With over 300 episodes, it’s just as bingeable, snackable, and all-purpose-consumable as any police series," says Gabrielle Bruney of departing CW drama. "Though the show becomes increasingly wedded to complicated lore and season-long story lines, episodes from its golden age (generally agreed to be seasons one through five) are often monster-of-the-week mysteries familiar to fans of shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files. At the start of the episode, someone or some ones die in a novel and bloody fashion, and brothers Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padelecki and Jensen Ackles) roll into town to investigate. They often disguise themselves as detectives or FBI agents, complete with fake badges and identification. Posing as cops, they examine victims' corpses in morgues, duck under police tape to check out crime scenes, and interview witnesses—nearly everything that your favorite TV detectives do. The show even features bonkers celebrity guest stars like Snooki and Rick Springfield, and dubiously ripped-from-the-headlines episodes. In Supernatural, for example, the internet lore of Slenderman becomes the not-too-cleverly rechristened 'Thinman.' Episodes just tend to end with the bad guys succumbing to wooden stakes and silver bullets rather than being led away in handcuffs. Still, despite all the time Sam and Dean spend pretending to be cops, the series isn’t a police show—which means that it's not propagating pro-police narratives with every episode."