Published Feb 21, 2026, 9:45 AM EST
Shealyn Scott is a Senior Writer at Screen Rant. She has been writing for the site since 2024, focused on network, reality, streaming, and classic television.
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As an award-winning student journalist, Shealyn spent her college years advocating for the humanities while studying English Literature. Her love of storytelling propelled her to expand her degree with minors in Writing and History, believing life to be a mere collection of stories that can be framed in as many ways as a movie scene.
As a Senior member of the TV Team, Shealyn treats the series she covers like books, analyzing every line, camera angle, and lighting choice. Thankfully, her personal mission statement lines up perfectly with Screen Rant: every creative work deserves just as much thought from the viewer as it received from its creator.
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Bones is an all-time great, but there are other iconic crime procedurals for fans to turn to. Despite premiering nearly 21 years ago, Fox's quirky drama remains a cult classic with a devoted following. Thanks to Bones' recent streaming success, the intellectual pas de deux between Emily Deschanel's Temperance Brennan and David Boreanaz's Seeley Booth is more popular than ever.
Between Bones' beloved characters and its chilling cases, it's no wonder that the fandom has lived on well into the 2020s. Even so, the renowned detective show certainly isn't without high-quality contemporaries and captivating successors. The best of the best, though, feel reminiscent of Bones while still retaining their own idiosyncrasies that make great standalone series, not mere replacements.
10 Numb3rs
The FBI Enlists A Genius Math Professor To Solve Crime
Despite airing for six full seasons, Numb3rs is a shockingly underrated crime drama. The CBS series, which ran from 2005 to 2010, followed a pair of brothers banding together to solve crime— one as a powerful FBI agent (Rob Morrow's Don Eppes) and the other as a genius math professor (David Krumholtz's Charlie Eppes).
Numb3rs shows how lateral thinking is often the key to cracking the most complicated cases, with Charlie's mathematical modeling allowing a team of trained federal agents to look at clues in an entirely new light. Just as important as the episodic crimes, however, is the complex relationship between Don, Charlie, and their father, Alan (Judd Hirsch).
9 CSI
The Flagship Series Heavily Emphasizes The Importance Of Physical Evidence
Just as Brennan's offbeat work proved to Booth that agents can't always brute force investigations, CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) exposed the viewer to multiple invaluable specialties that are rarely highlighted in detective procedurals. Chief among them is forensic entomology, a science brought into the foreground by Dr. Gil Grissom (William Petersen) that gleans valuable insights from insects and arthopods.
Similar to how Bones reconstructs victims' deaths using their remains, forensic entomology is used to CSI's thrilling cases by using the bugs found on decaying corpses to determine the time (and even location) of death. Paired with blood splatter experts and criminal psychology, CSI focuses on the unsung heroes of physical evidence over "typical" investigative work.
8 Lucifer
A Fallen Angel Ends Up In A Classic Crime Drama Slow-Burn
It's exceedingly rare for fantasy TV shows to successfully genre-bend, but Lucifer is both a cosmic battle between heaven and hell and a solid police procedural. The eponymous demon, Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis), becomes fixated on Detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German), joining the LAPD as a consultant simply to get closer to her.
As time flies, however, Lucifer grows to love his job just as much as he loves his partner. Ironically, the character even binge-watches Bones and compares Brennan and Booth to him and Chloe. His diegetic knowledge of the Fox procedural even helps Lucifer solve his own case, as he recognizes a suspect as an actor from an episode of Bones.
7 Body of Proof
A Medical Examiner Struggles To Maintain Work-Life Balance
Bones helped popularize unique twists on an age-old genre, but Body of Proof was a stellar portrayal of the medical side of crime-solving. In this criminally overlooked detective show, former neurosurgeon Megan Hunt (Dana Delany) begins her new career as a medical examiner, teaming up with local police officers and detectives to solve episodic murders.
Real medical examiners worked on Body of Proof as technical advisers to ensure the science was true-to-life.
Similar to how Brennan is fairly socially awkward, Megan comes across as cold and apathetic throughout the show's first season. As she grows closer to her colleagues, however, Megan's sensitivity breaks through, especially when the murders hit too close to home for the medical examiner or remind her of Lacey (Mary Mouser), her estranged daughter.
6 House
A Grouchy Sherlock Holmes Type Explores Medical Mysteries
Whereas Brennan is largely misunderstood and far nicer than people give her credit for, the titular Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) is purposely grating, smug, and constantly has a biting remark on the tip of his tongue. Regardless of his poor bedside manner, House is nothing short of brilliant, using his unparalleled powers of deduction to diagnose his patients.
Booth and Brennan's partnership is full of banter, but House and James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) are one of the most iconic TV friendships of all time. There's a fine line between love and hate, but House and Wilson— known to fans simply as "Hilson"— constantly traverse both sides, with animosity and affection at the heart of every episode.
5 The X-Files
An Expert On Supernatural Phenomena & A Skeptic Form An Unlikely Pair
Beyond being a paragon of science fiction, The X-Files is one of the most influential shows of all time. Though the show is built on the same foundation as every other detective procedural, with two protagonists acting as juxtaposing partners, The X-Files focuses on the strangest, most bizarre, and seemingly inexplicable cases that can't be explained by science alone.
Just like Booth and Brennan, Mulder and Scully miraculously balance each other out...
While Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) has dedicated his life to studying the paranormal and supernatural, Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is a skeptic through and through who prioritizes logic and pragmatism over gut feelings. Just like Booth and Brennan, Mulder and Scully miraculously balance each other out and make perfect partners.
4 Rizzoli & Isles
A Skilled Detective & A Forensics Expert Work As A Dynamic Duo
Based on the novels by Tess Gerritsen, Rizzoli & Isles is about a homicide detective and a medical examiner who, despite being best friends, have wildly contrasting personalities. Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) is a sharp but sardonic detective, while Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander) is a gawkish yet endearing forensic expert. Together, they solve Boston's most pressing murders.
There are droves of crime shows from the 2000s that faded into obscurity, aged poorly, or were simply lost to time. Rizzoli & Isles may not be topping the charts anymore, but the push-and-pull between the two main characters will never go out of style. With off-the-charts chemistry and some much-needed levity, Rizzoli & Isles is always a reliable watch.
3 NCIS
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service Forms A Heartwarming Found Family
NCIS may be the most popular CBS show of all time. With its many spinoffs, prequels, and sequels, the NCIS franchise may very well live on in perpetuity. Of course, nothing ever beats the original. The flagship series follows special agents working for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service on the Major Case Response Team (MCRT).
In the nearly 23 years NCIS has been on air, the cast has gone through significant changes. Even still, what makes NCIS such a great alternative for Bones fans is the sense of teamwork that stands as a pillar of the series. If you love the Jeffersonian Institute Medico-Legal Lab, chances are you'll love NCIS, too.
2 Castle
A Best-Selling Novelist Becomes A Murderer Suspect When A Copycat Strikes
Castle's similarities to Bones have long been a point of contention for warring audiences, but the enlightened few understand that it's better to enjoy both series rather than pit them against each other. While the overall tone and central slow-burn relationship of Castle is a perfect match for Bones fans, the actual premise is fairly different.
The titular Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) is an arrogant writer who ends up shadowing Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) after a copycat replicates murders from Castle's best-selling crime novels. Castle veers far more into enemies-to-lovers than a simple workplace romance slow-burn, but it undoubtedly will fill the void left behind by Bones.
1 Elementary
A Modern Twist On Sherlock & Watson Makes For A Gripping Procedural
Admittedly, it may not be the most similar to Bones, but Elementary is one of the best detective shows ever made. The novel reimagining of Arthur Conan Doyle's work saw Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson and Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes, both totally original takes on immensely familiar characters.
Related
The Better Version Of Sherlock Aged Better Than The BBC Show
BBC's Sherlock had direct competition over at CBS, and after all these years, the latter has aged a lot better than Benedict Cumberbatch's show.
Elementary and Bones both have their unique strengths, but they invoke similar feelings in the viewer thanks to their perfectly balanced humor, heart, and mystery. At the end of the day, Bones is irreplaceable, but Elementary is just as good in its own right and will certainly scratch the same itch as Fox's best procedural.
Release Date 2005 - 2017
Network FOX
Showrunner Hart Hanson
Directors Ian Toynton, Dwight H. Little, Chad Lowe, Jeannot Szwarc, Allan Kroeker, Kate Woods, Steven DePaul, Tim Southam, Jeff Woolnough, Milan Cheylov, Randall Zisk, Alex Chapple, François Velle, Jesús Salvador Treviño, Tony Wharmby, Craig Ross Jr., Kevin Hooks, Michael Lange, Sanford Bookstaver, Allison Liddi-Brown, David Grossman, Emile B. Levisetti, Greg Yaitanes, Brad Turner
Writers Hart Hanson, Michael Peterson, Dean Lopata, Jonathan Collier, Keith Foglesong, Janet Lin, Elizabeth Benjamin, Pat Charles, Josh Berman, Scott Williams, Hilary Weisman Graham, Noah Hawley, Lyla Oliver, Karyn Usher, Dave Thomas, Janet Tamaro, Sanford Golden, Steve Blackman, Joe Hortua, Karen Wyscarver, Nkechi Okoro Carroll, Emily Silver, Yael Zinkow, Greg Ball
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Emily Deschanel
Temperance 'Bones' Brennan
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English (US) ·