I used to watch one with Adam West and Burt Ward playing the vigilantes, but the grit and realism of that show got to me after a while.
this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2026
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Asklemmy
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I was on the edge of my seat watching Adam try to get rid of a bomb.
You might like Burn Notice, depending on your tolerance for network television tropes of the mid-aughts. It's a "monster of the week" format, rather than the serialized approach of Reacher, but it typically includes a scene or two referencing the season arc in any given episode, so you still feel like the narrative is advancing, even if the majority of the episode was a side quest.
The gist is that a US government spy gets "burned" and turned loose in Miami. He, and the few contacts he has who will still speak with him (which include his mother, an ex-gf with a bombastic personality, and Bruce Campbell at the height of his smarmy powers), attempt to figure out who burned him, while also getting wrapped up in "favors" for various folks about town that inevitably wind up more complicated than was initially let on. Antagonists run the gamut from international terrorists to con artists who target the geriatric (it is, after all, set in Florida).
It's not high art, but it's got a winning cast, decent action (for network television), and, on occasion, I think some pretty clever solutions for problems which leverage the "spycraft" gimmick. Worth a shot.
Daredevil
There's an alright one about jews hunting down nazis post ww2. Called "Hunters" I havent watched it since it came out so ymmv. There's also at least one episode of Letterkenny about beating up the alt right.
OK, not a show and you may not have time but I gotta gush on this web series I picked up here on Lemmy. I'm not even through it but it has serious The Boys vibes. It's a written web serial called Worm.
I know I know, you asked for shows, but it's just...so good...and in the superhero genre! Dark and gritty in the same vain as Watchmen and The Boys...I don't know. Figured I just put this out there.
Person of Interest?
The Prime show Hunters has Al Pacino and is about hunting down Nazis... It's alright.
It's funny I also described it as "alright" from my memory seeing it when it first came out.
All of the JoJo bizxare adventures from season 2 to present are crime fighting.
The dubs are excellent. They are also a little campy. (Okay actually pretty campy)
It's anime but hear me out. It's very entertaining even if you aren't a big anime fan. Cause I'm not.
They are fun and ridiculous.
The true detective series is probably closer to what you are looking for.
Ive liked all seasons. Each season is its own story.
And there's a lot of pop culture music references. A shame that the English version of the names have to be changed because of trademarks? I'm not sure on which legal jargon that prevents them using the names.
Still, I haven't thought of it that they're basically crime fighting but it makes sense.
Yeah I watched a video and the person said there was no copyright complaint filed or anything. So no reason to change the names. Plus some of them were just changed to other songs or band names/members. So. .. why ?
As for crime fighting. Most episodes have the same design.
New mysterious villain. Unclear what the limits of their powers are. So they get tracked down and defeated in a showdown.
Little bit of detective work. Especially in diamond is unbreakable, golden winds, and stone ocean.
There is a long running mystery and then the villain of the week.
But yeah it's still a stretch. It's definitely more of a super hero genre. But so is The Boys. Which is what made me think of it.
Good Crime Fighting Shows:
- Task
- Dept. Q
- Southland
Gen V is very much anti-alt right
Vigilante shows.. maybe the Death Wish movies
The Watchmen series was pretty good