Police procedurals can be formulaic to the point of being repetitive, while detective work can be anything but, and combining these genres has resulted in some of the best crime show premises ever written. That said, not all get the recognition that they deserve until years later, which is currently the case with an underrated FBI drama that surged to the top of the charts five years after ending. When the FBI discover a nude woman with no memory and covered in mysterious tattoos, they discover that her tattoos contain clues both to her identity, and to ongoing criminal plots.
Some crime thrillers are instant masterpieces that appear at the right time, capturing a trend or filling a gap in the market, and with storylines similar to those in the psychological thriller masterpiece Memento, and the much-missed prison drama Prison Break, NBC's Blindspot should have been an immediate hit. However, despite famous guest stars and an ever-twisting plot, it never got the critical acclaim it deserved, instead becoming a quiet success with a 73% positive Rotten Tomatoes score that still does not do it justice.
Blindspot Must've Done Something Right To Last 5 Seasons
The opening alone set up several of Blindspot's ongoing mysteries, and the combination of a weekly case and growing conspiracy set the show up with fast-paced action and smart detective work, appealing to fans of both action thrillers and police procedurals. The cast of Blindspot includes some well-known faces, from MCU's Jaimie Alexander as the central Jane Doe, to guest appearances from MMA fighter Ronda Rousey and Bill Nye "the Science Guy," playing a fictionalized version of himself.
A great cast is not necessarily enough to save a bad premise or writing issues, but Blindspot had neither, and the series averaged close to 10 million viewers per episode during its first season. Like Prison Break, the show began with a "tattoo of the week" format, but evolved past this as the danger increased, with bigger threats and wilder conspiracies. This is where the show lost its way a little, as viewers found the farfetched nature of the later seasons weaker than the first two seasons. Still, Blindspot got more right than wrong.
Season 2 of the series got a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics, who praised the acting and the way the twists unfolded. With each mystery setting up another, it is a testament to Blindspot's quality that the series did not fall into a common trap. TV shows that underperform are often canceled before their time, yet the series lasted for five seasons and was compelling enough to be allowed an ending. Not only did the show keep its core audience's attention throughout, but Blindspot stuck the landing with an intriguing finale that remains open to interpretation even today.
Blindspot Doesn't Reinvent The Cop Show Wheel, But Does Its Job Well
Blindspot was exciting and action-packed, but it was not groundbreaking and it never needed to be. Not all great TV series need to create something entirely new to be a success, and Blindspot had enough unique selling points to make it stand out, while remaining a fun police procedural. The episodic nature of the early seasons meant that some repetition was necessary, but as with all excellent procedurals, the chemistry of the cast took center stage, and Jaimie Alexander carried the story, keeping Jane Doe human rather than a one-dimensional "strong female character" stereotype.
Blindspot's Rotten Tomatoes ratings | ||
|---|---|---|
Season | Rotten Tomatoes critics' rating | Rotten Tomatoes audience rating |
1 | 68% | 74% |
2 | 100% | 81% |
3 | - | 69% |
4 | - | 62% |
5 | - | 78% |
The series lost some of its audience during later seasons as the procedural aspect gave way to more intricate overarching plotlines, and network decisions moved the show's timeslot with almost every season, making it harder for new audiences to discover it. Even so, Blindspot remains one of the best crime dramas of the 2010s, and the fact that it still received an overall 73% Rotten Tomatoes rating shows Blindspot's potential to become a cult hit in time.
CIA Season 2's Fate Officially Decided By CBS After Rocky Season 1 Production
The fate of CBS' new FBI spinoff series, CIA, has now been decided.
CBS confirmed that CIA has officially been renewed for season 2, following impressive viewership numbers from its series premiere. According to Paramount, the premiere episode saw 8.4 million multiplatform viewers via broadcast and streaming within the first seven days of its release.
Ratings for the first three episodes of the series showed a 39% improvement on Monday at 10 p.m. compared to the same timeslot in fall 2025.
Behind the scenes, though, CIA has had a rocky production. FBI: Most Wanted showrunner David Hudgins was initially in charge of the series, but Warren Leight later replaced him. That wasn't the end of the turnover, though, as he eventually departed, along with executive producer Eriq La Salle. Mike Weiss, who was the showrunner on the original FBI series, was hired as the CIA showrunner.
All of this turmoil, plus Michael Michele's departure from the cast, caused production delays, and CBS decided to give CIA a mid-season 2026 premiere after previously announcing it would debut in fall 2025.
CIA stars Tom Ellis and Nick Gehlfuss as CIA Agent Colin Glass and FBI Agent Bill Goodman, respectively, who are tasked with working together on a secretive joint CIA/FBI task force. The two agents couldn't be more different, with the latter a rule-follower and the former more mischievous in nature.
While on the job together, Glass and Goodman stay in the shadows as they solve domestic and international crimes away from the eyes of the public.
Before CIA, Ellis was best known for his role as Lucifer Morningstar on the Fox/Netflix drama Lucifer, while Gehlfuss has starred in The Newsroom, Shameless, and Chicago Med (another Dick Wolf-created series).
Their CIA co-stars include Necar Zadegan and Natalee Linez. Zadegan, who plays Nikki Reynard, will guest star in the March 30 episode of FBI season 8, in which the Deputy Chief of Station is called in to help following a double homicide. The episode will mark Maggie Bell's return to the team after suffering a major loss.
Wolf created the hugely popular Law & Order and One Chicago franchises on NBC, and then went on to create the FBI crime procedural franchise for CBS. The first FBI series debuted in 2018 with star Missy Peregrym and is currently airing its eighth season.
Two years later, the first spinoff, FBI: Most Wanted, launched and aired for six seasons. FBI: International followed in its footsteps and aired for four seasons.
CIA, which currently has a 63% critic score and 51% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, marks the third FBI spinoff, with Wolf, Weiss, Ken Girotti, Paul Cabbad, Nicole Perlman, David Chasteen, Anastasia Puglisi, and Peter Jankowski serving as executive producers.
CIA airs Mondays at 10 p.m. EDT on CBS.
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