Cold Squad (Syndicated)

The syndicated crime drama COLD SQUAD (which originally aired in Canada starting in the late '90s) takes viewers inside the files of some of a Vancouver police department's toughest cold cases, which have been collecting dust for 5, 10, or even 50 years. Julie Stewart stars as Sgt. Ali McCormick, who serves as the de facto head of her unit. As on Law & Order, the rest of the cast rotated in and out over the years, including Matthew Bennett as Sgt. Len Harper, Tamara Craig Thomas as Det. Mickey Collander, and Michael Hogan as Det. Tony Logozzo. Cases can be lurid: In one episode, for example, after a 12-year old is reported missing from her bedroom, Ali enters the world of pedophiles to try to find her. In another, after a taxi driver reports picking up a sketchy, misogynistic passenger, Ali looks into it and encounters a dentist who kept company with a couple of recently murdered strippers.

Like its American counterparts Cold Case (which is so similar in premise that it earned a lawsuit from Cold Squad's creators...) and CSI, Cold Squad looks at topical -- and often sensational -- cases, some of which might be too much for sensitive viewers. Subplots involving the officers' private lives deal with decidedly adult issues, including ongoing marital woes between Harper and his wife and, in one episode, McCormick having to divulge that she'd had an abortion in order to provide an alibi. But overall, Cold Squad lacks the suspense, edge, and pulse that viewers have come to expect from similar crime dramas.