NBC’s 10-Part Thriller With Near-Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score Is a Sleeper Pick for the 21st Century’s Best Crime Series

What if I told you that there is a crime thriller series with 10 seasons and a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score? You’d want to watch it immediately, right? What if I told you that some of its seasons even have flawless 100% scores? What if I also mentioned that it was nominated for 10 Emmy Awards and that its central character is the most intelligent antihero who has ever appeared onscreen? You’d demand to know its name, right?

Created by John Bokenkamp (his first TV show), The Blacklist deserves to be crowned the best crime series of the 21st century. With 10 seasons, the show was always at risk of becoming stale or jumping the shark at any moment, but it never did. Along with its intriguing storylines, the show benefited from a strong cast that included James Spader, Megan Boone, Amir Arison, and Ryan Eggold. But what’s it about?

‘The Blacklist’ Is About a Thief Who Catches Thieves

The Blacklist is the story of Raymond “Red” Reddington (Spader), an ex-US Naval Intelligence officer who disappeared two decades earlier and earned himself fourth place on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. An expert wheeler-dealer with a nose for those who do shadier deals than he does, he surrenders himself to the bureau and declares his intention to help apprehend the most dangerous criminals worldwide. Guess what he says? You guessed right. “I want full immunity!” Reddington only wants to work with FBI Special Agent Elizabeth “Liz” Keen (Megan Boone), a rookie criminal profiler. Is this The Silence of the Lambs all over again? No spoilers!

Reddington makes a game of phoning Liz with helpful tips. But the cat-and-mouse dynamic often gets uncomfortably personal. Daring choices made by the two characters often put them on the outs with each other, but you can always bet on them patching things up. Other curious and observant characters attempt to make sense of this dysfunction, along with viewers.

Reddington isn’t the type of person you would want to interact with every day. He would drain your energy. But boy does Spader play him beautifully. It’s great to see him relatively energetic and spry after years of playing frustrated lawyers in a few critically acclaimed legal drama series. His sense of cool, along with his character’s personal definitions of right and wrong, undoubtedly started a TV trend in which fun-hunting fictional radicals were allowed to win for the viewer’s delight.

The criminals on the “blacklist” have interesting personalities. Many would have made great villains in standalone movies. Some are cynical and scheming, profiting from the demise of others, or from ratting out the competition. Their secrecy means they rarely seem suspicious to others around them. Others appear oblivious to inconveniences or consequences. The show becomes really good if you view it from a psychological point of view.

James Spader Wasn’t the First Choice to Play Raymond Reddington In ‘The Blacklist’

Fox

The role of Raymond Reddington seems like it was written with James Spader in mind, but that wasn’t the case. Speaking to Variety, Bokenkamp revealed that Bryan Cranston, Kiefer Sutherland, Pierce Brosnan, and Richard Gere were his preferred candidates. I can understand why he considered Sutherland, as he was great in the action series 24, which could be a cousin to The Blacklist. Both TV shows have similar villains and rely heavily on twists. However, I wonder if Red would have become an iconic character if Sutherland had played him. For many, the actor will always be Jack Bauer.

Brosnan could have been a perfect fit, given his history with the James Bond franchise. He also tends to be excellent at playing devious characters. Just watch The Ghost Writer and MobLand. Gere? He’s more famous for starring in romance thrillers. I doubt that he’d been a great Red, but everyone doubted Spader too, including the producers. According to Collider, there were continued efforts to search for a more established actor even after Reddington had been chosen.

Bryan Cranston could have been comfortable in this fictional world. The timing was right since his beloved TV drama Breaking Bad was ending. Today, many agree that Spader was the perfect choice, and so did his co-star Harry Lennix. “Oh my God. It’s like playing basketball with LeBron James. Or baseball with Joe DiMaggio. He’s tremendous. He’s a master. He elevates everybody that’s around him,” he told Pop Entertainment.

Release Date

2013 – 2023-00-00

Network

NBC

Showrunner

Jon Bokenkamp

Directors

Andrew McCarthy, Michael W. Watkins, Bill Roe, John Terlesky, Donald E. Thorin Jr., Christine Moore, Kurt Kuenne, Terrence O’Hara, Adam Weisinger, Mahesh Pailoor, Karen Gaviola, Stephanie A. Marquardt, Steven A. Adelson, Daniel Willis, Matthew McLoota, Bethany Rooney, Joe Carnahan, Paul A. Edwards, Alex Zakrzewski, David Platt, Jean de Segonzac, Jono Oliver, Michael Zinberg, Paul Holahan

Writers

Jonathan Shapiro, Kelli Johnson, Brandon Margolis, Daniel Knauf, Dawn DeNoon, Aiah Samba, Dave Metzger, Justine Neubarth, Dave Thomas, Kim Newton, Vincent Angell, David Merritt II, Chap Taylor, Daniel Voll, Elizabeth Benjamin, John Zinman, Wendy West, Anthony Sparks, Jim Campolongo, Kristen Reidel