The best TV crime dramas of 2019

Here are some fantastic crime drama television shows in 2019.

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Pennyworth Read More Batman Friday was the first full day of Wizard World Chicago Comic Con, held at the Donald J. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, just outside Chicago, and there were plenty of onsite activities to keep busy. … Morrissey This is somewhat old news, but Morrissey is working on an all-covers album called California Son (produced by Joe Chiccarelli and will be released by BMG), according to the official .… Paloma Faith As previously mentioned, we love Paloma Faith's album Fall to Grace, which I described as a retro sound like Adele and Amy Winehouse. We're super excited that she will be ...

PENNYWORTH
epix.com

It’s definitely not Gotham. Pennyworth is the new drama television series from Epix, based on Batman’s butler Alfred Pennyworth. I never thought I would ever care for a show based on a very minor character, but now I’m convinced this is the best Batman show ever.

I feel that the creators are really into pop girl singers and possibly Morrissey fans. Looking over their future episode titles, “Cilla Black”, “Sandie Shaw”, and “Marianne Faithful”, all have ties to Morrissey - particularly Sandie Shaw, whom Moz tried to resurrect her career in the 80s and 90s.

Let’s break down how these singers are related to Morrissey:

Shirley Bassey: Bassey’s songs “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, “Ave Marie”, and “This is My Life” were used as the outro songs to The Smiths (1986) and Morrissey’s concerts (1988, 1991 and 2002).

Cilla Black: The Smiths covered “Work is a Four Letter Word”. According an interview with guitarist Johnny Marr, he cited this was the song that basically broke up the Smiths: “'Work Is A Four Letter Word' I hated. That was the last straw, really. I didn't form a group to perform Cilla Black songs. That was it, really. I made a decision that I was going to get away on holiday. The only place I could think of was L.A. L.A. was the only place I knew where there'd be sunshine, so off I went. I never saw Morrissey again.”

Julie Christie: A young Julie Christie’s image was used as the backdrop to Morrissey’s concerts in 2011. Also The Smiths’ “William, It Was Really Nothing” was a song based on Billy Liar (the film starring Tom Courtney and Julie Christie).

Sandie Shaw: There’s a long history of Sandie Shaw and The Smiths/Morrissey. I don’t need to list them all, but for the record, Shaw did cover The Smiths’ “Hand in Glove”, “I Don't Owe You Anything” and the rarely heard “Jeane”.

Alma Coogan: Some people seem to think Morrissey’s song “Alma Matters” celebrates singer Alma Coogan, but I don’t believe it. The truth is probably, like “Lucky Lisp” (which is based on the popular phrase “Lucky Lips”), it’s just a playful wording of “alma mater”.

Marianne Faithful: The title (Marianne Faithful) may be a misspelling of singer Marianne Faithfull (or “Faithful” could be a character in Pennyworth). The real Marianne Faithfull covered Morrissey’s “Dear God Please Help Me”.

Speaking of girl singers, Paloma Faith plays a villain that looks a bit like Myra Hindley (of The Moor Murders). We were lucky enough to saw Faith at the Triple Rock Social Club in Oct 2014, writing: “Personally, I like it when singers talk on stage, especially if they tell some interesting stories. I felt like she was really down the earth, hearing her thoughts on things. For example, she's not going to sugarcoat why she doesn't tour America all that often - it's expensive to bring her here, and the label won't put up the money unless the album sells really well in the States.”

Elementary Read More Elementary I look forward to watching every episode of Elementary. If they had just called this show something else instead of Sherlock Holmes, I think more people would have embraced it. …

ELEMENTARY
cbs.com

Season seven of CBS’s Elementary is probably the best show on television right now. It’s a shame that no one I know is watching this amazing show. It’s currently my favorite show this year.

This wasn’t always the case with me, because when the show first started in 2012, I wasn’t exactly sure if I liked it at all. You see, I wasn’t a fan that they changed Dr Watson to a Chinese woman sidekick. Over time, the show made her into a great partner (not just a sidekick) and can hold her own toe-to-toe with Sherlock Holmes.

I also wasn’t a fan that they made Holmes into a struggling drug addict (or rather former addict), because I thought he was too smart to experiment with drugs… Again, the show, over time, did a wonderful job in convincing me why the character would do this.

If you haven’t caught up or don’t watch the show, last year saw Holmes confessing to the murder of serial killer Michael Rowan (to save the real killer from going to prison). As a result, Holmes (and Watson) fled America and we saw the duo in London at the end of Season 6! I was very much looking forward to the further of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson in London… but probably due to budgetary reasons, only one episode took place in England in the current season.

The two quickly returned back to America, investigating the shooting of NYC police Captain Thomas Gregson. Their investigations eventually led to our current main villain, Odin Reichenbach (played by the brilliant James Frain). I won’t go into details, but that last Elementary episode saw the death of a close personal relation to Holmes.

What a gut puncher of a cliffhanger, and I just can’t wait to see Holmes’ next move against Reichenbach.

Jett

JETT
cinemax.com

One of the best crime drama in 2019 is Cinemax’s Jett. It might start off a little slow… and you may be confused by the many characters in the drama, but once you get past the first few episodes, you’ll really love this smartly-written show.

The show is about an ex-thief (well, not really “ex”) called Jett (played by Carla Gugino). There’s a large cast of characters and the show does a good job in introducing each character, such as the ruthless crime boss Charlie Baudelaire (played by Giancarlo Esposito from Breaking Bad) and his brutal son Junior.

This show is very adult, it has plenty of sex and violence (thanks to being on Cinemax) and it’s generally just a dark show. However, there are some silly moments (any scenes with Jett’s young daughter), which I’m not a fan of. I understand why the producers wanted a little sunlight in this dark world, but those scenes just feel like they belong in another show.

So far, Jett is in deep trouble, but I just know that she has a plan to dig herself out… and based on what I’ve seen, the writers will do an amazing job in satisfying and tying up all the loose ends.

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