'Ransom's Season 2 Odds Don't Look Great

TV will never run out of civil servants to dramatize — ever since the police procedural was created, the genre has exploded as viewers are continuously entertained by getting an inside look at what the people who work in law enforcement do every day. One of the latest is CBS' Ransom, a day in the life series about a hostage negotiator and the team he uses to diffuse tense situations. And after its debut season, will Ransom return for Season 2? CBS is notorious for having some of the best ratings on TV, with almost all of the highest-rated scripted series, airing on the network. Unfortunately, Ransom didn't hit the same highs as some of its fellow CBS series. According to TVSeriesFinale, Ransom Season 1's ratings in the 18-49 demographic never cracked a million viewers, and hovered somewhere around 0.40 million per episode, and 3 million total viewers per episode.

However, Ransom has been airing on Saturday nights, where traditionally there are no new episodes of any scripted series. Therefore, maybe CBS is thrilled with Ransom, regardless of ratings, because it gives them new programming seven days a week. But either way, the fate of the show has not been determined yet by the network — look out for an announcement later in May, perhaps when they announce their fall 2018 schedule. Certainly, Ransom won't return before then. But there's lots of other procedurals that you can watch in the meantime, because this is one network TV trend that seemingly will never go out of style. Here's just a few examples beyond the SVU, NCIS, and the other time-honored classics.

APB

FOX's drama is vaguely Orwellian (and I mean that in the literary sense; there's profound cognitive dissonance at the idea that robots would solve America's police force). But Justin Kirk is enjoyably playing his role as the eccentric billionaire who wants to make American cities his experimental playground, and the show's odd politics make it feel a bit like Robocop.

The Chicago-Verse

Do you prefer shows about sexy doctors? Sexy cops? Sexy lawyers? You have your pick in NBC's suite of Chicago-based dramas, with one for Med, Fire, Justice, and PD.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

This is, technically, not a procedural drama, but the day to day habits of running a police department are as important as the jokes (well, maybe a little less important than the jokes; it's a very funny show). Even the characters who aren't good at their jobs ultimately do care about doing the right thing.

iZombie

What, you think zombies can't have their own procedural dramas? Of course they can, according to this CW drama about a morgue worker who's also a zombie, which also happens to be one of the more charming episodic shows on right now.

Quantico

FBI recruits are trained to be as shrewd and calculating as any detective, which is why when the students at Quantico attempt to piece together who among them is a terrorist and who just has a complicated past, they're using the same exact skills — and the show uses the same exact conventions — as TV cops.

Training Day

This adaptation of the film of the same name got some sad news — star Bill Paxton passed away after the first season was filmed. According to TMZ, the character will not be recast. This could hamper the show's ability to continue, and it's possible that CBS will choose to bring it to an early end, but this crooked cop drama is already a compelling one.

Hopefully, Ransom will be renewed for an additional season, but it is just one of many crime-solving shows on right now, making the TV landscape appealing to anyone who loves to know exactly who committed a crime by the end of the hour.