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TV's Smartest Detectives
by AOL TV Staff, posted Nov 28th 2011 10:00AM
Ready to sharpen your armchair detective skills?TNT is kicking off a new Mystery Movie Night, starting with Scott Turow's 'Innocent' (premieres Tues., Nov. 29, 9PM ET), starring Bill Pullman as a man charged with murdering his wife, played by Marcia Gay Harden, and Alfred Molina as his defense attorney. In honor of this series of best-selling whodunit stories brought to the small screen, we rounded up the smartest detectives in TV history.
From an OCD gumshoe-for-hire to a no-nonsense Scotland Yard sleuth, a sassy high-school snoop and a P.I. with facial hair as famous as he was, check out our gallery of the top 20 smartest TV detectives of all time.
Do your keen powers of perception tell you we've missed someone? Add your own favorites in the comments.
TV's Smartest Detectives
- Fox Mulder & Dana Scully, 'The X-Files'
- Detective Vic Mackey, 'The Shield'
- Lennie Briscoe, 'Law & Order'
- Agent Olivia Dunham, 'Fringe'
- Lieutenant Columbo, 'Columbo'
- Andy Sipowicz, 'NYPD Blue'
- Det. Chief Inspector John Luther, 'Luther'
- Jessica Fletcher, 'Murder, She Wrote'
- Olivia Benson & Elliot Stabler, 'Law & Order: SVU'
- Jane Tennison, 'Prime Suspect'
- Gil Grissom, 'CSI'
- Thomas Magnum, 'Magnum P.I.'
- Kalinda Sharma, 'The Good Wife'
- Lietentant Theo Kojak, 'Kojak'
- Claudette Wyms, 'The Shield'
- Special Agent Dale Cooper, 'Twin Peaks'
- Detective Brenda Leigh Johnson, 'The Closer'
- Adrian Monk, 'Monk'
- Veronica Mars, 'Veronica Mars'
- Jim Rockford, 'The Rockford Files'
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