Ah, the police detective genre. It's one of the staples of a network's TV lineup. We all have our favorites, whether the characters are in blue uniforms or suits. Here are my Top 5 (and just so we're clear, I'm talking about police detectives, not private eyes or amateur investigators. I'll have that list tomorrow!)

1. Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk): No contest, really. Sure, there are some other great cops and detectives, but not many with the sheer Sherlock Holmes-like smarts as Lt. Columbo. He walked around sorta lost and bumbling, with a constantly lit cigar, a rumpled raincoat, and hair that made it look like he just woke up. But he was no fool, which all the murderers found out a little bit too late.

When he was ten years old, Alan Spencer snuck into a showing of Dirty Harry. Spencer fell in love with the concept of the movie and its sequels, but for different reasons than most. While the movies were categorized as drama, Spencer found the idea of such an excessively violent lawman to be utterly hilarious. At the age of sixteen, Spencer wrote a spoof with a main character he called Sledge Hammer who would spout his catchphrase "Trust me, I know what I'm doing" right before doing something unimaginably dangerous.